KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 20
The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has directed all the district coordination committees and local levels to implement the Supreme Court's order for effective implementation of extraction and collection of river products.
On 1 August 2021, the apex court had told government authorities to strictly enforce the provisions contained in Section 17 of the 'Standard on Extraction, Sale and Management of Stones, Pebbles and Sand, 2020'.
This section requires the DDCs and local governments to ensure that persons or groups involved in extraction, collection and transportation of river products display a sign post at the mining site mentioning details such as the four boundaries of the concerned site, duration and time of extraction, types of vehicles to be used for transportation, and name and phone number of grievance hearing officer, among others, compulsorily.
A writ petition was filed at the SC seeking its interim order after majority of miners were found to have been involved in overexploitation of natural resources without adhering to the legal provisions.
According to a notice issued by the Environment and Disaster Management at the MoFAGA yesterday, the DDCs and local levels will have to regulate the extraction, collection and transportation of river products in line with the SC order.
The DDCs and local governments have also been directed to discourage excessive and indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources while extracting river and mine-based products for infrastructure development activities.
Similarly, the local levels are required to extract and collect river and mine-based products from the areas as specified in the approved environmental study report.
If necessary, they may also carry out extraction and collection of such construction materials by relocating settlements to safer places as per the decision of the concerned district disaster management committee in a bid to avert possible disaster caused by floods, landslides and earthquakes.
Stones, pebbles and sand washed away by flooded rivers and streams may also be collected by the local units. The standard stipulates a provision for designating certain areas for operation of mine and crusher industries on the basis of an environmental study report.
The local levels may also award a contract to the registered companies or organisations to carry out these tasks with the approval of their executive body.
If machines and heavy equipment have to be used for extraction of river products, it can be done with the consent of the concerned district disaster management committee.
The standard prohibits extraction and collection of river-and mine-based products within an area of two kilometres from dense settlement and forest.
No local level is allowed to carry out such work in river area within the area of 500 metres from the highway and one kilometre from motorable bridge and suspension bridge.
The standard also prohibits extraction and collection of stones, pebbles and sand from the Chure region. However, stones, pebbles and sand deposited within the Chure region due to flood may be collected as per the decision of the concerned district disaster management committee.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 21, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
