The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal has ordered the construction of check dams in Thekkampatti village in Salem to be expedited and completed within three months.
S. Vijay, a farmer from Thekkampatti in Omalur taluk, Salem, had filed a petition in the NGT stating that groundwater in his village and surrounding areas were drying rapidly due to uncontrolled dewatering and discharge of groundwater by Tamil Nadu Magnesite Limited (TANMAG), having an extent of 96.34 hectares, in the name of stormwater removal and dewatering.
Mr. Vijay submitted that water to a level of 3,000 million litres was intended to be pumped without any specific measures for reutilisation which is illegal and is also an ecological and hydrological threat.
As per the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), environmental clearance was granted to the mine on the conditions that mining below the groundwater table should not be carried out without permission from the Central Ground Water Authority and that TANMAG shall supply water to the farmers from the quarry during the rainy season. Both of these were not complied with, the SEIAA told the NGT.
Further, the Bench, comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Kolarpati, was informed by the Salem District Collector that a suitable location in Thekkampatti village panchayat was found and an estimate of ₹15.9 lakh was prepared and sent to TANMAG.
Noting that TANMAG has sanctioned certain sums to the village panchayat out of its CSR funds, the Bench on September 6 ordered release of the entire funds at the earliest and the authority entrusted with the construction of dams to complete the work within three months.
