The Congress on Tuesday welcomed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order to stay on all sand mining activity in the river beds, which do not have requisite environmental clearance.
The environmental court’s interim order on Monday was given on a petition filed by the National Green Tribunal Bar Association in response to the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who initiated a drive against illegal sand mining Gautum Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh.
Welcoming the GNT order, leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Ajay Singh said that the order would help save the existence of the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh - the Narmada river, besides other rivers that have been endangered due to unabated illegal mining.
Singh also urged the Tribunal to form a committee to keep an eye for continuous monitoring of the implementation of the order and added that despite a High Court order illegal mining was still carried out in the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister.
The existence of the rivers of the State including the lifeline of the State - Narmada River, has been endangered due to frequent illegal mining during the past eight years. Sand mafia was not only extracting sand from the banks of the rivers but their morale is so high that they are continuously extracting sand from the middle of the rivers by installing heavy-duty machines, he added.
He said that illegal mining was going on in large scale in the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
He further alleged that officials including Girish Sharma and Manoj Saryam who tried to contain this illegal sand mining, were tortured and a promising young IPS Narendra Kumar was even murdered. Besides several officers and employees were beaten up by the sand mafia, he added.
The Congress veteran said that despite all out efforts illegal mining had been going on unabated in the State under the patronage of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government of the State. The Tribunal order would help save the environment and the rivers of the State, he added.