State to look into MPCB's role

State environment secretary, Valsa Nair Singh, has said that she would specifically look into the role that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board had played while mining was going on in Sakhari Velas village in Ratnagiri without its consent. Kunal Purohit reports.

State environment secretary, Valsa Nair Singh, has said that she would specifically look into the role that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board had played while mining was going on in Sakhari Velas village in Ratnagiri without its consent.

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Nair Singh said the problem lay in the lack of coordination between various government agencies. She said better coordination was the need of the hour, since duties of these wings had not been earmarked clearly.

The HT had also reported how the illegal mining at Sakhari Velas was affecting the ecology of the Konkan region. "We have provisions that make it mandatory for the mine owner to carry out a closure of the mine, which is not being done," Nair Singh said. "We will also look into why compulsory afforestation is not done by mine owners."