CUTTACK: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a three-member committee to probe the allegations of illegal sand mining from Brahmani river at Tendra under Bonai tehsil in Sundargarh district by a private lessee.
NGT’s East Zone bench constituted the committee comprising senior scientists of Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB), State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and Sundargarh collector on April 4, basing on a petition filed by Jhadeswar Pradhan (60), a resident of Tendra village.
The petition alleged that the private lessee was carrying out excess extraction of sand through mechanical mining and transporting them in overloaded heavy vehicles through the villages over private plots and agricultural lands.
Around 4,000 cubic metre of sand was being extracted per day when the permission is only for 30,000 cubic metre for the entire year, the petition also alleged. Advocates Sankar Prasad Pani and Ashutosh Padhy appeared on Pradhan’s behalf in virtual mode.
Taking on record the submissions, the bench comprising B Amit Sthalekar (Judicial Member) and Afroz Ahmad (Expert Member) said: “Considering the allegations made, we deem it appropriate to constitute a committee which shall visit the site in question and submit its report with regard to the allegations made in the petition.”
“The collector & district magistrate, Sundargarh shall be the nodal officer for all logistic purposes and for filing the inspection report on the affidavit,” the bench said while directing to list the matter on July 8.
The bench further issued notices to the chief secretary, executive engineer Rural Works division (Rourkela), tehsildar (Bonai), regional transport officer (Rourkela), member secretary OSPCB, member secretary SEIAA, deputy director of Mines (Koira Circle), and superintendent of police (Rourkela).
Additional government advocate Satyabrata Mohanty accepted the notices on behalf of the state authorities. “All the respondents shall file their counter-affidavits within four weeks,” the bench added, while also issuing notice to the deputy director general of Forests (Ministry of Environment and Forests, Climate Change -Integrated Regional Office, Bhubaneswar) and the private lessee.