NGT: Stop sand mining from Brahmani in Dhenkanal

Cuttack: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered to stop extraction of sand from Brahmani riverbed in Dhenkanal without approval of the district survey report (DSR) by the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).NGT’s east zone bench in Kolkata passed the order on an application filed by Harihar Samal seeking intervention against fresh auction notice for Kurunti Brahmani sand quarry issued on the basis of a DSR not based on ground realities. The sand quarry spread over 12.50 acres at Kurunti under Odapada tehsil is an old source for which a new auction notice for fresh lease of five years was issued in September 2023 and the lessee had applied for environmental clearance (EC) to SEIAA.After inspection, an NGT-constituted committee had reported the quarry is still not in operation as the lessee had not yet obtained EC and consent to operate. In an affidavit, the SEIAA had stated that after the DSR was not approved, no revised report has been submitted by Dhenkanal administration. But SEIAA admitted that it allowed EC for sand quarries based on a replenishment study report.

Even after HC rap, illegal sand mining on in Ragada, say locals

The high court of Bombay at Goa directed state authorities to halt unauthorised sand mining in Ragada, a tributary of the Mhadei that rises in the hilly terrain of the Western Ghats in Karnataka, entering Goa through the Tambdi Surla forest. Illegal mining persists despite the court order.

What's government doing to stop killing of officials by sand mafia, asks Madhya Pradesh high court

Madhya Pradesh high court seeks info on preventing illegal sand mining and govt employee killings. Recent deaths of ASI Mahendra Bagri and patwari Prashann Singh prompt court inquiry, leading to a delay in the bail application of accused Shubham Vishwakarma and Anuj Kol