The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ruled that all vehicles carrying minor minerals for supplying to stone crushers/screening plants in Faridabad, Gurugram, and Nuh districts are required to be equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS), latest by February 28.
In its order dated December 11, it added, “The route of the vehicle from source to destination be tracked through the system using checkpoints, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and Global Positioning System tracking. The requisite facilities be provided, systems be installed and control room/monitoring station be set up for this purpose accordingly.”
The directions came during a hearing on illegal mining in the Aravalli region of Haryana.
In response to an earlier query of the tribunal on vehicles carrying minor minerals fitted with GPS in the Aravallis, the Director of Mines and Geology had replied on August 12 that no stone crusher/screening plant existed in the Aravalli region. However, the NGT commented that by taking advantage of the fact that the tribunal didn’t specify the names of three districts in the query, no information on such vehicles was provided.
It pointed out that the Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining, 2020, provided GPS equipment should be installed in all sand-carrying vehicles.
Taking on the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), the NGT said, “In the Interim Report (filed by HSPCB) there is no mention as to the initiation of proceedings for imposition of and realisation of environmental damage compensation from all persons involved in illegal mining throughout the State of Haryana, including Aravalli.”
It said environmental compensation “do not originate from and are not dependent on criminal proceedings”. “There is no valid justification for not initiating the same,” it said, directing HSPCB to prepare an SOP for the same and issue directions within two months.
The tribunal found that the helpline, started by the mines department, to report illegal mining complaints was functional, but the email id of the control room did not work. The web portal for uploading photographs and videos with complaints was also in the process of development. “No report has been filed regarding progress made for making the same functional,” it said. The tribunal has formed a seven-member committee with the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Environment, Forest and Wildlife Department, as chairperson to “look into all relevant aspects of enforcement and monitoring to prevent illegal mining and transportation, reclamation/rehabilitation of illegally mined areas and imposition and realisation of environmental compensation”.
The Divisional Commissioners of Gurugram and Faridabad; IGP (Law and Order); Director, Mines and Geology; Member Secretary, HSPCB; and Chief Conservator of Forest (South), Haryana, will be members.
“Aravalli Rejuvenation Action Plan for reclamation/rehabilitation of the land illegally mined in the Aravalli region be also prepared and filed within two months,” it further ordered.