Review order on sand mining, appeals State government

The State government has filed a revision petition in the Madras High Court seeking a review of the court’s order issued on August 3 pertaining to sand mining.

In that order, a division bench at Madurai had held that permission for fresh sand mining in Cauvery river area should be granted only after getting environmental clearance from the State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority. The government wanted the court to modify the order to avoid shortage of sand for the public and for its own developmental works.

As per the TN Minor Mineral Concession Rules, grant of permission for sand mining to PWD was being done only after satisfying the conditions in the rules, which also took care of the ecological  and environmental factors. The PWD’s applications seeking permission for 19 new mines in Thanjavur, Karur and Tiruchy districts were pending with the respective Collectors. The condition that environmental clearance for the applications seeking permission should be obtained, would put the public to hardship. As per the court orders, 27 sand quarries had been closed. Sand mining in the riverbeds of Cauvery-Coleroon was the mainstay for supply of the material primarily to the western and southern districts, the petition said.

The government urged the HC to permit the operationalisation of 19 sand quarries for which applications were pending.