'Shocking affairs': Supreme Court slams MP govt over illegal sand miners digging up Chambal bridge pillars

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday termed the killing of a forest guard in Madhya Pradesh and the digging of the foundation of pillars of Chambal bridge connecting the state to Rajasthan by illegal sand miners as "shocking affairs" and "failure" of the state government.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, which pulled up the Madhya Pradesh government, said either the state government has failed to curb the illegal mining on the Chambal river or it is being done in connivance with state authorities.

"They are digging up the bridge and if the bridge falls, who will be responsible? The photographs are self-explanatory.

"Forest officials are run over by sand mafias and the foundation of a bridge is dug. This is an absolutely shocking state of affairs. Either the state government has failed to control the illegal sand mining or it is in connivance," the bench observed.

"It is happening under your nose. The amicus pointed out that you do not have weapons. Why, at all, does the state government exist? "These excavators and bulldozers are very secular, they do not see the caste of the person they are killing... it is an absolutely sad state of affairs, the state governments have totally failed or rather they are in connivance. It's absolutely shocking that the foundations of a bridge can be dug up and the state has its eyes closed," the bench told Additional Solicitor General S V Raju appearing for the Madhya Pradesh government.

The top court was hearing a suo motu case titled 'In Re: Illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and threat to endangered aquatic wildlife'.

Senior advocate Nikhil Goel, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, pointed out that it is an important bridge having 32 pillars and it connects Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan but sand mafias are digging the foundation of these pillars.

He said that Odisha, Assam and Maharashtra have come out with a notification empowering forest officials to open fire at sand mafias and similarly Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have written to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) seeking nod for powers to open fire at these illegal sand miners.

Observing that earlier an IPS officer was also killed by illegal sand mafias, Justice Mehta asked the state authorities to explore the possibility of installing high-resolution CCTV cameras to monitor illegal mining.

The bench further suggested that a GPS system can be installed in heavy earth-moving machines in the area to keep a track of their movement.

The bench asked for a status report of the investigation done so far on the killing of a forest guard who was run over by a tractor-trolley allegedly run by sand miners and feasibility report of CCTV cameras.

On April 9, the top court agreed to hear a week later an application seeking an independent investigation into the killing of a forest guard in Madhya Pradesh after being run over by a tractor-trolley allegedly run by sand miners.

The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400-sq km tri-state protected area. Besides the endangered gharial (long-snouted crocodile), it is home to the red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin.

Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.

A 35-year-old forest guard was killed after a tractor-trolley allegedly run by illegal sand miners ran over him in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district on Wednesday morning, police had said.

The incident took place on National Highway-552 near Ranpur village, about 20 km from the district headquarters, when forest personnel tried to stop a sand-laden tractor-trolley, the police had said.

It had said that forest guard Harkesh Gurjar, a part of the patrol team, attempted to stop the vehicle but its driver ran him over, killing him on the spot.

While hearing the suo motu matter on April 2, the apex court slammed the Rajasthan government for "facilitating" illegal sand mining, and stayed its notification de-notifying 732 hectares of the National Chambal Sanctuary, saying it will not allow de-notification of any reserve land for protected species.

Terming "mining mafia" as "dacoits", the apex court had said a number of government officials, including sub-divisional magistrates and policemen, were killed in Rajasthan by the mining mafia.

While hearing the matter on March 20, the apex court had taken serious note of the destruction of habitats of aquatic animals due to rampant illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary.

On March 13, the top court took suo motu cognisance based on certain news reports pertaining to rampant illegal mining from the sand banks of the Chambal river.