CUTTACK: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a three-member team to ascertain the veracity of allegations against authorities over illegal mechanical extraction of sand by a lessee from the Kusei river bed at Deogaon under Ghasipura tehsil of Keonjhar district.
Tapas Kumar Bal, a resident of Deogan, had filed a petition alleging that the lessee is illegally mining sand beyond the permitted lease area. Advocate Sankar Prasad Pani argued on behalf of the petitioner.
Though the extraction is supposed to be done through dry pit and manual means, the lessee was using earth mover/machines of different capacities which are strictly prohibited by the Sand Mining Rules and Guidelines, it was alleged. Taking it on record, the NGT’s Kolkata bench of Justice B Amit Sthalekar (judicial member) and Dr Arun Kumar Verma (expert member) on Friday said, “Considering the allegations made, we deem it appropriate to constitute a committee to elicit the veracity of the allegations.”
“The committee shall inspect the site in question and submit its report within four weeks on affidavit with regard to the allegations made,” the bench added in the January 19 order.
The committee constituted by NGT included senior scientist, Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB), a senior scientist State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and collecta or and district magistrate (Keonjhar) or his representative not below the rank of additional district magistrate.
The bench fixed March 11 for further consideration of the matter along with the committee’s inquiry report.