PRESERVING ECO SYSTEM Check illegal mining, form task force: HC to Dispur

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to constitute a high-level committee and a ‘Mine and Mineral Task Force’ (MMTF) battalion within three months to check illegal mining activities and environmental degradation in the State.

The directive from the High Court issued on Monday, has been issued while disposing a PIL (Public Interest Litigation-62/2019) filed by the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Debabrata Saikia this year challenging ‘illegal mining activities’ in the Dikhow River and its adjoining areas.

This PIL is a follow-up of Saikia’s earlier PIL (78/2018) wherein the State government was asked to form a high-level committee comprising representatives from departments like the Water Resources, Mines and Minerals, Revenue and Disaster Management, Home and Political, Soil Conservation, Pollution Control Board and the Environment and Forest. The former committee was to study and recommend measures for the preservation of the fragile eco-system of the Dikhow River.

Meanwhile in a statement on Monday, petitioner Saikia said that disposing the earlier PIL the High Court had directed the State government to investigate the matter of illegal mining in the Dikhow River, take action and intimate him (Saikia) of the action taken. However, the Department of Forest and Environment and the Department of Mines and Minerals provided contradictory reports to the Leader of the Opposition. According to Saikia’s written statement, while the Commissioner and Secretary of Mines and Minerals department admitted that there were illegal mining activities in the area (Dikhow River) and seizures of illegally extracted materials were being made from time to time, the Secretary of Forest and Environment flatly denied illegal mining in the river. And that prompted Saikia to file the second PIL.

Disposing the second PIL on Monday, High Court issued a fresh directive for forming of a Mine and Mineral Task Force battalion, besides forming a high-level committee so as to preserve the fragile eco-system across the State. The very essence of the directive is that the High Court wants the State government to have a mechanism in the form of a mine and mineral task force that can check illegal mining and help preserve the fragile eco-system in the State.

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