Siliguri, May 18: India and Bhutan have refused to see eye to eye on the environment hazards caused by dolomite mining in the hills across the border.

A joint team of the two countries have recently conducted a four-day survey of the entire Dooars region, from Chamurchi to Lankapara, to find out if dolomite mining and stone quarrying in the Bhutan hills were leading to floods in forests and depletion of tea bushes. While the Indian team comprised five foresters and two mining directorate officials, the five-member Bhutan group was led by the head of their mining division.

“After the survey, we had a meeting at Gomtu in Bhutan yesterday,” said S.B. Patel, the chief conservator of forests, north Bengal, who led the Indian side. “We told the Bhutan officials that dolomite mining was causing landslides in Bhutan, which in turn, was affecting the environment on the Indian side. During monsoon, rivers from Bhutan bring in debris and dolomite dust to forests and tea gardens here. Gardens located on the border, like Makrapara, have dolomite dusts precipitating on tealeaves, damaging the bushes.”

Patel said rivers like Reti, Sukriti, Bandapani, Titi, Pagli and Khagrakhola, flow into the Dooars, carrying dolomite wastes to forests and even to parts of the Jaldapara sanctuary. “The Bhutanese officials, however, refused to admit that the debris was from dolomite mines. They said the wastes were formed by landslides,” Patel said.

According to the team members, the deposition was raising the riverbeds, even by more than a metre at some places. “That leads to floods in forests like Bandapani. The same thing might happen in Jaldapara, where flash flood would mean the death of thousands of animals,” a member said.

The Indian team is supposed to submit a report to the divisional commissioner of Jalpaiguri as well as the state forest minister, Patel said.

Besides, the quarrying also polluted the air and water, they said. “The dolomite dust contaminate the water and air along the border, causing various ailments among residents, like skin diseases,” a member added.

B.L. Meena, the divisional commissioner of Jalpaiguri who formed the team, said they would have further discussions with the Bhutan authorities. “They have apparently disagreed with the observations made by our experts,” Meena said. “We will, however, organise another bilateral meeting to address the matter.”