The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday sought response from the Uttar Pradesh Government on alleged illegal sand mining near Narora atomic power station, on the banks of river Ganga and its floodplains in the region.
A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notice to the State Government to “stop illegal sand mining completely without obtaining environmental clearance and other required permission” and also to study its impact in the region.
This comes in the wake of a petition filed before the green court seeking directions to Uttar Pradesh Government State level environment impact assessment authority and the district administration in this regard. The matter has been fixed for next hearing on May 9.
The petition, alleged that sand mining mafias are trespassing in private agricultural fields located near the flood plains to mine sand. What is further worrying as per the petition that such illegal mining is taking place in very close vicinity of Narora Atomic Power Station. The petition further alleged that such sand mining is continuing “unabated under the nose of the Government officials in Sambhal district and if the district administration simply took a round in the area, they would see lakhs of cubic meters of sand amassed by mining mafias in the past couple of months.”
As per the latest sand mining rules released by the Green Ministry, such illegal mining is not only in contravention of the Environment (Protection) Act but also against the NGT’s order as per which sand mining without any environmental clearance was banned across the country. As per the new policy, sand mining will be allowed only after satellite maps are available giving details on where the sand is deposited, how much sand is deposited and from exactly sand is being extracted.
Illegal sand mining has already led to devastating consequences in the country, changing the river hydrology and affecting the level of ground water, the petition further alleged.