Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of silicate grains of sand that have been naturally cemented together. It has been historically used in India for constructing temples, cathedrals, homes, buildings, and ornamental structures since old ages. The Ahraura town, municipal board, and Marihan tehsils of Mirzapur district are well known for sandstone mining. In a District Survey Report published by the Uttar Pradesh Geology and Mining Department in 2018, an area stretch of 674.37 hectares was used for mining activities to bring out sandstones in the financial year 2017–2018 Mirzapur. The Ahraura and Marihan tehsils of Mirzapur are enclosed by the Vindhya Range, a group of discontinuous chains of hill ranges, mountain ridges, highlands, and plateau escarpments extending from the eastern part of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and the southern region of Uttar Pradesh. These hill ranges in the Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts in Uttar Pradesh are significantly mined for sandstone extraction. Though these quarries are crucial for the district as they provide employment and revenue, these activities have destructed once dense forests in these two tehsils that were connected to the Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary which is situated in the adjoining Chandauli district. Animals like panthers and bears were once found in these forests but mining dispersed once flourished wildlife from this area. The land is now a barren wasteland. Quarries in the Marihan and Ahraura tehsils of the Mirzapur district, where the sandstone is mined and delivered all over the place, have left its rural inhabitants with severe health issues and breathing disorders including asthma, silicosis, and tuberculosis. A population of over 50,000 rural inhabitants of these two tehsils is forced to inhale dust daily. Hardly any of the households could be found that don’t have a family member suffering from lung disorder and pulmonary disease. In this background, this chapter presents an alternative analytical approach by integrating social and environmental values in the solidarity economy model. For centuries these ESSE (Ecology-Social and Solidarity Economy) principles have been imbibed in the life of rural India and need to be used to advance the sustainable development of the mining sector. In this study along with qualitative and quantitative analysis, GIS and remote sensing techniques are used to find the ecological and temporal changes in mining areas.

Ecology-Social and Solidarity Economy Model (ESSE) for Sandstone Mining in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh

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发表日期：

2025年

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Archana Verma

摘要

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of silicate grains of sand that have been naturally cemented together. It has been historically used in India for constructing temples, cathedrals, homes, buildings, and ornamental structures since old ages. The Ahraura town, municipal board, and Marihan tehsils of Mirzapur district are well known for sandstone mining. In a District Survey Report published by the Uttar Pradesh Geology and Mining Department in 2018, an area stretch of 674.37 hectares was used for mining activities to bring out sandstones in the financial year 2017–2018 Mirzapur. The Ahraura and Marihan tehsils of Mirzapur are enclosed by the Vindhya Range, a group of discontinuous chains of hill ranges, mountain ridges, highlands, and plateau escarpments extending from the eastern part of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and the southern region of Uttar Pradesh. These hill ranges in the Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts in Uttar Pradesh are significantly mined for sandstone extraction. Though these quarries are crucial for the district as they provide employment and revenue, these activities have destructed once dense forests in these two tehsils that were connected to the Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary which is situated in the adjoining Chandauli district. Animals like panthers and bears were once found in these forests but mining dispersed once flourished wildlife from this area. The land is now a barren wasteland. Quarries in the Marihan and Ahraura tehsils of the Mirzapur district, where the sandstone is mined and delivered all over the place, have left its rural inhabitants with severe health issues and breathing disorders including asthma, silicosis, and tuberculosis. A population of over 50,000 rural inhabitants of these two tehsils is forced to inhale dust daily. Hardly any of the households could be found that don’t have a family member suffering from lung disorder and pulmonary disease. In this background, this chapter presents an alternative analytical approach by integrating social and environmental values in the solidarity economy model. For centuries these ESSE (Ecology-Social and Solidarity Economy) principles have been imbibed in the life of rural India and need to be used to advance the sustainable development of the mining sector. In this study along with qualitative and quantitative analysis, GIS and remote sensing techniques are used to find the ecological and temporal changes in mining areas.