TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has deferred to November 13, the hearing on a cluster of 38 applications, seeking compensation to victims of environmental destruction caused due to illegal mining of ore, unearthed in the Shah Commission report.
The hearing was fixed for November since the Goa government did not file the inventory and panchnamas as directed in the tribunal’s July 16 order and its counsel pleaded that the exercise could not be completed due to monsoons and promised that it would be completed around November.
The applicant ~Goa Paryavaran Sarvakshan Sangharsh Samitee and Mahadev Shetkari Sangathana ~ also sought compensation for destruction of forests in and outside the mining areas.
The five-judge bench headed by Justice U D Salvi directed the mining companies made respondents in the applications to file their response on 12 questions, including issues like noise pollution and dust level, forest area in the mine lease area as also whether environment clearance was taken from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), state government and the State pollution control board.
The questions included whether any compensation was paid in the past to the affected persons, whether any complaints of environmental pollution were received by the companies and the environmental compliance status.
The Tribunal also directed the state government to file replies to each application separately as an applicant’s counsel objected to the government filing reply to only one application and its counsel pleaded that it should be treated as reply to all applications. The counsel of the applicant pointed out that the reply concerns only one mine at village Harvlam that may not suffice in case of environment damages caused elsewhere.
The hearing was fixed for November since the Goa government did not file the inventory and panchnamas as directed in the tribunal’s July 16 order and its counsel pleaded that the exercise could not be completed due to monsoons
