Two crusher industries found to be operating against standards in Palpa have been fined and one industry has been ordered to close down. The Household and Small Industries Office has taken action against three industries during its monitoring of seven crusher industries in various municipalities of the district. Keshav Sunar, head of the office, said that the crusher plant operating in Rampur, Rampur Municipality, has been closed down. Chief Sunar said that two crusher industries operating without meeting the standards, one near Mathagadhi Rural Municipality and the other in Argali, Tansen Municipality-14, have been fined Rs 25,000 each. He said that both the industries were closed down for the time being because they were operating without registering as per the Industrial Promotion Act 2081 of the Lumbini Province Government. “Now, they will be allowed to operate only if they meet the standards,” he said.

He said that the crusher industry operating in Ringanerah of Purbakhola Rural Municipality and near Tahun of Rambha Rural Municipality has refused to submit documents. The crusher operating in Amlihan of Tansen Municipality-9 for road blacktop has received documents from the Road Department, said Chief Sunar. The Division Road Office under the federal government has set up a crusher plant in Tinau Khola under the pretext of constructing Dil Bahadur Marg in Tansen Municipality-9. Locals said that sand, gravel and soil have been excavated from the river against standards. Moreover, construction materials are being transported without paying royalties.

The construction company, on the other hand, has been claiming that the plant placed in the river is only for cleaning construction materials. The concerned bodies have remained silent even when the sand along with soil taken from the river for the crusher plant is placed on the road.

The documents of the crusher industry operating in Dobhan of Tinau Rural Municipality have been withdrawn. Similarly, he said that monitoring is still pending in Rainadevi Chhahara Rural Municipality. Construction entrepreneurs have been doing business by setting up a crusher plant under the bridge sector Pokhara in Argali. Even though a plant was set up for blacktopping the rural municipality's access road in Purbakhola, locals have complained that the work has been delayed for two years after the contract period was completed and business has been going elsewhere. Chief Sunar said that the construction work has not been completed on time and the crusher plant has been operating. 'We will monitor the crushers operating in all local levels of the district,' he said. 'There have also been complaints that the crusher industry operating illegally throughout the district has increased the risk of river exploitation, community forests, environmental damage and settlements.'

The administration, District Coordination Committee, and security agencies had not monitored the crushers for three years. Assistant Chief District Officer and Information Officer Rishiram Subedi said that no instructions have been received for monitoring. Despite monitoring by the District Coordination Committee, crusher entrepreneurs were refusing to comply due to political pressure. ‘When we went to monitor, we found that nothing was being done according to the standards,’ said Coordination Chief Tankanath Khanal. ‘It is not even clear in terms of policy how to regulate this.’ Even though monitoring is done based on complaints from locals, there is a problem because there is no clear policy.’

He said that the purpose of operating the crusher industry, the ambiguity of the prevailing laws, and the use of natural resources should be clear. Most of the industries are operating against the standards set by the government. According to government rules, crusher industries can only be operated at least two hundred meters away from rivers, streams, settlements, schools, and highways. In Palpa, those policy matters seem to be limited to paper. Crushers are operating near streams, while stones are being extracted from community forests and public places.

The local government should have determined a specific location after conducting an environmental impact assessment and collecting royalties, but this has not been done. He said that the crusher industry has been found to be blacktopping the road and not paying royalties. They are excavating gravel, sand and stones in a way that changes the natural course of the river. This has further increased the risk of river erosion, landslides and floods. ‘People are getting stronger, but the exploitation of natural resources has increased,’ he said, ‘it is necessary to clarify this legally.’

Most of the crusher industries have not even completed the environmental impact assessment and initial environmental testing. Some industries are carrying out indiscriminate excavations with permission from the local level. Locals have long been complaining about increased dust, noise pollution and river exploitation due to the crusher industry. Locals are particularly complaining about erosion of agricultural land, changes in the course of the river and increased risk of flooding during the rainy season. Even when locals filed a complaint with the District Administration Office with evidence that the crusher installed for the construction of the bridge in Argali had extracted ready-made ballast from hundreds of tipper crushers, the complaint was not heard.

The situation is similar in Mathagadhi, Rampur, and Purbakhola. Locals have repeatedly complained that the crusher industry is being operated in the name of road projects, and the materials produced from it are being sold outside by extending the contract period.

Tej Prasad Adhikari, Information Officer at the Infrastructure Office, Palpa, said that they are not the body to give approval and monitor the crusher. 'Since we are not the ones to give approval, we do not know how much has been produced and where it has been taken,' he said. 'If someone asks for a recommendation, it is given to the concerned office, but we ourselves do not give permission to anyone.'

Purbakhola Rural Municipality Chairman Nun Bahadur Thapa said that a crusher has been installed in Ringnerah to blacktop a 14-kilometer road. But he said that no royalty has been paid to the municipality. He said that the forest sector should be looked into by the Division Forest and the right and left sides of the road should be looked into by the concerned office. He said that an environmental impact assessment has been carried out on the river. If the project uses stones, gravel, and sand generated during the construction or expansion of the road, they can only be used by paying the sales price to the municipality based on the quantity. However, in the district, construction entrepreneurs do not pay royalties and sell the excess material themselves.

However, no one has received permission from the Cottage and Small Industries Office, the Industries Department, or the Mines Department to operate a crusher industry in Palpa. In Jhadew, a crusher industry has been operating for months near the river, forest area, police post, and sub-divisional forest office, but the stakeholders and regulatory bodies are silent. When the crusher runs, the river becomes completely murky. Locals said that it becomes so murky that it is not even suitable for feeding livestock. The municipality office, located one and a half kilometers away, is silent.

The government standards for operating a crusher industry state that it should be operated 500 meters from the banks of a stream or river, 2 km from a forest area, and 2 km from educational and health institutions, places of religious, cultural, and archaeological importance. According to the standards, the concerned municipality cannot extract more than the approved quantity at the designated site for excavation or collection. It has been given the authority to specify the 'line level' based on the measurement and drawing done by a technician before issuing an excavation order. However, the local level has been evading it, saying that it is not within its jurisdiction.