Collector upholds Rs97L fine on GMR power plant

Chandrapur: The revenue department has slapped a fine of Rs97 lakh upon Warora-based power plant of GMR Energy Ltd for illegal excavation of murum from a private land in village Mauja Dongargaon Railway in 2012. The district collector’s recent order upheld the decision of Warora tehsildar to fine the company, and scrapped the later order of Warora SDO overruling the tehsildar’s order.
Councillor and president of Warora city Congress Jainuddin Sheikh the issue dates back to 2012. GMR had excavated murum from 1.06 hectare farmland owned by Chindhubai Padve and Sonabai Karlekar in Dongargaon Railway village. Jainuddin Sheikh had filed a complaint against the company for illegal excavation with tehsildar, SDO and collector, and demanded action. When no action was initiated, Sheikh staged an indefinite hunger strike for 14 days to press his demand. Taking cognisance of his agitation, the tehsildar finally ordered an inquiry. On the basis of the report submitted by local patwari and spot inspection conducted by naib teshildar, the tehsildar said in the order dated April 4, 2013, that GMR would have to pay fine of Rs97 lakh fine for illegal excavation of minor mineral.
The company went into appeal before SDO Warora, who ruled in its favour and scrapped the tehsildar’s order through an order dated February 14, 2014. Complainant Sheikh challenged this SDO’s order before the district collector. After hearing the case, the collector has ruled in favour of Sheikh and upheld the tehsildar’s order to recover Rs97 lakh fine from GMR for illegal excavation, Sheikh informed.
Sheikh claimed that GMR failed to produce any permission or NOC obtained from environment tribunal of state government, which is mandatory as per directives issued by Supreme Court for mining of minor minerals. Similarly, the company also failed to produce any evidence to prove that the land where excavation was carried out was handed over to the company by Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. Hence, the collector approved the orders of Warora tehsildar to slap fine on GMR and overruled the order passed by Warora SDO in favour of the company.