Slamming the governments of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for their utter failure in dealing with illegal sand mining in the Chambal riverbed, the Supreme Court on Friday directed them to install high-resolution Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras along all routes frequently used for illegal sand mining in the area.
Lamenting that rampant illegal riverbed sand mining has created an “environmental crisis” and wreaked “havoc” in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, causing a grave risk to the gharial (long-snouted crocodile) preservation project, a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta asked the state governments to invoke preventive detention laws, seizure and confiscation proceedings, to book the violators.
It asked the authorities to ensure seizure of vehicles or machinery involved in illegal sand mining and initiate prosecution of those involved in illegal sand mining.
The top court directed the authorities in the three states to initiate prompt and necessary action under relevant laws if any instance of illegal mining or allied activities came to light. Asking the three states to file compliance affidavits, the Bench posted the matter for hearing on May 11.
“The State cannot be permitted to plead helplessness or take shelter under its own inadequacies, particularly when such inadequacies directly contribute to the perpetuation of illegality, 13 violence, loss of human life, and the irreversible destruction of habitats vital to critically endangered species,” the Bench said.
“The statutory framework is well-armed to deal with the mining mafias but apparently the administrative authorities are dragging their feet, for reasons which are not difficult to discern,” it noted.
Also known as the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, the National Chambal Sanctuary is a 5,400-sq km tri-state protected area. Besides the endangered gharial, it is home to the red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin. Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.
The Bench — which had on March 13 taken suo motu cognisance of news reports about rampant illegal sand mining on the banks of the Chambal river — directed that live feed of surveillance cameras shall be placed under the direct control, supervision and operational oversight of the Superintendent of Police or the Senior Superintendent of Police of the district and the divisional forest officer concerned.
These officers shall ensure continuous and effective monitoring of the CCTV feeds by designating appropriate officers, it said.
Pronouncing the order, Justice Mehta said, “It can’t be gainsaid that the issues involved are of great concern in as much as the rampant illegal mining activities in the river bed have created an environmental crisis and havoc in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary causing a grave risk to the very project of gharial preservation of which the state governments themselves were proponents and were under an obligation to foster and promote.”
