Guwahati: A heartrending appeal by a young woman from Hiloni Nepali Khuti in Assam’s Sivasagar district to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during his visit on Monday has once again brought the spotlight on the environmental cost of indiscriminate stone quarrying.The woman alleged that continuous stone and sand extraction has severely damaged the Dikhow river area, thereby worsening erosion, intensifying the flood impact and reviving concerns that residents have raised for years about hill cutting, ecological degradation and threats to human habitation.“Sir, our environment has become very bad. They have destroyed everything by cutting stones. Please stop the stone quarrying, sir. Otherwise, our homes will be destroyed,” the woman says in a video that has gone viral on social media.The chief minister responded to the young woman’s appeal, comforting her and assuring her that the matter would be looked into.Interacting with her, the chief minister asked her to identify the locations where stone quarrying was taking place and promised that the alleged illegal mining activities would be investigated.In 2022, the Assam Water Resources Department warned the Sivasagar district administration against allowing indiscriminate sand and stone mining along the banks of the Dikhow river. The department cautioned that excessive extraction could destabilise riverbanks, alter the river’s course, accelerate erosion and heighten flood risks for nearby villages.This village, which was one of the first areas to be hit by the surging water of the Dikhow river on July 19, was completely wiped out. Sarma, during his visit, said that the govt will now rebuild the village.
