Bhutan Birding and Heritage Travels

17 July, 2009 - The Singye-Bjemina sand and stone quarry had been asked to get a “proper mining license” from the department of geology and mines (DGM) by August. To do so, the company must first get clearance from the Bjemina community.

A community clearance is one of the important do*****ents for the authority to decide whether or not to regularise the quarry, said DGM officials. The chairman of Singye group, Ugen Tshechup Dorji, said that they were processing the mining license from DGM, as per the court directives, and that DGM has asked the company to submit a final mine plan. When asked about the community clearance, he said that he already had the clearance from the public.

Gewog officials and local leaders, however, told Kuensel that the company was yet to get a formal community clearance. Mewang gup Chencho Tenzin said that a company cannot get approval from individuals and that the gup had to arrange a zomdu (meeting). “All household members will gather and discuss whether or not to approve the quarry. An agreement will be finally signed accordingly by the public at the zomdu,” he said.

The Bjemina village tshogpa said that the company was going from house to house to get the approval, which he said was not appropriate. “We’d submitted a formal complaint against the company last year of air pollution and crop damage,” he said. “There are still people in the village who feel that the company did more damage than good. Some of these people might get influenced”

In June 2008, villagers in Bjemina had submitted a formal complaint letter to Thimphu dzongkhag tshogdu against the company, following which an inter-ministerial investigation was carried out at the Bjemina quarry site. The investigation report said that the company was practising unscientific quarrying and thereby posing a threat to the environment and workers.

A 67-year-old woman residing a kilometre away from the quarry said that she gave her approval. She said that the company had built a charity school to benefit the community, provided fertilizers on discount, free transportation and cement, and employed many young locals. “The dust used to be a problem a few years ago, but they use water sprinkling machines at the quarry now to control the dust,” she said.

Chairman Ugen Tshechup Dorji said that community clearance was important and they would follow all proper procedures. “If there are economic losses to the people because of the dust and the quarry, we’ve already maintained that we’ll compensate them,” he said.