Tribune press service
Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Chandigarh, August 27
Upholding the findings of two panels that revealed illegal mining at Dadam (Bhiwani), the National Green Tribunal (NGT) decided to recover the cost of illegal mining (penalty) and environmental damage from the project promoter (PP).
Illegal mining at the Dadam site was highlighted when five workers died in a landslide on January 1. Later, two more workers died on April 24 due to a landslide. Formed on the directions of the NGT, a
a seven-member panel headed by Judge Pritam Pal and another eight-member joint panel upheld illegal mining at Dadam.
Disposing of the case on August 26, the NGT bench, led by the presiding Judge Adarsh Kumar Goel, observed: “…the PP (M/s Goverdhan Mines and Minerals) undertook the mining illegally beyond the permitted area and in violation of the plan. as confirmed by satellite images. The bench added that it had ‘failed to provide the necessary 7.5m wide greenbelt along the lease boundary’ and ‘a safety zone’ within the leased mining area. .
“Compensation must therefore be assessed and recovered from the PP for undertaking mining beyond the authorized area and depth, as well as the cost of restoring the damage to the plantation, apart from the cost of the material illegally mined,” NGT said.
He noted that Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal, in an Action Taken Report (ATR), dated August 20, said he had fined current PP M/s Goverdhan Mines Rs 29.65 crore. for illegally mining 10.66 lakh MT mineral, and issuance of show cause notice of Rs 34.88 crore on previous PP M/s Sunder Marketing Associates for damaging Distributor Dadam and illegally mining 1.89 lakh MT of clay and 12.45 lakh MT of stone.
The Forestry Department filed a complaint against M/s Sunder Marketing for illegal mining of 1,241 hectares and M/s Goverdhan Mines of 0.097 hectares in the Special Environmental Court of Kurukshetra.
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has also filed a case against the current PP in the Special Environmental Tribunal for violation of environmental standards, while the Department of Irrigation has issued a show cause notice of Rs 5.84 crore to M/s Sunder Marketing for damage to distributor Dadam, and an FIR was also registered on July 20.
The NGT order stated: “…The mining operations in this case resulted in the generation of tons of dust emissions without the required mitigation measures. This calls for corrective action for the future and fixing responsibility for the past.
“…a penalty for illegal mining equal to the cost of the mined material already assessed should be considered final,” the NGT added.
However, instead of considering the cost of environmental damage at Rs 7.5 crore on the current PP, the NGT has set an interim compensation at 10% of the value of the materials mined, pending the final compensation to be determined. by a mixed committee headed by Le Supplémentaire. Chief Secretary, Mines, Haryana; with the HSPCB Membership Secretary; Regional Officer of the Central Pollution Control Commission; Indian Bureau of Mines, Dhanbad; and Principal Chief Conservation of Forest (PCCF), Haryana, as members.
The committee will also finalize the environmental damage cost from the previous PP. “It is well established that under the precautionary principle of environmental law, the non-availability of adequate scientific reports/studies/data is no reason to ignore degradation,” the NGT said, while asking the committee to finalize the case in time. three months.
