The Supreme Court on Friday said rampant illegal
riverbed sand mining has created an "environmental crisis" and
wreaked "havoc" in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, causing a
grave risk to the gharial (long-snouted crocodile) preservation project.
Slamming the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh for their utter failure in dealing with the issue, the apex court
directed them to install high-resolution Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras along all
routes frequently used for illegal sand mining in the area.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta
directed that live feed of such surveillance cameras shall be placed under the
direct control, supervision and operational oversight of the superintendent of
police or the senior superintendent of police of the concerned district and the
divisional forest officer.
It said these officers shall ensure continuous and
effective monitoring of the CCTV feeds by designating appropriate officers.
"It can't be gainsaid that the issues involved
are of great concern in as much as the rampant illegal mining activities in the
river bed have created an environmental crisis and havoc in the National
Chambal Gharial Sanctuary causing a grave risk to the very project of gharial
preservation of which the state governments themselves were proponents and were
under an obligation to foster and promote," Justice Mehta said while
pronouncing the order.
The bench directed
the authorities in these three states to initiate prompt and necessary action
under law if any instance of illegal mining or allied activities comes to light.
It said the authorities shall ensure seizure of
vehicles or machinery found involved in illegal sand mining and also initiate
prosecution of persons involved in it.
The bench, which passed several other directions,
posted the matter for hearing on May 11.
The top court passed the order in a suo motu case
titled 'In Re: Illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and threat
to endangered aquatic wildlife'.
The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the
National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400-sq km tri-state
protected area.
Besides the endangered gharial, it is home to the
red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin.
Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a
protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow
eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.
On March 13, the top court took suo motu cognisance
of news reports about rampant illegal sand mining on the banks of the Chambal
river.