New Delhi, October 20
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Haryana government on a bunch of petitions seeking renewal of mining licenses in the Aravalli Hills region.
A Forest Bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, asked the state government and the Central Empowered Committee, which has to clear projects in the forest areas, to clarify the implications of continued mining in the region for the ground water-level. There have been reports that the water table was falling in the region.
In a related case, the Haryana government informed the court that it was framing rules for the functioning of saw mills, under which licenses would be given, depending on the availability of timber.
The Uttarakhand government informed the court that it was unable to follow the Centre’s policy of keeping a 10-km distance between the forest and the sawmills as the entire state was covered by forests. It would have its own licensing policy for such mills.
