Over 15 stone crushers face closure in Solan

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 14

Nearly 15 to 20 stone crushers located within 100 m of a water body in Solan district will face closure with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) quashing their consent to operate.

The NGT, in its October 29 order, had directed the State Pollution Control Board to ensure that the operation of such stone crushers was stopped. A two-month period has been granted to the board to file its report to the tribunal.

In order to ensure compliance, a committee comprising the regional officer of the board, the mining officer and the local tehsildar was constituted to inspect all such stone crushers across the state by the state government. Since it will lead to the loss of a sizeable amount of revenue as these crushers pay lakhs as royalty, the state government has moved the apex court against the tribunal’s order.

Solan mining officer Kulbhushan Kumar said 15 to 20 stone crushers out of the 63, which were operational in Solan district ,were found located within the 100 m of a water body and they would face closure as per the NGT directions.

In Sirmaur district too, such stone crushers had been identified, though officials were yet to confirm the final figure, said mining officials.

The green tribunal had taken a stern view of the issue and had noted that the location of a stone crusher very close to a water body is against the principle of sustainable development as well as the precautionary principle

The NGT has made it clear that even if the water body is not perennial, a stone crusher cannot be allowed to operate. Officials are now re-working the distance from ‘khads’ which were not seasonal. Initially, officials had been taking into account only perennial water bodies while measuring the distance of stone crushers.