The ruling by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) making it mandatory to get environmental clearance for mining or removal of sand from river beds including areas less than five-hectares has put both the state authorities and the construction industry in a fix.
According to environmentalists and officials, the NGT’s direction denies sand mining without the clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) or State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), irrespective of the area, will have an added impact on the state. The majority of the sand mining plots in the state falls below five hectares and has been so far excluded from Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and clearance from SEIAA.
The Supreme Court in an order passed on February 27, 2012, has made it mandatory to get clearance for all sand mining plots irrespective of the area. However, the order was not enforced in the state till date and the position taken by the state government is that there is no need to acquire environment clearance for the plots less than five-hectares.
P Sreekantan Nair, Secretary, State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), Kerala, under SEIAA, said, “NGT’s order is very clear. It has been made compulsory to get environment clearance for all sand mining proposals. This means that there will be some added conditions and restrictions on awarding sand mining licenses, as the environment clearance will only be given after proper EIA.”
He further said that decision on issuing environmental clearance for up to 50 hectares will be taken by SEIAA and above it by the MoEF.
Till now licenses for sand mining from river beds in Kerala were issued by the respective local bodies based on the study report submitted by CWRDM in the north and CESS in the southern parts of the state.
Environmentalist C R Neelakandan says, “NGT’s order in effect will help check illegal mining. Contrary to other states, a majority of the sand mining plots in Kerala fall under the five-hectares category and hence there was no need for getting environment clearance from MoEF. Under this loophole, illegal mining from the river beds has become rampant in the state.”
“Once the authorities start to carry out the EIA, many current mining plots in the state will not get environment clearance. In this regard the NGT’s ruling has a greater impact in Kerala, than in other states,” he added.
