CHENNAI: The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) asked the district collector and the Joint Commissioner of Police (East) to appear before it if a report on the illegal sand mining from the Cooum River mouth is not submitted by December 21.
Based on a petition filed by MR Thiyagarajan, president of the Meenava Thanthai KR Selvaraj Kumar Meenava Nala Sangam, the NGT had constituted a committee to look into illegal sand mining from the Cooum. The committee, comprising members from various departments, including the PWD as well as the Collector and city police, carried out an inspection of the area on October 7.
However, the NGT bench stated that although three months had passed since the constitution of the committee and two months since the inspection, a report has not been filed. "Unfortunately, the District Collector in that capacity has not filed any independent statement, so far. That shows the non-understanding of the powers vested with the District Collector, especially when serious environmental issues have been projected before this tribunal," said an order issued by the bench of judicial member Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member K Satyagopal.
The tribunal also directed the applicant to hand over copies of photos and videos of the alleged illegal mining incidents to the District Collector and the Commissioner of Police and JCP (East) so that they can verify its genuineness.