NGT comes down heavily on state govts

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) seems be taking over the mantle of the environment ministry. In a slew of three far–reaching judgments, the NGT has taken three state governments to task for flouting green norms. It came down heavily on the UP government over the issue of illegal sand mining along the Yamuna river stating it was shocked by its callous behaviour in having arrested truck drivers and presenting them before the tribunal rather than the master-minds behind the trade. “You have not touched a single person who owns the trucks, dumpers or heavy excavating machinery... It shocks us that you have picked up the drivers,” the bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter said in relation the to the 18 truck drivers who had been arrested for the theft of over two lakh cubic metres of sand in Gautam Budh Nagar. The NGT further slammed the Madhya Pradesh and UP governments for permitting the indiscriminate cutting of trees in the Singrauli and Sonebhadra districts. The bench was hearing a petition by Supreme Court lawyer Ashwani Kumar Dubey who had raised the issue of the felling of trees by Mahan Coal Ltd without obtaining requisite forest clearing from the environment ministry. Mr Dubey’s petition also voiced concern at the serious pollution being caused by excessive coal mining and the emissions being caused by the Vindyachal, Rihand and Singrauli thermal power stations which have seen rising cases of respiratory ailments and cancer. Fly ash was being dumped in the Rihand river as well as in canals and ponds making the water unfit for both human and animal consumption. The NGT has also taken an extremely critical stand against the Meghalaya government over the case of the 15 missing miners who were trapped inside a coal mine in the Garo hills. The Meghalya government had informed the NGT that since no bodies were found, the miners must have escaped. “How could they have escaped, especially since there was only one entry point. If water was flooding from an adjoining mine and could not be pumped out , then the authorities have to explain what happened,“ the tribunal said. The tribunal further pulled up the owner of the mine for informing the court that he had no records of the workers in his mine.