Bhopal: Under pressure from various quarters over unhindered illegal mining in the Narmada riverbed, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday announced a moratorium on mining of sand in the river, till further orders.
A committee, led by mining minister Rajendra Shukla and comprising of IIT-Kharagpur experts, has been set up to look into the illegal mining issues, the CM said. Sand mining from other rivers would continue as before, CM Chouhan clarified.
The announcement comes a day before the central zone bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) takes up former Shivraj cabinet minister Kamal Patel’s application on illegal mining of sand in Narmada in Harda district.
Patel, who has been side-lined from mainstream politics ever since his family’s name cropped up in the murder case of a youth in Harda, had approached NGT bench in Bhopal on Saturday.
The state government is under immense pressure ever since CM Chouhan anchored the Namami Narmade Yatra in the state with the aim to conserve the river.
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