In complete violation of National Green Tribunal (NGT) directives pertaining to sand mines in Bihar, the State Government on Friday approved a Bihar Mining Plan even though the green tribunal had raised apprehensions in the complete mining process in the State.

The State Mines and Geology Department last month had suspended the e-auctioning of sand mines following NGT order and hired a consultant for preparation of Draft Mine Plan.

The development of approval of a mining plan for Son River (a copy of which is with The Pioneer) is a matter of concern. This is also in contradiction to the departments own November 9 order that that e-tendering process for auction of sand ghats has been suspended till the disposal of the case by the NGT.

“When the matter is yet to be disposed in the NGT, this new policy of the department raise serious matter as what was the hurry by the State,” said K S Prasad, a green tribunal lawyer. People from the State had challenged the new sand mining policy of September 2019 in NGT on the plea that it is not consistent with the Supreme Court guidelines related to the same and there was lot of loopholes in the system ensuring corrupt practices.

Sources said there are around 400 sand mining ghats across the state. The e-tendering which was suspended on NGT orders was being done for fresh allotment of the mining rights as per new sand mining policy based on September 2019 Policy. The principal bench of NGT, New Delhi, in its October 23, 2019 order stated that e-auction shall not be carried out until the final disposal of the matter.

The principal bench of NGT comprised judicial member Justice S P Wangdi and expert member Dr Satyawan Singh Garbyal.