the goan I network
PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has issued a series of directions to the Goa government and enforcing authorities to undertake regular patrolling through flying squads at all stretches of rivers with specific directions that the patrolling shall not be at any fixed time of the day but randomly during the day and during the night, so as to genuinely surprise those indulging in illegal sand mining and ensure the stoppage of such illegal sand mining.
Passing a judgement in the petition filed by the Federation Rainbow Warriors which had approached the High Court against rampant illegal sand mining, the court also directed that any sand that was illegally extracted stacked on the river banks or on plots close to the river banks is put back into the river or used for the purpose of replenishment of the areas, where erosion has taken place on account of indiscriminate sand mining or other natural causes.
“The areas which are quite notorious for illegal sand mining have been identified by the Director of Mines and Captain of Ports, who are the main agencies of the government involved in the detection of illegal mining and charged with the responsibility of preventing such illegal mining or taking remedial action… the State and its agencies must ensure that there is intensive patrolling in these areas, both by road as well as in the rivers
themselves.
“We direct that patrolling must be done at least thrice each day in these areas and police must make entries in this regard in the station diary in their respective police stations,” the High Court ruled.
“We direct the State to provide the flying squads with dedicated boats for patrolling and site inspection with adequate staff. We also direct the Marine/Coastal Police to assist the flying squads to carry out regular patrolling and raids along the rivers whenever reports are received in the matter of illegal sand mining. All this exercise must be completed within three
months from today,” the High Court ruled.
With regard to the confiscated sand, the High Court had a warning for the state government that the confiscated sand must only be used for replenishment and only “if, for some reason such restoration or replenishment as aforesaid is not feasible, the State, may use the confiscated sand, gravel and other material for public projects, after maintaining proper records and following due procedures.”
“The maintenance of such records is absolutely necessary, as otherwise, there is a tendency for such confiscated material to find its way into unauthorized markets, looking to the demand for this material, particularly from the real estate or construction industry,” the High Court directed.
The Federation of Rainbow Warriors approached the High Court seeking remedial measures to be adopted by the State and its agencies to prevent and control illegal sand mining in the State of Goa.
They had also sought that the Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (GSEIAA) be directed to withdraw the environment clearance granted in the year 2015 for undertaking sand mining in certain specified areas.
However, the High Court declined to consider that plea, instead leaving it open to the petitioners to institute a fresh petition since such issue would involve hearing not only the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change but also at least some of the beneficiaries of this environment clearance upon representative basis.
“We felt that there was no point in delaying consideration of relief in terms of (A) above, by linking the two issues together, though, we agree, that the two issues are not entirely unconnected,” the High Court ruled.
