JAIPUR: In a major setback to the state government, the Supreme Court on Friday extended the sand mining ban in the state till March 13 and issued notice to the state government and the Union ministry of forest and environment (MoEF) for its move to mine sand from agricultural land.While expressing concern over rampant illegal sand mining on river beds in several parts of the country, a bench comprising justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta asked the Centre whether it had a policy to curb this practice.The court said if illegal sand mining was not stopped, it might lead to the drying up of rivers. The top court’s observation came during the hearing on a batch of matters related to sand mining in Rajasthan The state government had informed the court that 19 out of the 82 sand mine leases in Banas River had received environmental clearance following the replenishment study submitted by MoEF, but it failed to convince the court.When the petitioner’s counsel informed the court that the state government had issued leases for sand mining from agriculture land to circumvent the Apex court order, the bench ordered to issue notice to both the state government and the Union environment ministry.Last year, SC had restrained 82 large lease holders from mining sand in the state on November 16. The court banned the mining of sand and bajri until agencies completed a scientific replenishment study and Mo-EF granted clearance after considering the matter fully and dispassionately.

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