NGT lens on illegal sand mining in Jajpur dist

Cuttack: National Green Tribunal (NGT) constituted a three-member fact-finding committee to investigate allegations of illegal sand mining by private lessees from Pankapal river bed at Danagadi tehsil of Jajpur district.

NGT's East Zone bench formed the committee on April 3 and includes representatives from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB), the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the Jajpur district collector. The action was taken in response to a petition filed by a Talcher-based trust.

Advocate Ashutosh Padhy, representing the trust, alleged that illegal extraction was occurring outside the lease area in Pankapal-I and Pankapal-II sand mining blocks, using high-powered machines in violation of the Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines, 2016.

Taking this into account, the bench comprising B Amit Sthalekar (judicial member) and Dr Afroze Ahmad said, "We deem it appropriate to constitute a committee that shall visit the site in question and thereafter submit a fact-finding report on affidavit within three weeks regarding the allegations made in the application."

The bench, while listing the matter on May 6, said, "The district collector, Jajpur, shall be the nodal office for all logistic purposes and for filing the fact-finding report on affidavit."

The bench also issued notices to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (integrated regional office – Bhubaneswar), the OSPCB, the SEIAA, and state authorities, including the Jajpur district collector, the tehsildar (Danagadi), and the lessees. "All the respondents shall file their counter-affidavits within four weeks," the bench said in the order.