The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a three-member committee to examine allegations of mining beyond lease area and excess extraction by the lessee of Gopinathpur sand quarry in the Brahmani river under Talcher tehsil in Angul district.
NGT’s east zone bench in Kolkata felt the “matter requires consideration” and formed the committee on Tuesday on Talcher based Youth United for Sustainable Environmental Trust’s petition seeking direction to the mining department to conduct a drone survey to assess the mining beyond lease area and excess sand mining.
The bench of B Amit Sthalekar (Judicial Member) and Arun Kumar Verma (Expert Member) said, “Considering the allegations made, we deem it appropriate to constitute a committee to elicit the veracity of the allegations. The committee shall inspect the site in question and submit its report within four weeks on affidavit with regard to the allegations made.” The committee included senior scientists of OSPCB and State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and district collector, Angul, or his representative not below the rank of ADM.
“The district collector, Angul, shall be the nodal agency for all logistic purposes,” the bench said in the order.