The National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered a nation-wide stay on sand
mining in river beds without prior clearance from environment ministry
on Monday.
The interim orders came in a petition filed by the National Green
Tribunal Bar Association as a reaction to the suspension of the 2009
batch IAS officer, Durga Shakti Nagpal who was overseeing a drive
against illegal sand mining in her district, Gautum Budh Nagar, Uttar
Pradesh.
At the same time the Union environment ministry has decided to approach
the Supreme Court to clarify the process for according environmental
clearances to minor mineral mining projects below 5 hectares as well as
send an inspection team to Uttar Pradesh to review illegal sand mining
in the state. The apex court had in February 2013 ordered mandatory
green clearances from the central government for extracting minor
minerals in less than 5 hectare plots.
On Monday the NGT bench headed by Swatanter Kumar ordered all state
governments to respond to the petition filed before it by August 14. It
said, “Besides violation of law, the mining activity is being carried
out on a large scale, causing state revenue loss which may be running
into lakhs of crores of rupees.”
The petition filed before the NGT by Ritwick Dutta, secretary of the bar
association was specific to river Yamuna and its tributaries but the
court deemed it fit to extend the case to all states. The petitioners
claimed that rampant illegal mining had been undertaken in the rivers in
gross violation of the Supreme Court orders. It claimed that many
junior government officers and activists fighting against the
environmental menace were being targeted and victimised. The petition
cited the case of Ms Nagpal as well as another case of another person it
claimed was killed by the sand mining mafia recently.
Pleading the case on behalf of the petitioners, senior advocate Raj
Panjwani said that in-stream mining of sand and gravel had large impacts
on the floodplains as well as the water table which was not being
assessed at the moment.
Earlier on February 27, 2013 the Supreme Court had ordered mandatory
environmental clearance from the Union environment and forests ministry
for all minor mineral excavation.
In its order the Supreme Court had said, “Sand mining on either side of
the rivers, upstream and in-stream, is one of the causes for
environmental degradation and also a threat to the biodiversity. Over
the years, India’s rivers and Riparian ecology have been badly affected
by the alarming rate of unrestricted sand mining…”
The NGT decision in the case on Monday does not go beyond the
pronouncement of the Supreme Court orders but only push for
implementation the orders.
The apex court’s orders had been opposed by many state governments with
the construction industry lobbying hard against it. This led the PMO to
intervene for the brick kiln owners and the Cabinet Committee on
Infrastructure also debating the issue. State governments, such as
Maharashtra wrote to the Centre asking for relief from the Supreme Court
orders.
The environment ministry, sources said, has decided to approach the
Supreme Court to ask for a modification to its existing orders. It is
likely to plead before the court to let state authorities to give
environmental clearances for less than 5 hectare plots. The ministry
believes that instead of dealing with thousands of clearances for the
small projects it would be wiser to let the state authorities handle
them under strict guidelines laid down by the Centre. The environment
ministry is contending with stipulating that miners do not seek less
than 5 hectare clearances in a cluster that cumulatively add up to a
large area.
With the construction sector booming in the country the demand for sand
has grown consistently over the past decade. According to the Indian
Bureau of Mines Year Book for 2011, the states reported 49.97 lakh
tonnes of sand mining which environment ministry officials off the
record said was gross under-reporting.
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