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The NGT,September 4, 2024 ordered the formation of a joint committee to investigate the accusations of sand mining disguised as silt removal from the riverbed of the Ganga at Trivenighat, Naavghat, Duttatray Ghat, Suryaghat, and Mayakund in Rishikesh, Dehradun district.
The committee comprising district magistrate, Dehradun, Uttarakhand State Pollution Control Board and a representative of National Mission for Clean Ganga, after visiting the site and collecting relevant information, has been directed to submit a factual report with relevant material within one month. The matter has been listed for October 16, 2024.
The complainant has said that for removal of muck / silt deposited due to flood at Triveni Ghat platform, authorities executed a contract with Akash Jain for removal of such muck / silt. However, in the garb of muck / silt removal, the contractor has entered into illegal mining activity and excavating sand, bajri from river bed of Ganga at Trivenighat, Naavghat, Duttatray Ghat, Suryaghat and Mayakund in Rishikesh, Dehradun district.
Heavy machinery such as JCBs are being employed for mining operations, which is resulting in significant environmental harm and negatively impacting river ecology due to the illegal nature of these activities.
For monitoring of air pollution, the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board has installed five continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) at various locations at Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) area, Navi Mumbai.
The SPCB is already in the process of modifying consent conditions for switching over to cleaner fuels (PNG) instead of coal and furnace oil. Also most of the solvent-based industries have installed VOC analyser, gas detection systems.
This was stated in the report filed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board on September 4, 2024.
According to the report, there are 167 chemical units in the Thane Belapur, trans Thane Creek, MIDC area of Navi Mumbai. Among them, 14 are large-scale chemical units, 5 are medium-scale chemical units, and 148 are small-scale chemical units currently in operation.
On November 28, 2023, the team from the Regional Director Office of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in Pune visited the Thane Belapur Industrial Estate and the nearby residential area of Kopari Gaon, Koparkhirane, and Vashi to conduct a survey of the mentioned locations.
CPCB has submitted odour and air pollution related specific mitigation plans for the Navi Mumbai area and framed sector wise specific mitigation plans with short term and long-term measures to control odor and air pollution.
CPCB has identified the sectors causing odor problems in the Navi Mumbai area in its status reports. These include chemical allied industries, bulk drug and chemical units using solvent, and common effluent treatment plant.
The central bench of the NGT instructed a two-member joint committee September 5, 2024 to verify the existence of unauthorised mining and construction activities near the Kaliyasot River. The committee will inspect the location and provide a report on the measures taken.
The court has also ordered that notices be sent to the state of Madhya Pradesh via the District Collector of Bhopal and the Member Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board, among others. The respondents have been instructed to provide their responses within six weeks.
Issue raised in the application was illegal mining within 33 meters of the river and raising the unauthorised construction from Valmipur, Kolar road to the colony, raising gate within the 33 meter of radius, mining stone soil and gravel from the river, discharging the sewage into the Kaliyasot river in violation of environmental rules polluting the water body.