Order of the National Green Tribunal (Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata) in the matter of Laxmidhar Palai Vs District Collector, Balasore & Others dated 17/06/2021.

The matter is related to illegal sand mining in river Subarnarekha, Jaleswar, Odisha.

Report of the Joint Committee in Original Application No. 194 of 2020 in compliance of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, October 7, 2020. The matter is related to sand mining in the districts of Gadag, Raichur and Kalburgi, Karnataka.

The Joint Committee inspected 36 mines in Gadag and one each in Raichur and Gulbarga districts. During the visit, mine owners expressed technical difficulties/non-viabilities in installing the dust control measures and implementation of water conservation measures.

Reply to the Joint Committee Report on behalf of the Applicant in OA 91 OF 2020 (SZ) (Venkatapathi Raja Yenumula  Vs Union of India & Others). The matter is related to illegal aquaculture and beach sand mining in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

The NGT, July 1, 2021 had directed for the constitution of a 6 member joint committee to conduct inspections on the allegations raised by the applicant (Venkatapathi Raja Yenumula).

The applicant has raised objections to the report of the Joint Inspection Committee, some of which are the following:

Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Srikanta Kumar Pakal & Others Vs State of Odisha & Others dated 16/04/2021. The matter related to illegal sand mining in Mahanadi river, Nuapatana Mouza, Tangi-Choudwar tehsil, district Cuttack. The allegation of the applicant is that remote sensing satellite pictures show extensive degradation of river bed and extraction of sand illegally through the mechanical means which is not permissible in law.

Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Debashis Das Vs West Bengal Pollution Control Board & Others dated 16/04/2021. The matter related to illegal sand mining carried on in the river bed of river Ajay within the blocks, namely Jamuria and Barbabniin the district of Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal.

Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Ved Prakash Singh Vs Union of India & Others dated 15/04/2021. The matter related to indiscriminate and unchecked mining in the Sone river in the district of Rohtas, Bihar.

Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Pinak Ranjan Das Vs District Collector Jajpur & Others dated 15/04/2021. The matter related to illegal sand mining in Kharsrota river, district Jajpur, Odisha.

Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Sandeep Kharb Vs Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change & Others dated 07/04/2021.

Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Rajendra Singh Versus Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change & Others dated 25/03/2021.

The matter related to grant of mining leases without preparation of District Survey Report (DSR) as per the Sustainable Sand Management Guidelines (SSMG), 2016 and the Enforcement & Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining (EMGSM), 2020 in the district Banda, Uttar Pradesh. It is stated that an advertisement dated February 8, 2021 was issued for grant of mining leases without replenishment and carrying capacity studies.