After 10 yrs, Maharashtra compensates kin of 3 girls who drowned in sand mining pit

Nearly 10 years after three girls from Vijayapura fell into and drowned in an abandoned sand mining pit in Bhima river on the Maharashtra side, authorities from Maharashtra have deposited a part of the compensation into the bank accounts of families of the deceased.

The three girls from Gubbewada village in Indi taluk drowned on July 4, 2014. While the families were paid a nominal amount as interim relief, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) took up a case filed against the company and the authorities whose actions were alleged to have led to the deaths.

In 2018, the NGT principal bench chaired by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel ordered a compensation of Rs 25 lakh each to the families of the deceased.

The bench held that KJ Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, a Pune-based company, was liable for the damage.

“We make it clear that the plea that the place of occurrence is in front of the area under lease and not area of the lease cannot make any difference, for liability will be that of the mining company, in totality of the facts of the present case,” it said.

The company had moved the Supreme Court against the NGT order. The apex court dismissed the appeal in 2022 and said that Rs 45 lakh should be deposited with the district legal services authority (DLSA), Vijayapura, within three months.

However, the matter got stalled till Sarvabhouma Bagali, the original applicant before the NGT, moved an execution application seeking the disbursement of the compensation.

Pravin Darade, principal secretary, environment department, had submitted that a decision was taken to recover the amount from the company.

“It should be paid out of the amount which has been deposited by K J Infrastructure Project India Pvt Ltd, Pune, as deposit amount during auction process,” he stated.

Last week, the department submitted before the NGT that the district collector, Solapur, had released a cheque for Rs 51.18 lakh issued in the name of DLSA.

The amount includes the basic amount of Rs 45 lakh as well as interest of Rs 6.18  lakh, it said.