Gauhati HC stays Centre's permission to OIL to drill wells inside Dibru-Saikhowa national park
Guwahati, Dec 7: The Gauhati High Court on Monday stayed the Centre's permission to Oil India to drill seven wells inside Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, which is adjacent to Baghjan well blaze site.
The stay order was issued by a division bench of Chief Justice (Acting) N Kotiswar Singh and Justice Manish Chowdhury on a PIL filed jointly by advocate Mrinmoy Khataniar and mountaineer Amar Jyoti Deka.
"After hearing the counsels, the Hon'ble Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court stayed the environmental clearance dated on May 11 this year for non compliance of the Supreme Court order of September 7, 2017," the petitioners' advocate Debajit Kumar Das told PTI.
As per the Supreme Court order, Oil India Ltd (OIL) was required to conduct the Bio Diversity Impact Assessment Study, he added.
"The division bench of Gauhati High Court was prima facie satisfied that OIL had failed to carry out the assessment study. So it stayed exploration and drilling of seven hydrocarbon projects in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park," said Rakhee Sirauthia Chowdhury, another advocate of the petitioners.
The ministry of environment, forest and climate change had accorded environmental clearance to OIL for drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at seven locations under Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, north west of Baghjan in Tinsukia district.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13; body of last missing person recovered
Jabalpur (PTI): The bodies of a five-year-old boy and his uncle were recovered from Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district on Sunday morning, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy to 13, police said.
The boat, around 20 years old and operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening.
"The bodies of Mayuram (5) and his uncle Kamraj (around 50), an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, were found floating and were fished out of the dam," Bargi Sub Divisional Officer of Police Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI over the phone.
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All 13 missing persons identified have now been accounted for, he said, adding the bodies were sent to a government hospital for postmortem.
Teams comprising around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, along with personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, were involved in the search operation, the police said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the vessel, 28 were rescued after the incident, according to the police.
The CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat, though the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far, they said.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members. It also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
