Madras High Court has halted mechanised sand quarrying in Tamil Nadu in areas where environment clearance had been given only for manual process.
A bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and R Suresh Kumar, in their April 28 order, restrained the Public Works Department (PWD) from allowing use of machines in nine mines in Karur district.
It also made clear that apart from these nine mines, if there are other mines, falling in category B2, the PWD shall adhere to the directive till such time an amendment was made in the environment clearances to allow for mechanised means.
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The State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIA) has indicated in its environmental clearances documents that B2 mines ought to be worked upon by using only manual means.
The bench was passing interim orders on a batch of PILs by P Ettikan of Karur district and others seeking to stop quarrying sand from any of the rivers in the state.
It posted the matter to June 19 for further hearing.
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