India News | NGT Forms Fact-finding Committee on Bastar White Clay Mine Collapse
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The National Green Tribunal has constituted a fact-finding committee for providing relief to victims of the white clay mine collapse in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district on December 2.
New Delhi, Dec 28 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has constituted a fact-finding committee for providing relief to victims of the white clay mine collapse in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district on December 2.
Six persons, including five women, were killed and three injured after a portion of the mine collapsed at Maalgaon village in the district's Nagarnar police station limits.
The tribunal had taken suo motu cognisance of a report on the collapse.
A bench comprising Chairperson Justice AK Goel said it appeared that the tribunal's intervention was needed for providing relief to the victims and to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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"We constitute a fact-finding committee comprising principal secretary (environment), Chhattisgarh, as chairman and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB), district magistrate and senior superintendent of police (SSP), Bastar, as members," the bench said.
The committee has been directed to meet within two weeks, undertake a visit to the site, interact with the stakeholders and ascertain the cause and persons responsible for the incident, the bench said.
The committee also has to provide particulars of the victims and the relief provided to them, if any, along with details about future preventive measures in a factual and action-taken report within two months, it added.
"The committee will be at liberty to co-opt any other expert or institution and interact with any other concerned authority for completing its task," the bench said and added that the CECB would be the nodal agency for coordination and compliance.
The bench, also comprising Judicial Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert Member A Senthil Vel said, has permitted the committee to take into account recent reports about accidents due to violation of environment norms.
The green panel has listed the matter for hearing on March 20.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)