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Stop illegal mining in Rupnagar, NGT directs Punjab govt

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New Delhi | The National Green Tribunal has directed the Punjab government to stop illegal sand mining in Rupnagar district and take action against the erring officers within three months.

Expressing concern over rampant mining, a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed Punjab chief secretary to appear before it on March 7 with a compliance report on the issue.

It directed the state government to stop illegal extraction and transportation of sand, recover compensation for violations and take action against the vehicles used for mining in Rupnagar’s Harshabela, Swarha and Baihara villages.

NGT also directed the committee formed to look into illegal mining to make an assessment of the damages to be recovered. “The compensation should be deterrent so as to render illegal activities unprofitable. The vehicles involved may not be released unless 50 per cent of the showroom value of the new vehicle is recovered. The damages should include not only the cost of the illegally mined material but also for damage to the environment,” it said.

The tribunal’s direction came after perusing the report of a committee comprising officials from the Central Pollution Control Board, mining director and the state pollution control board.

The committee in its report submitted to the NGT said that mining was being done in unscientific manner and beyond the permitted depth.

It told NGT that the stone crushers were located near the river bed in violation of law, absence of check posts and safety and stability of river banks was not maintained.

The committee was formed by the tribunal on October 20, 2018 on a plea filed by a lawyer Dinesh Kumar Chadha, who had moved the tribunal alleging huge environmental damage caused by illegal mining across the district.

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Option of going with SP-BSP open: BJP ally SBSP

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Ballia (UP) | Putting its ally BJP in Uttar Pradesh on notice, the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party has said the option of going with the SP-BSP alliance in the general elections was open to the party.

SBSP chief and senior cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has been making sharp statements against the BJP and had recently threatened to walk out of the National Democratic Alliance.

“In case there is no headway with the BJP, the option of going along with SP-BSP alliance (in the coming Lok Sabha elections) is open to us,” the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief said.

The minister for backward classes welfare and department of disabled people development was speaking to reporters at his residence here on Monday night.

To a question as to whether he had talks with leaders of either of the two parties – the SP and the BSP – Rajbhar said that he had not met anyone on this issue so far.

On the developments in Kolkata, Rajbhar came out in support of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and questioned the CBI action, saying how could the sleuths go without any order.

“Why has the CBI not raided the house of the main accused in the Saradha case who has joined the BJP,” Rajbhar asked and added that the Supreme Court has already called the CBI a “caged parrot”.

Banerjee is on a sit-in against the CBI’s attempt to question the Kolkata Police chief in connection with chit fund scams. Her protest entered the third day on Tuesday.

She sat on a “Save India” dharna in front of Metro Cinema in the heart of Kolkata on Sunday night insisting that the latest CBI action was tantamount to stifling the spirit of “Constitution and federalism” in the country.

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