PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has asked the State government to examine the authenticity of a permit submitted by a truck owner to transport sand from neighbouring Sindhudurg, Maharashtra to Goa.
The Court was hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) writ petition filed by the Goa Rovers Sand protectors Network regarding illegal sand mining matter. The petitioner filed an affidavit stating that an information obtained by him through Right to Information (RTI) Act had revealed that the Directorate of Mines and geology had not
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issued the permit which was submitted by a truck operator at the border check-post while transporting sand from neighbouring Maharashtra to the State.
Suspecting further illegalities, the Court asked the government to conduct thorough inquiry into the matter and submit the report. In addition, the government has also been asked to submit a report on destruction of canoes seized during illegal sand mining across the State
O Heraldo has been constantly reporting and flagging these issues including ground reports from illegal sand mining sites on rivers.
The permit issued by the Directorate of Mines and Geology is mandatory for transporting sand from other States to Goa.
The permit is issued online by the department and information obtained by the petitioner has found that the permit was not generated by the department’s online system. The truck operators is learnt to have produced forged permit
to the inspecting officers at the Patradevi check-post.
The High Court also asked the State government to submit reply over the issue of destroying canoes seized in operations against illegal sand extraction.
The matter has now been posted for further hearing after two weeks. Meanwhile, the High Court and the petitioner expressed their satisfaction over the measures taken by the authorities to stop illegal sand mining in the State, informed Advocate General Devidas Pangam.
AG Pangam said, “Two minor issues came up for hearing on Monday. One was the destruction of canoes which were seized by the government authorities. The court wanted information regarding it and we said that we will give it on the next occasion. The second issue was related to one particular permit produced by one contractor related to transportation of sand from other State. The allegation made by the petitioner is that the permit is fake. We will inquire and tell the high court about its status in two weeks.”
