VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 9: The Enforcement Directorate is understood to have decided to direct the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) to produce all documents related to the cancellation of the Consent to Operate (COT) of 69 stone crusher and mining units in Sahibganj district last year.
The ED may also ask the JSPCB to appoint an official as a nodal officer to coordinate with the ED to provide documents related to the mining. It means that the ED will probe the role of officials of the JSPCB and whether or not they intentionally or purposefully became the instrument of illegal mining.
The ED investigating the money laundering case against suspended mining department secretary Pooja Singhal is also looking into the issue of illegal mining.
The COT was withdrawn on the ground of non-compliance with the pollution control norms. But COT of 23 units was restored later on. As per the documents of the National Pollution Control Board Sahibganj, there are a total of 212 stone mines and 402 stone crushers.
The most interesting thing is the alacrity with which the JSPCB carried out technical inspections of the stone crusher units within a record five days. This has apparently aroused the curiosity of the ED.
Many mining operators wondered whether it was physically possible for the JSPCB assessment team to visit all the sites within five days. COT cancellation orders issued to all individual stone crusher operators, mention the date of inspection.
“Whereas, the team of JSPCB had visited and assessed the Mines and Crushers of Sahibganj between 02/1112020 to 07/11/2020 and pursuant upon that a show-cause notice was issued to your unit at the site by the Regional Officer, Regional Office, Dumka to appear in person at Board’s Headquarter on 24/1112020,” the operative parts of the cancellation order read. The order was issued by the member secretary of the JSPCB Yatindra Kumar Das in August 2021.
A section of the business community alleged that the JSPCB’s action was aimed to cater to the interest of the mining lobby of the Santhal Pargana which is under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate in the ongoing money-laundering probe.
When the matter was raised during the budget session of the assembly by Independent MLA Saryu Roy, the Hemant Soren government said that it was done in the wake of the order of the National Green Tribunal. The JSPCB revoked the Consent to Operate (COT) of 69 stone crusher units on the ground of non-compliance with pollution rules. Later on, the JSPCB restored the COT of 23 stone crusher units.
