SHILLONG: The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has mentioned that the department of Forest & Environment Department did not maintain data on the minerals extracted and also the department was not in a position to verify whether there was any illegal extraction.
“Based on the department’s assessment, 55.08 lakh MT of limestone and 4.47 lakh MT of boulders had already been extracted on which royalty amounting to Rs 54.79 crore was realisable. During the period, from April 2016 to March 2017, the department realised Rs 37.25 crore as royalty from transport of limestone and boulders,” the report stated.
Further, it stated as per the department’s own estimates, at least Rs 17.54 crore was yet to be realised from the transport of the balance quantity of minerals already extracted.
Turning to the monitoring of extracted minerals, the CAG examined the records and found that the Department of Forests and Environment failed to make appropriate guidelines for transportation of the assessed minerals. There was no mechanism for issuing of permits specific to the extracted minerals and there was no provision of periodic inspection by the Forests officials to assess the left-over stock of the minerals with the suppliers.
The report further pointed out that the department did not maintain data of the minerals transported during the period from July 2015 to December 2015 and there was no record of the details of the royalty being received from transportation of the already assessed minerals.
Referring to rampant illegal mining in the state, though no Environmental Clearances (EC) were issued for sand/stone mining in Khasi and Garo Hills, the CAG report observed during its course of audit that extractions of sand and boulders from river beds was prevalent in these area.
The CAG mentioned there were nine cases of illegal extraction of sand/stone from river beds detected in Khasi and Garo Hills by the department of Forest & Environment.
It was further observed that the District Forest Officer (DFO), Garo Hills Territorial Division issued transport passes for removal and transport of the extracted sand/stone, thus regularizing the illegal extraction in the area which was in violation of the Government order as well as the judicial pronouncements.
The department stated (December 2017) that the permits were issued by the DFO for the already extracted stock of minor minerals prior to June 2015.
According to the CAG, the reply was not acceptable as the DFO issued transit passes for transportation of river sand in contravention of the Supreme Court order of 2009 and the Government of Meghalaya order of 2012.
The Supreme Court in its 2009 judgement held that sand mining had an adverse effect on bio-diversity and ordered that any lease for extraction of minor minerals including their renewal should be granted by the state governments only after getting Environmental Clearance (EC) from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
Again, the state government in January 2012 prohibited extraction of stone/boulders from river beds and instructed DFOs not to issue any Transit Pass or allow removal of stone/boulders from river beds without prior approval of the government.
Further, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its judgement dated August 2013 restrained mining activity or removal of sand from river beds anywhere in the country without obtaining EC from MoEF/ State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAAA).