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Delivered by Smt. Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, Judicial Member

1. The above application is filed by three of the applicants alleging large scale illegal sand extraction from Manair River of Peddapalli District in Telangana.

2. It is stated that the Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC) has invited tenders for extraction and transportation of sand and entered into agreements with the Contractors in March, 2022. The TSMDC had not obtained Environmental Clearance from the concerned departments, as they come under the exemption category. Since the sand sourced in the process of desiltation of sand under the check dams, they are exempted from the requirement of Environmental Clearance, Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate as per Clause No. 7 of S.O. 1224 dated 28.03.2020 which exempt "Dredging and Desiltation of Dams, Reservoirs, Barrages, Rivers and Canals for Disaster Management."

10. The irrigation Department is constructing 19 check dams in the river Manair at various villages of Sulthanabad, Odela, Srirampur, Mutharam and Manthani Mandals of Peddapalli District to meet the irrigation requirements and to improve the groundwater situation. The desiltation of sand in the submergence area of these check dams will enhance the capacity of the check dam and smooth flow of water. It naturally increases the groundwater level in the area, since the water will be available in these check dams for most of the period in a year.

22. The present application concerns the illegal activities in the form of sand mining by the respondents on the southern side of the Manair River falling in Karimnagar District. The Manair River is the border between the Peddapally District and the Karimnagar District of Telangana. One side of the width of the river falls in the Peddapalli District and the other side falls in Karimnagar District.

23. According to the applicants, the respondents are digging, extracting, removing, transporting and loading humongous amounts of sand from the river in the garb of desiltation and dredging. The TSMDC has entered into contracts with the contractors for the purpose of desiltation. Around 200 to 300 lorries are transporting the illegal mined sand on a daily basis without there being the requisite environmental clearance and pollution clearance.

O.A. No. District Villages involved No. of reaches/ checkdams 123/2022 Peddapally Nirkulla, Kanagarthi, Madaka, Kistampet 146/2022 Peddapally Gollapalli, Gattepalli, Kadambapur, Thogarrai, Gundlapalli, Kanagarthy, Madaka, Pothkapalli, Roopnaraanape, Indurthy, Gumpula, Meerjampet, Kistampet, Motlapalli, Odedu, Adavisirampu, Totally 24 Gopalpur, ChinnaOdela checkdams/ reaches across 51/2023 Karimnagar the Manair Vavilala, Utoor, Challur, River Mallareddypally, Kondapaka, Korekal, Pothireddypalli 68/2023 Jayashankar Villasagar, Medigadda, Bhupalpally Palugula&Maddulapapply, Tadicherla, Vallamkunta, Vencharami, Venkatrao Pally 102/2023 All the above three ------------