The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the pollution board in Haryana to establish a committee to investigate illegal mining in the Yamuna riverbed in Panipat and propose solutions within three months. The tribunal heard a petition on January 4 filed by local resident Sachin Tyagi, who claimed that extensive sand mining using excavators and trucks had disrupted the river’s flow, leading to a change in its course and causing significant damage to sugarcane crops across acres in Hathwala village.
The illegally mined sand, the petitioner alleged, was usually piled along the Hathwal road in Garhi Kewal village.
“We deem it proper to form a joint committee comprising the member secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB); the chief secretary, department of irrigation, Haryana, and district magistrate of Panipat. The district magistrate will act as the nodal agency,” said the order by NGT chairperson Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel.
The order – uploaded on Sunday – specified the mandate for the committee too. “The joint committee will carry out spot inspections, ascertain the extent of illegal mining done and the persons responsible for the same. It should suggest remedial action and file the report at least one week before the next date of hearing,” it said. The next hearing is scheduled for March 4.
Sand mining is allowed along the Yamuna banks in Panipat, but only after permission from the authorities concerned. But contractors are often found taking their excavators to the middle of the river and extracting sand from the bed. Mining by unauthorised contractors and villagers only compounds the problem.
Environmental activist Vivek Kamboj explained why the riverbed should be spared.
“Sediments in rivers are usually made up of boulders, stones, pebbles, sand, gravel, clay, and so on. All these play an important role in maintaining the hydrogeology of the river stream and the aquatic ecosystem. These prevent the river from breaching the banks and causing erosion. They also act as substrata for biological growth of aquatic plants, which are crucial for fish and other species to sustain. Extracting sand from the riverbed will only damage the ecosystem,” he told.
A pollution board official said the committee would be formed soon. “We will also submit a factual report in keeping with NGT’s order,” he added. In June last year, NGT had ordered officials from the district administration, pollution board and the mining department to inspect the Yamuna’s banks in Jainpur village of Sonipat to ascertain if the riverbed was being mined.
In March 2023, Delhi water minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had sought to link the “unprecedented” drying up of the Yamuna even before the summer to rampant mining of sand from the river’s bed in Haryana.
Haryana government had denied the allegation, insisting that mining operations in the state adhered to guidelines and did not affect the river’s flow in any way. In 2022, Vikas Kumar, a resident of Sonipat, filed a complaint with the green tribunal against a company, claiming that the temporary bridge it had built to support mining activities had resulted in the Yamuna river altering its course in the region.
In response, the NGT directed the creation of a separate committee to examine the environmental and ecological consequences of both mining along the river and the construction of temporary bridges to facilitate these operations.