Accepting a plea of one Satish Kumar Biswal, a journalist, who drew attention that sand mining was going on in absence of any environmental clearance, NGT restrained DharmasalaTahasildar from issuing any temporary or permanent permit in respect of sand mining from Brahmani river in favour of any party, who had not been granted environment clearance certificate by application of Rule 27B of Odisha Minor Minerals Concession Rules, 2004.

The tribunal also directed to take appropriate action for violation of Rule 27B of the Odisha Minor Minerals Concession Rules, 2004 against the violators involved in sand mining from the river Brahmani in DharmasalaTahashil.

The NGT issued notice to the State government to submit a status report within three weeks and asked District Collector, Jajpur and Tahsildar of Dharmasala to submit action taken report on its direction.

Brahmani is the second largest river in Odisha and a major seasonal river in Eastern India. It flows through districts such as Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack and Jajpur. If its constituent rivers are included its length extends to about 799 kilometres, of which 541 kilometres are in Odisha. It has a catchment area of about 39,033 square kilometres.

“Indiscriminate sand mining both in Dharmasalatahasil and other places in the river has threatened the embankment and changed its flow,” said Mr. Biswal.

“The ongoing illegal and excessive sand mining in Brahmani river bed in Dharmasalatahasil has caused serious environmental degradation and ecological impact, and no environmental impact assessment has ever been conducted in areas earmarked for mining especially on the river beds,” said Shankar Pani, counsel for Mr. Biswal.

Mr. Pani said, “over the years river and riparian ecology have been badly hit by the alarming rate of unrestricted sand mining which damage the river ecosystem and the safety of bridges.”