Leases of five sand mines cancelled

GADCHIROLI

OVER A month after The Indian Express exposed violations in sand-mining operations on the beds of the Godavari and Pranhita rivers at Sironcha in Gadchiroli district, the administration has cancelled the leases of five of the 10 sand mines.

Additional Collector Mahesh Awhad took the decision to cancel the leases after studying the responses of the six lease owners to the showcause notices issued to them. The mines had been issued notices asking why their leases should not be cancelled after raids on three of the six mining sites confirmed environmental violations five days after The Indian Express had reported them on February 8.

“We have cancelled the leases under the provisions of the Maharashtra Mines and Minerals Extraction and Development rules, 2013,for serious environmental violations,” said Awhad. Some of the violators were using machines to extract sand, excavating after 6 pm and not complying with the policy of mandatory compensatory plantation, Awhad said.

The five mines whose leases have been cancelled are — Nagaram 1 and 2, Maddikuntha and Wadadham in the Godavari bedandkotamaalinpranhitabed. The sixth mine, Ankisamaal, has been fined Rs 1 lakh because the only violation found was that the contractor had neither done the compensatory plantations nor submitted monthly reports, Awhad said.