The NGT panel further requested that the district magistrate of Mayurbhanj submit a personal affidavit detailing the actions that were taken against the local tehsildar who was claimed to have permitted the sand mining.
Pradeep Kumar Bindhani and Krupasindhu Singh, two mining contractors, were ordered by the NGT to pay the amount.
The National Green Tribunal has ordered two residents of Mayurbhanj district to deposit approximately 36 crore for illegal mining, royalty for the excess mined sand, and environmental damage caused by it. This is the highest penalty ever imposed on people engaging in illegal mining of sand from riverbed in Odisha.
In three different cases, the NGT ordered mining contractors Pradeep Kumar Bindhani and Krupasindhu Singh of the Mayurbhanj district to pay the amount for illegal and excessive mining from the Budhabalanga riverbed. The order was made by the two-member bench comprising B Amit Sthalekar and Saibal Dasgupta.
The NGT panel further requested that the district magistrate of Mayurbhanj submit a personal affidavit outlining the actions that had been taken against the local tehsildar who was claimed to have permitted the sand mining.
Pradeep Bindhani received environmental approval for sand mining in the Dingiria section of the Budhabalanga River in February 2017. The area is 6.526 acres, and there is a mineable reserve of sand there that is 7,095 cubic metres.
The state pollution control board gave him Consent to Operate in May 2017, but it was only good until March 2021.
He had a daily quota of 9 cubic metres and an annual cap of 2,000 cubic metres for sand mining, but Bindhani scooped 240 times more than that at 2,295 cubic metres each day and 4.819 lakh cubic metres annually.
Similar to this, Bindhani received environmental clearance for 7.36 acres of land in the Arapata section of the Budhabalanga river in February 2017 and consent to operate in April 2017, both of which were only valid through March 2021.
He was permitted to mine up to 10 cubic metres of sand per day, with a 2200 cubic metre yearly limitation. However, Bindhani dug 240 times more than that, at 2,970 cubic metres per day and 6.23 lakh cubic metres annually.
A 13.72-acre sand mining lease was given to Krupasindhu Singh in the Mahupura section of the Budhabalanga riverbed. Singh removed significantly more sand than the permitted limit, which was only 10 cubic metres per day and 2,200 cubic metres per year. Instead, Singh extracted almost 2,040 cubic metres of sand per day and 4.28 lakh cubic metres annually.
The NGT panel ordered Singh to pay ₹16.27 crore for a comparable offence, while Bindhani, who is now in jail, must pay up to ₹20 crore.
The bench also voiced its displeasure at the absence of criminal action taken against Mumtaz Maharana, a former tehsildar of Badasahi, despite claims that she had colluded with mining contractors.
“It is established that the contractors and tehsildar Badasahi were conspiring to steal and pilfer sand from the sand beds, causing theft of several crores of state income, based on the preponderance of documentary evidence and the inspection report.
Despite the fact that a FIR has been filed against the contractors, Smt. Mamtaj Maharana, the Tahasildar, and Badasahi, there is no evidence to support this. The judge questioned, “We cannot comprehend why the State Respondents are protecting Maharana.
According to Sankar Pani, the attorney for petitioner Radha Mohan Singh, an OPCB team sent by the NGT to inspect the sand mining operation discovered serious violations of the Mining Plan, the MMDR Act of 1957, the EC and Water (PCP) Act of 1974, and the Air (PCP) Act of 1981.
Even though mechanical mining and the use of machines in sand mining are prohibited, the contractors still employed excavators and Hyva, according to Pani.
According to the OPCB, which examined the sand mining, excessive mining altered the normal river flow of river water through mechanical and arbitrary sand mining. It claimed that mining had taken place outside of the boundaries of the lease, outside of the designated safe zone, and close to the river bridge.
Prafulla Samantra, a well-known environmental campaigner, claimed that the NGT order against unlawful sand mining from the state’s riverbeds will undermine and collapse river banks and cause erosion both upstream and downstream.
“Excessive mining would increase the stream’s carrying capacity, which would cause significant changes in the river’s shape and the extinction of aquatic and riparian habitat. The entire streambed could deteriorate to the depth of excavation if extraction is allowed to continue, Samantra warned.
Prasanta Patnaik