Kochi, Dec 18 (PTI) The Kerala High Court has directed the chief secretary of the state to constitute a panel to determine whether sand mining should be carried out from the Thottappally spillway in Alappuzha
district in order to ensure there is no adverse ecological or environmental impact due to the activity.
A bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Syam Kumar V M said the committee shall be competent to suggest, determine and monitor all aspects of sand or soil mining or removal from the Thottappally spillway "after due assessment of its ecological and environmental impact".
"Removal of soil or sand from the Thottappally spillway or sand bar shall hereinafter be carried out only after obtaining relevant inputs from the committee..," the bench said.
The court directed the chief secretary to constitute, within two months, the panel headed by the Alappuzha District Collector and including senior officials or experts of the departments of Irrigation or Water Resources, Forest and Wildlife, Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority, Purakkad and Thakazhy Grama Panchayats in the coastal district and an NGO having a local presence and expertise.
The order came on pleas by a society -- Green Roots Nature Conservation Forum -- and a Alappuzha resident -- Arjunan -- challenging the District Collector's order permitting sand removal from the spillway as part of the measures to address the perennial issue of flooding of the Kuttanad areas during the monsoons.
In order to ensure an unobstructed and easy flow of water from Pampa, Manimala and Achankovil rivers through the spillway, the sand removal was suggested in the Collector's order.
The petitioners had claimed that the real objective behind the sand removal was allegedly "to permit continuous and unregulated extraction of mineral-rich sand from the area".
They claimed that the direct result of the activity being carried out at the spillway for the last few years was the devastation of nearly 15 acres of ecologically sensitive area there, which is a 'Turtle nesting Grounds' coming under the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011.
They also claimed that species of the Olive Ridley and Hawksbill Turtle, which are included in schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, use the said area as nesting grounds.
After hearing all stakeholders, the bench ordered the constitution of the panel, saying that the "modalities and means" of achieving the object of protecting the ecology while implementing the flood prevention directions are lacking.
The court further said that the ecological impact of the activity cannot be lost sight of and deserves to be taken heed of, especially since the area falls within the jurisdictional ambit of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority.
"Monitoring by a committee that includes officers and experts of the concerned departments or authorities, we note, would ensure that the flood containment measures envisaged and implemented at the Thottappally spillway do not get reduced to a routine mineral sand mining project," the bench said.
The court disposed of the pleas with the direction to constitute the committee. PTI HMP ADB
