NGT Imposes Rs 30 Crore Penalty On Lessees For Illegal Sand Mining In Odisha’s Mayurbhanj

Bhubaneswar: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a penalty of around Rs 30 crore on lessees for illegal sand mining from the bed of Budhabalanga river in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.

As per the case filed by Radhamohan Singh of the district in the NGT, Pradip Kumar Bindhani and Krupasindhu Singh had been granted lease for sand mining in the river. They were issued Environmental Clearances (EC) and Consent to Operate (CTO) for sand mining in Budhabalanga at Dingiria, Arpata and Mahupura villages. But Bindhani was carrying out excess mining at two places and Krupasindhu Singh committed the same violation in one place.

The complainant alleged that Bindhani was accorded an EC and a CTO for extracting nine cubic metre of sand per day and 2,000 cubic metre of sand per year in 16.12-acre area at Dingiria under Badasahi tehsil of the district. But he was found to be extracting 2,295 cubic metre of sand per day and 4.819 lakh cubic metre of sand per year, which was 240 times the permissible limit. It was causing revenue loss of about Rs 43.68 crore to the state exchequer.

“As the lessee was operating the mine for 2021-22 without valid consent to operate from the State Pollution Control Board and valid EC from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Odisha, Bhubaneswar, the lessee shall pay the environmental compensation for ecological damage due to illegal mining an amount of Rs 11.89 crore and environmental compensation of Rs 21 lakh for damage of the environment and operation of the quarry without valid CTO,” The Hindu quoted the NGT’s eastern zone Bench comprising B Amit Sthalekar, judicial member, and Saibal Dasgupta, expert member, as saying in the ruling.

On the allegation that Bindhani had lifted 240 times of the permitted volume of sand at Arpata village, the NGT imposed a penalty of Rs 4.92 crore.

Similarly, Krupasindhu Singh was allegedly extracting around 2,040 cubic metre per day and 4.28 lakh cubic metre per annum against the limit of 2,200 cubic metre per annum as per the mining plan at Mahupura village. The NGT slapped a fine of Rs 12.56 crore on him.

Besides, the tribunal directed the two lessees to pay Rs 7.12 crore towards royalty for carrying out excess mining. Shankar Pani was the counsel for petitioner Singh.