Ahmedabad, January 15: THE two month-long fast by villagers of Mocha in Porbandar district seems to be paying off. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) is learnt to have directed closure notice to the 18 licence-holders who are carrying out limestone mining activities in the vicinity of Mocha village.
Gujarat Lok Samiti, an NGO supporting the public protest, said in a release on Monday that GPCB had instructed the Porbandar district collector to seal the instruments being used by the the licence-holders. The GPCB has also asked the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVN) to snap electricity supply at the mining sites.
The NGO’s plea was that besides destroying the cotton crop of the farmers, the mining activity was also polluting the ecology of the area.
The Express Newsline, on December 25, had published a story on the fast undertaken by the villagers. The story had highlighted how the licence-holders had gone ahead with mining activity despite an adverse report by the GPCB.
Gujarat Lok Samiti secretary and veteran Gandhian Chunibhai Vaidhya said: “The GPCB letter, dated January 10 and issued by its Environmental Engineer J K Vyas, puts allegations on the licence-holders. It says they neither took permission from the GPCB nor did they have take adequate steps to stop air pollution caused by mining.
And for these violations, they can be penalised with imprisonment up to six years.’’ The NGO has also sent a copy of the GPCB order to this newspaper.
When contacted, Porbandar District Collector H N Chhiber, however, said he was not aware of the GPCB action. “I am not aware of any such order by GPCB,’’ Chhiber said. GPCB secretary Sanjeev Tyagi could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
On Monday, however, the villagers were continuing with their protest and demanding implementation of the GPCB direction.
