Team Herald
PANJIM: The Congress has threatened to approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) challenging the manner in which sand mining licenses have been granted by the State.
Addressing media persons, Congress spokesperson Avinash Tavares said permissions granted for sand extraction by the Mines department are illegal and the government needs to adopt proper methods before granting permission.
“We will be writing to the government to ensure that licenses are granted following due procedures like conducting environment impact assessment (EIA) study. If the government fails to respond, we will approach NGT,” he said.
Tavares said that as per central guidelines, sand extraction leases are to be auctioned, however, in Goa they are granted without conducting any environment study.
