NGT orders probe into illegal sand mining
CUTTACK: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a committee to probe into allegations of illegal extraction of sand by using excavators from Subarnarekha river bed at Benapur under Basta tehsil of Balasore district.
The NGT’s east zone bench in Kolkata formed the four-member committee on Wednesday comprising Balasore collector, Member Secretary of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), senior scientist of Odisha State Pollution Control Board and mining officer of Baripada circle.
The bench of B Amit Sthalekar (Judicial Member) and Saibal Dasgupta (Expert Member) said, “The committee shall submit its report with regard to the illegal sand mining in Subarnarekha river, Balasore as well as division of river and construction of sand bars / bonds / diversion or road in the river and other violations as alleged in the application”.
“The committee shall also determine if mining is being carried out in excess of the mining plan/area and loss to the State revenue thereby and compute the same accordingly, including the cost/damages to the environment”, the bench said.
While posting the matter for hearing on July 6, the bench directed the committee to submit its report positively within four weeks or before that date. Saral Kumar Parida, a resident of Basta, had filed the application.