National Green Tribunal rejects report on excavation of sand

Hyderabad: The National Green Tribunal in Delhi on Friday rejected the report submitted by the Central Pollution Control Board with regard to alleged illegal sand mining in AP and TS. A two-member team of the CPCB recently visited the two states to ascertain whether the excavation of sand going on both the states was sand mining or de-silting. It submitted its report to the NGT on Friday.

A bench of the NGT, headed by Justice Jawad Rahim, had directed the CPCB to inspect the excavation activity following applications by Readiness for Empowerment through Legitimate Action (RELA) from TS and K. Vijaylakshmi from AP seeking a ban on usage of heavy machinery for excavation of sand as it damages the floodplains/riverbed and also results in total destruction of ecology besides causing air and sound pollution.

The bench, after perusing the report, pointed out that the inspection team failed to determine whether the activity was sand mining or de-silting. Besides, there was no mention in the report about the impact of using heavy machinery for either de-silting or mining.

K. Sravan Kumar, counsel for the petitioner, alleging  that there were a lot of contradictions in the report of the CPCB, brought to the notice of the tribunal the death of 15 people in Erpadu village of Chittoor district wherein  a sand-carrying lorry rammed into a group of people protesting.

Health risks due to piling of bodies

• Stench is continuous, all pervasive. Micro-organisms that spread over large distances cause respiratory and breathing problems.
• Staff working in the mortuary such as forensic doctors, assistants and other employees prone to serious ailments.
• Also, 100 to 150 relatives of the deceased, who frequent the mortuary are at risk.
• Boarders in the PG hostel adjacent to the mortuary complex permanently keep their windows shut to ward off the stench.