KATHMANDU, JULY 12
The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration today issued a circular to all local levels, directing them to act as per the June 29 decision of the Supreme Court to give continuity to its interim order regarding crusher industries.
On June 22, the apex court had issued a short-term interim order against the Government of Nepal with regard to amendment made to the 'Standard on Extraction, Sale, and Management of Stones, Pebbles, and Sand- 2020'. A week later, it decided to give continuity to that interim order.
Stating that the SC had directed the government to prevent haphazard extraction of river materials and enact a separate law to govern the process of extraction of river materials, a single bench of Justice Tanka Bahadur Moktan observed that the amendments made by the government to the 'Standard on Extraction, Sale, and Management of Stones, Pebbles, and Sand' were in violation of those orders.
The writ petitioners had said that there were more than 1,000 crusher industries across the country, with most of them not following the standard.
The standard incorporates rules of distance at which crusher industries can be set up vis a vis bridges, ponds, lakes and rivers, educational institutions, dense settlements, highways, places of archaeological importance, parks and wildlife reserves, and highways.
On May 22, the government amended the standard removing the requirement for setting up crusher industries within 500 metres of a highway. New rules stipulated that crusher industries could be set up 500 metres from a river in the Tarai and at a distance of 200 metres from a river in the hills vis a vis educational institutions, health centres, religious sites, and places of archaeological importance.
Amended rules also stipulate that crusher industries could be set up at a distance of one km from dense settlement in the Tarai and 500 metres away from dense settlements in the hills.
The 2020 standard had fixed that distance at two kilometres.
The petitioners had said that the amendment made to the standard reduced the distance of crusher industries from educational institutions and heritage sites. According to the 2020 standard, crusher industries could be set up at a distance of two kilometres from the international border, but the amended rules allow crusher industries a kilometre away from the international border. Even the minimum distance of crusher industries from high tension wires was reduced from 200 metres to 100 metres.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 13, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
