CHENNAI: The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu chief secretary to constitute a permanent committee to curb illegal sand mining in Cooum River.
The directive, which mandated 24-hour security patrol and installation of CCTV cameras in the area, comes after TNIE broke a story about illegal sand mining off Marina on September 7, 2021.
The bench, comprising judicial member Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member K Satyagopal, in the final order said the permanent committee will be headed by the additional chief secretary of Department of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The panel will also include member-secretary of Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority, district collector, police commissioner or his nominee not below the rank of a joint commissioner. The committee will monitor eco-sensitive areas along the Marina and will also assess damage caused to the area. The order was issued based on a petition filed by MR Thiyagarajan, president of Meenava Thanthai KR Selvaraj Kumar Meenava Nala Sangam. Thiyagarajan had cited the TNIE article in his petition.
Earlier, when TNIE sought CCTV footage of the night when sand was illegally mined, police officials said surveillance cameras on the road were out of order. The tribunal also directed Water Resources Department to take the permission of the coastal regulatory zone authority before dredging the river mouth ahead of monsoon every year.
“The committee will help end illegal sand mining which was happening under the guise of dredging,” said G Stanly Hebzon Singh, counsel for the petitioner. The TNIE report brought to light illegal mining of sea sand from an area near Napier Bridge around midnight. PWD officials had confirmed that no official permission was granted for removing the sand and no G.O was issued. According to official estimates, over 1 lakh cubic metres of sand accumulates every year at the point, which is enough load for 25,000 lorry trips.