The district administration’s order giving clearance to sand mining at the ‘kadavus’ (sand extraction locations) outside the 500 metre radius of the Pamburuthi island on the Valapattanam river here is said to be a clear violation of an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), South Zone, Chennai, that banned sand mining in locations near the island.
District Collector P. Bala Kiran issued the order on December 30. Activists associated with Pamburuthi CH Centre, which spearheaded an agitation against sand mining in nearby locations in Kolachery, Pappinissery and Narath panchayats, said the Collector’s order was a clear violation of the NGT’s order dated May 12 which directed the three panchayats to enforce the Supreme Court order banning river sand mining below water level.
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A local action committee had appealed to the NGT that the sand mining be totally banned in the areas surrounding the island.
“The Collector’s order amounts to allowing kadavu committees to shift the locations nearly 100 metres away from the existing locations,” an activist said.
Shifting the kadavus to a nearby area does not serve any environmental purpose stressed in the NGT’s order. The Collector issued the order even as the conditions that warranted a ban on sand mining in the kadavus in the three panchayats still existed. The committee is planning to take legal recourse against the Collector’s order, he added.
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NGT has curbed mining near Pambudruthi island
District Collector issued order on December 30