Expressing concern over illegal sand mining from Narmada riverbed, the central bench of the National Green Tribunal has asked the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to examine the impact on rivers in the last ten years.
The bench’s directions came while hearing a petition filed by and NGO 'Paryavaran & Manav Sanrakshan Samiti'.
Illegal sand mining in Madhya Pradesh has thrived allegedly due to patronage of the mafia from political leaders.
So much so that one IPS officer was killed allegedly by sand mafia in 2012. In its order, the bench stressed that despite several directions issued by the Supreme Court, various high courts and NGT’s principal bench, sand mining is thriving in the state.
“Therefore, MoEF must come forward with a practical policy taking into account the present nature and the pace at which the development is taking place and also taking into account the negative impact it is going to have on the ecology of various rivers as sand is generally extracted from the river bed,” the order stated.
The bench also directed the state government to file an affidavit regarding how many cases had been registered against those persons on whose behalf unauthorised extraction or transportation of mineral had been carried out in MP.
The bench also said that it would expect the state government to incorporate necessary directions in the building permissions itself while granting them to the project proponents and contractors for raising constructions to indicate in their applications the source from which such building material including sand will be obtained by the developer/contractor.
The bench issued the order on Wednesday. The next hearing in the case would be on December 4.
