The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has ordered NTPC, a Maharatna company of the Government of India, to pay compensation for illegal mining on the land of the Forest Department. The damages are to be five times the present value and interest at the rate of 12%. Due to this, the amount of fine is estimated to be around 1000 crores. The Ministry has given information related to this to the Forest Department of the State Government.
On the complaint of Barkagaon’s Mantu Soni, an inquiry was conducted into the work being done against the conditions in NTPC’s Pakri Barwadih Coal Project. In this, there is a case of illegal mining by destroying the Dumuhani Nala (river). In the case of illegal mining by NTPC and its MDO Triveni-Sainik Mining in violation of the conditions of the Government of India, the regional office of the Ministry had recommended a fine of 81 crores according to 3.5% of NPV according to illegal mining in 156 hectares.
On this basis, it has been decided to impose a fine of five times the NPV and 12% interest on the total lease area of 1026 hectares of forest land of NTPC. This amount will be around thousand crore rupees. In NTPC’s Pakri Barwadih Coal Project at Barkagaon in Hazaribagh district, its MDO (Mine Developer Operator) is accused of violating the conditions of Forest Clearance Stage-2. The allegations and evidence of Mantu Soni’s advocate Navendu Kumar were examined.
The committee recommended setting up of a sub-committee to look into the hydrological impact of the area vis-a-vis mining operations of the user. The sub-committee was asked to study the climate change, assessment and impact of the Triveni-Sainik Mining Company, especially in the Dumuhani Nala and the area.
The advisory committee imposed fine on the report of the committee:
Investigation was done after receiving a complaint regarding illegal mining in 100 acres of area in violation of the conditions of forest clearance. After confirmation in the investigation, a sub-committee was constituted in the meeting of the Central Advisory Committee. In this, Additional Secretary OP Sharma, Professor Anshumali of ISM Dhanbad, APCCF of Jharkhand Government were involved.
Sumit Bhardwaj, Assistant Inspector General of Forests, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued a letter on February 17 seeking the report from the sub-committee as soon as possible. The report was sent to the Government of India in April. After this, the Advisory Committee of the Ministry decided to impose a fine of five times the NPV (Net Present Value) along with 12 percent interest on NTPC as directed by the Supreme Court.
