The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal has taken suo motu cognisance of the issue of sand removal from the Pampa.
The suo motu notice was issued by the Bench comprising Justice K. Ramakrishnan and expert member Saibal Dasgupta citing The Hindu report “Kerala Forest Dept. told to permit sand removal from Pampa” published on May 30.
The case (original application no. 75/2020) was taken up through videoconferencing on Tuesday. The official order is awaited.
Review meeting
The Hindu report published from Pathanamthitta had pointed out that the then Chief Secretary Tom Jose had directed the Forest Department to give necessary clearance for sand removal after a review meeting held at the Devaswom Guest House in Nilackal on May 29.
The work was disrupted following certain apprehensions raised by the Forest Department and the high-level team’s visit to Pampa was to clear the hurdles on the path of sand removal, it said.
The Kerala Clays and Ceramic Products Ltd (KCCPL) in Kannur entrusted with the sand removal work was asked to resume the work from May 30 itself.
Besides Mr. Jose, then Additional Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta and State Police Chief Loknath Behera, and District Collector P. B. Noohu had participated in the review meeting.
Mr. Jose and Mr. Mehta had inspected the progress of sand removal work at the foothills of Sabarimala in the Pampa.
The decision to remove the huge deposits of sand accumulated in the Pampa river was taken by the District Disaster Management Authority chaired by the District Collector recently to avert chances of more devastating floods in the downstream of Sabarimala, the report said.
