PANAJI
The Goa government has filed a ‘part compliance’ report claiming to have recovered more than Rs 23-lakh worth of assets from the persons accused of illegally mining sand and pebbles from the bed of the Ragada river in Sanguem.
When the matter came up for hearing, the affidavit on behalf of the specially constituted committee filed its status report before the Court.
“The court also asked to explore the possibility of auctioning some of the machinery and assets that were found at the illegal quarry site in a bid to recover the money,” state Advocate General Devidas Pangam, said.
The High Court has now asked that the committee submit a full compliance report at the next date of hearing.
At the previous hearing the Bombay High Court at Goa has constituted a committee comprising of the Inspector General of Police, Superintendent of Police (South), Collector of South Goa, and Director of Mines to inquire into how minor minerals (sand, boulders, pebbles and gravel) worth an estimated 1.60 crore were extracted from the Ragada river at Sanguem within the protected forest area and how the amounts can be recovered from the accused.
“We constitute a committee/team comprising of the Inspector General of Police, Superintendent of Police (South), Collector of South Goa, and Director of Mines to go into this issue and submit us a report within four weeks on the circumstances in which the theft of public property to such a large extent was possible; the extent of environmental damage on account of this illegal and unlawful extraction from Ragada river; the status about movable and immovable properties or other assets of Swapnil Malik and the steps taken for recovery of the amount of 1,60,52,916,” the High Court said.
“The report should also explain, if possible, the current financial status of Swapnil Malik and how he was managing his business involving crores of rupees at the time when the extraction was going on,” the High Court bench of Justices M S Sonak and Bharat Deshpande, ruled.
The High Court had taken up a public interest litigation suo moto back in 2019 based on newspaper reports that illegal dredging of the river was taking place.
The reports alleged that certain persons were involved in unauthorised dredging at the Zambaulim river and different sites and thereafter entered the Ragada river for the purpose of dredging and extracted pebbles, rocks, stone and boulders illegally from these rivers and transported them to Borcottem, Mollem where, one Govind Gaonkar is alleged to have set up an illegal crusher and washing plant to process the material into sand.
More than 5,000 trip loads of pebbles mixed with sand were transported and are stored and crushed at the site, the report alleged.
