HC bans unauthorized quarrying, sand mining
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 03 2019: High Court of Manipur passed an order enforcing a total ban on all unauthorized quarrying works and sand mining in all the rivers of the State, yesterday.

Furthermore, the Court also ordered that no one will be allowed to carry out any such activities except in case where a license or lease has been granted in accordance with the law.

The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar and Justice Kh Nobin, in connection with a PIL filed for preservation of Thoubal river against the State of Manipur and 10 other respondents.

The PIL was taken up by the High Court on a letter addressed to the Chief Justice, High Court of Manipur by Thoubal River Conservation Committee citing many grievances including that Thoubal river has been providing a large number of villages with water since time immemorial but because of the sand mining, the river has become muddy and putrid rendering its water unfit for consumption.

The polluted water obstructs sunlight from reaching the bottom of the river thus resulting in the death of the plants and zooplankton and their decaying remains attract bacteria making the water smelly.

The biological, chemical and geographical structure of the river got severely damaged and the polluted water makes the people prone to water borne diseases.

Despite their repeated requests, the authorities concerned have turned deaf ears to the pleas, said the submission.

It may be mentioned that on February 13, the PIL came up for consideration and while issuing notice to the respondents, the Court admitted the PIL on June 14.Yesterday, the PIL was listed for further proceeding but it was not clear as to whether all the respondents were served notices or not.

But S Rupachandra, Additional Advocate General, appeared for the State respondents, S Suresh ASG, appeared for the Union of India and N Ibotombi , Senior Advocate, appeared for Manipur Pollution Control Board .

In view of the importance of the matter, the High Court appointed Advocate A Mohendro and Advocate Harichhaya as Amicus Curiae to assist the Court.

After hearing the counsels appearing for the parties and considering the gravity of the problem faced by the people of Thoubal, the Court extended the scope of the PIL to cover all the rivers of the State and as interim measures, put a total ban on unauthorized quarrying, sand mining, river pollution etc in all the rivers of the State and ruled that no one will be allowed to carry out any such activities except in cases where a license or lease has been granted in accordance with the law.

The Court also directed DCs, SPs and District Forest Officers of all the districts to take up preventive measures to ensure that unauthorized and unlawful activities do not take place in the rivers.

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