NGT orders survey of `illegal' quarrying near Tata Cancer Hospital in Navi Mumbai

Mumbai, Feb 18 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered a comprehensive survey of alleged illegal quarrying and stone crushing behind the Tata Cancer Hospital in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, and its impact on the hospital.

The hospital authorities had last year written to the Maharashtra government alleging that illegal stone quarrying on the hill near the hospital had not only damaged its structure but also put the lives of patients at risk.

The Western Zone Bench of the NGT, comprising Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh and Expert Member Dr Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, last week constituted a four-member panel to investigate the scale of excavation and its impact on the cancer hospital.

There shall be a survey using the high-precision Electronic Total Station (ETS) equipment, it said.

The order came on a petition filed by environmental activist B N Kumar.

The committee will include representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), the Raigad District Collector, and the Directorate of Geology and Mining.

The panel will visit the site and find out whether illegal mining or crushing activity had been carried out there in the past and whether it was ongoing, the quantity of stones extracted, the damage caused to the cancer hospital, and suggest remedial measures, the NGT said.

The repot is to be submitted within a month.

As per the Raigad Collector's affidavit before the tribunal, while quarrying permissions expired in 2021, six crusher units continue to operate with the consent of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. PTI COR SP KRK