No further sand mining will be allowed on Son River: NGT
The two mining companies are required to pay environmental compensation of Rs. 8.16 crore and Rs. 7.08 crore respectively, to the UPPCB in instalments.
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Material submitted to the court by the petitioners pointed to a decline in the population of gharial and tortoise in the river due to illegal mining. (file) No further mining for sand will be allowed on the riverbed of the Son River, a gharial habitat, in UP’s Sonbhadra district, till mining leases that have already been granted are revisited, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has said in a recent order.
The Tribunal’s Principal Bench was hearing a case against two companies mining sand in violation of conditions of their environment clearance in Sonbhadra, and causing damage to aquatic ecology, flora, and fauna. NGT has constituted a joint committee, including the district magistrate, Sonbhadra, and representatives of the UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), and State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, to revisit all mining leases granted in the Son riverbed in Sonbhadra.
The two mining companies are required to pay environmental compensation of Rs. 8.16 crore and Rs. 7.08 crore respectively, to the UPPCB in instalments.
The river runs through Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
Noting that the river course of the Son is common from Madhya Pradesh to Bihar, and that aquatic animals like “alligators, gharial, tortoise etc. can travel very long distances” and travelling of these aquatic animals from MP to UP, and Bihar cannot be ruled out, the NGT has directed that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Environment and Forest ministries of UP and Bihar will consider the matter of declaring part of the Son river running through UP and Bihar as a wildlife sanctuary and eco-sensitive zone for the protection of gharials, and take action within three months.
The Tribunal’s order said that part of the River Son in Madhya Pradesh has been declared the Son Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary and “certain area has been further declared as ‘ESZ’ (eco-sensitive zone)”.
Material submitted to the court by the petitioners pointed to a decline in the population of gharial and tortoise in the river due to illegal mining.
The NGT order stated: “If indiscrete, uncontrolled and unmonitored mining in the river stream is allowed in States of UP and Bihar, it is bound to damage these aquatic animals. When a substantial part of River Son in the State of MP has been declared as Son Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary and ESZ, we do not find as to why the entire course of River Son to the extent these gharials etc. can travel the runoff of River Son, should not be declared as a Protected Area/ESZ…”.
The Tribunal has also noted that inaction on the part of the authorities for the protection of aquatic animals “amounts to a failure in discharge of statutory functions and is seriously condemnable.”
It had earlier constituted a committee that conducted field visits in the area. The two companies were found to have carried out illegal mining beyond the area leased to them. The committee had also found that illegal mining was being done in the mainstream of the river, and “illegal mining pits were located towards the centre of the river”, outside the lease area, “which may certainly change the course of the river flow and its velocity”.
The NGT has noted in its order: “This is a serious violation which has serious consequences, degrading and damaging effect on the river ecology.”
In addition to the extraction of groundwater without permission, the committee had also pointed out that the companies have raised temporary bridges across the river to transport minerals from one side to the other. The Tribunal’s order said that such structures were not permitted, since interrupting the flow pattern of the river is prohibited as per the conditions of the environment clearance granted for mining.
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