Nayagarh: The Kolkata bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) quashed the Rs 25 lakh bribery complaint against Nayagarh Collector Rabindra Nath Sahu and directed the state government to initiate criminal proceedings cases against two leaseholders within two months under Section 51 of Odisha Minor Mineral Concession (OMMC) Rules 2016, a report said Wednesday.
The matter came to the fore after NGT passed its final order on the illegal sandstone and murram quarry at Mayurjhalia mouza under Ranpur tehsil in the district April 18.
The green body quashed the Rs 25 lakh bribery complaint levelled by the leaseholders against four persons including the Collector. NGT accepted the affidavit filed by the district Collector Rabindranath Sahu, December 6, 2022 and directed the state government to initiate criminal proceedings against two leaseholders Susant Kumar Barad, lessee of Mayurjhalia laterite quarry and Shasank Agarwal, director of M/s Agarwal Infrabuild Pvt Ltd under Section-51 0f OMMC Rules-2016.
FIRs for illegal extraction of ordinary earth, soil and murram beyond the lease area should be lodged against them within a period of two months, said the directive.
The green body has also issued direction to the State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Odisha to compute environmental compensation against Barad and Agarwal for excess mining of laterite stone/murram/ordinary earth, and proceed to recover the same from them in accordance with the law within a period of two months.
The NGT also directed to initiate criminal proceedings against the then Ranpur tehsildar Jugal Kishore Mishra and Sanjay Kumar Samantaray, additional tehsildar Ashok Kumar Pattnaik, the then revenue inspector, revenue supervisor, sub-divisional officer and senior revenue assistants within the period of two months.
Furthermore, the Nayagarh Collector and Ranpur tehsildar have been directed to immediately implement the NGT order.
Sources said that four acre of sandstone quarry on plot no-1689 in Mayurjhalia mouza was given on a five-year lease to Susant Kumar Barad, a native of Champagad village under Chandpur police limits.
Similarly, Shashank Agarwal, the director of Agarwal Infrabuild Pvt Ltd was given two acre of land on transit permit for extraction and transportation of ordinary earth. They were extracting sandstone and murram from other areas near their lease plots and transporting them. They were also destroying the rural forest which had come up in the area.
PNN
