A day after a seer allegedly set himself on fire amid a protest over illegal stone mining in Rajasthan's Bharatpur, the state government on Thursday, 21 July, assured protesters that they would close down mines in the Adi Badrinath and Kankhachal Hills areas.
The seer, Vijay Das, had set himself ablaze amid the protests on Wednesday. He was later shifted to a hospital in Delhi and is said to be in a critical condition.
"Seer Vijay Das had sustained nearly 80 percent burn injuries and his condition is critical. He is being shifted to a Delhi hospital," an official from the Jaipur SMS government hospital was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Another seer had climbed atop a mobile tower in protest against mining activities in the state.
Mining Areas To Be Declared Forestland
Amid the protests, the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government announced that it would issue a notification within 15 days to declare the areas where mining is currently underway as forest areas, and shift the mines elsewhere.
After the announcement, the seers suspended their protest.
According to Bharatpur district collector Alok Ranjan, 34 mines are operational in the Adi Badrinath area, and 11 in the Kankhachal Hills area. Around 2,500 people are currently employed in the mines.
"The agitation of seers going on in Pasopa area for one-and-a-half years has ended. A notification to declare the area as forest area will be issued in 15 days," he said after the government's announcement, adding that a detailed plan to develop the region for tourism will be prepared.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajasthan chief Satish Poonia constituted a three-member "fact-finding" team to visit Bharatpur.
The BJP also staged a protest outside the Bharatpur district collectorate against the Rajasthan government over the mining issue.
"The Congress government in Rajasthan is anti-Hindu. The seers had been holding the agitation for 550 days against mining, but they were unheard. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot should clarify his stand on the issue," a local BJP leader said while addressing the press.
Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had earlier targeted CM Gehlot over the seer's attempt at self-immolation, saying that the government was solely responsible for the incident.
Meanwhile, mobile internet services were suspended till Thursday in several places across the Bharatpur district.
This comes after mobile internet services had been cut off in Pahari, Kaman, Nagar, and Sikri tehsils of Bharatpur on Tuesday amid the protests.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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