On August 5, the High Court had stayed an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which had said that mines in the state should be at least 200 meters away from residential areas.
The Supreme Court stayed the order of the Kerala High Court.
Environmental activists have lauded the Supreme Court’s order to stay the Kerala High Court’s decision. In which excavation was allowed within 200 meters of populated areas. On August 5, the High Court had stayed an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which had said that mines in the state should be at least 200 meters away from residential areas.
High Court had stayed the decision of NGT
After the order of the High Court, many mines were constructed in the populated areas. Now they will have to be closed after the order of the Supreme Court. on the orders of the Supreme Court
Nature lovers say this will help prevent quarrying near Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) and residential areas. Earlier the minimum distance for excavation was 50 meters from populated areas and later the NGT increased it to 200 meters which was stayed by the High Court.
Tragedy came in 2018 due to excavation!
Cases of excavation in residential areas had started increasing in Kerala for some time. It poses a serious threat to the vulnerable areas of the Western Ghats, which play an important role in breaking the rain clouds over the subcontinent. Many hills here have become barren, as the powerful mine lobby has started carving them. After the 2018 floods and landslides that claimed over 400 lives, noted environmental scientist Dr Madhav Gadgil had said that it was a man-made disaster. Regarding this disaster, he had pointed fingers at many illegal mines in the sensitive areas of the Western Ghats.
Dr S Vijayan, one of the members of the Gadgil committee set up to study the increasing human intervention in the Western Ghats, said, “Illegal sand mining has destroyed many rivers in the state and quarrying has left many green hills barren. It seems that the state is yet to learn a lesson from the tragedies that happen many times.
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