Rs 93 Crore Loss Caused By Illegal Mining In UP's Gonda, Green Court Told

Illegal mining in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh has caused a loss of royalty of Rs 93.04 crore to the state government, the National Green Tribunal has been told by a committee constituted by it.

The NGT was also informed by the panel that an amount of Rs 119.41 crore was required for restoration of the area which has been affected due to the unauthorised mining.

Taking note of the submissions, a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the Uttar Pradesh government to take steps within six months for recovering the revenue loss.

The tribunal had appointed advocate Rachit Mittal as amicus curiae to assist the green panel in the matter.

"A report dated September 7, 2017 has been submitted which is a subject matter of consideration in the present application. In the said report, it has been inter-alia found that the illegal mining has resulted in loss of royalty of Rs 93,04,45,776 and money required for restoration is Rs 119,41,14,500.

"We do not see any reason not to accept the said report as no objection has been filed. Accordingly, UP may take steps in accordance with law, for recovering the loss caused, expeditiously and as far as possible within six months. The amount assessed as loss to the environment should be separately earmarked for restoration of the environment," the bench said.

The tribunal directed the state government to submit a report on the action taken and details of the amount spent on restoration of Kalyanpur village in Tarabganj Tehsil of Gonda district on or before the last week of April, 2019.

In a detailed judgement, the Tribunal had last year banned illegal extraction of minor minerals through mechanised mining in Gonda and Faizabad districts of Uttar Pradesh and ordered a probe into the unauthorised activities there.

The green panel had ordered that there should be no mining activity within 50 metres from the end of the railway track on Mankapur in Faizabad and 150 metres from railway or any other bridges.

The NGT had constituted a team comprising the Gonda deputy commissioner, senior officers from the UP Pollution Control Board, senior scientists from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, the senior most officer from Department of Geology and Mining of the UP government and an expert officer from the Environment Ministry.

The tribunal had passed the judgement on the plea filed by Lok Sabha lawmaker Kirti Vardhan Singh from Gonda who had written to it seeking ban on large-scale illegal sand mining going on in his constituency in Gonda and railway track on Mankapur in Faizabad.

The bench said mechanical extraction of minor minerals in large quantity near the railway track was bound to endanger not only the environment and ecology of that area but also enhance the chances of collapsing of the track.

The green body had also directed the panel to investigate the role of former UP minister Vinod Kumar Singh and his brother Narendra Singh while conducting the probe and state whether they have any role in illegal mining activity or not.

It was also asked to report about the damage caused to the environment in the nearby villages, quantum of money required for restoration and also state the loss of revenue to the state government in terms of minerals and revenue within four weeks, the bench had said.