BHUBANESWAR: Taking note of rampant illegal mining of sand from the Subarnarekha, the National Green Tribunal ( NGT ) has directed Odisha and West Bengal to come up with a joint restoration plan for damages inflicted on the river. A written copy of the order was made available on Tuesday.On September 4, the NGT's principal bench in New Delhi asked the chief secretaries of the two states to form a committee, comprising experts drawn from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad and the respective state pollution control boards within a month to prepare the restoration plan.The NGT, in its order, said the proposed committee should get the ecological damage caused by sand mining assessed by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education in Dehradun and find the cost of riverbed material and ecological restoration. Besides, the panel will also assess the damage suffered by inhabitants around the river.The NGT has asked the district magistrates and the superintendents of police of Balasore and West Midnapore to begin criminal proceedings against the illegal miners and impose exemplary penalty on them within three months to recover the cost of environment restoration and compensate people who suffered because of the illegal activity.The green tribunal's directives came on a petition filed by social activist Sudarsan Das who had complained that large-scale lifting of sand from the banks of the Subarnarekha in Balasore and Paschim Medinipur district had affected the river's ecology, channel geometry, velocity of water flow and (desired) elevation of the riverbed. The NGT said "there has been complete failure of law with regard to the prevention of such illegalities..."The NGT also asked the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change to come out with an effective mining surveillance system in consultation with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in Hyderabad for sand and gravel mining across rivers in the country. It also asked for institutional mechanism to deal with mining done without any environmental clearance (EC) and those done in violation of conditions stipulated in the EC.A senior government officer said the order was being examined. Complainant Das termed the judgement a 'landmark' one and said it could prevent the ruin of rivers from mindless and greedy sand mining.

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