The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board to close the illegally operating stone crushers/mines -- not having valid consents and not following valid siting criteria in Rajmahal hills.
"We also direct the State PCB to close the illegally operating stone crushers/mines - those not having valid consents, those not following valid siting criteria and those not maintaining laid down safeguards," said an NGT bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel.
The NGT bench also sought a compliance report to be filed before the next date and listed the matter for further consideration on April 20 2022.
The court was hearing various matters related to enforcement of environmental norms in the operation of quarrying and crushing units in Rajmahal hills of the Vindhya Mountains, District Sahebganj, Jharkhand.
In earlier orders, the Tribunal had noted that the area is rich in mineral resources and the mining companies or other entities are indulging in indiscriminate mining. It had also noted that stone crushers are operating without following environmental norms.
In this process, the hills are blown up and to remedy the problem, the Tribunal had passed several orders in the last three years, including prohibiting illegal mining and non-compliant stone crushing activities vide order dated July 6, 2017, followed by an order dated April 17, 2018.
( With inputs from ANI )
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