State Govt. affidavit clarifies stand towards mining near sanctuaries.

10.03.2011 | 14:08 Ahmedabad Tejas Mehta
Mining and industrial activities within one kilometer from wild life sanctuaries and national parks in Gujarat have now been prohibited. The state government has informed the Gujarat High Court of the same. PK Jani appearing for the government submitted the action taken report in the court after the high court earlier noted the state government’s failure in implementing a Supreme Court order of 2006 in it’s true spirit. The Supreme Court had then passed an order over the issue of prohibiting mining and industrial activities within a kilometer from the boundaries of wild life sanctuaries and national parks.  The action taken report was submitted by PM Christian, an under secretary of the forest and environment department. The report states that the department has decided to bar mining and other industrial activities within the said area. It further states that activities within one kilometer to five kilometer area would be governed by it’s earlier notification of 2008 which requires obtaining of NOC from the government for running industries within the zone. The direction came in a case preferred by one Param Udhyog, which has a license and lease for mining near Palanpur-Ambaji road, approached the court claiming that it was not issued a no-objection certificate even after producing all relevant documents. Advocates Amit Panchal and Shivani Rajpurohit appeared for the petitioner whereas PK Jani and Maithili Mehta appeared for the government. Source: http://www.lawetalnews.com/NewsDetail.asp?newsid=3601