Green tribunal suspends environmental clearance to Gogte Minerals

The National Green Tribunal has suspended the environmental clearance obtained by a Belgaum-based mining company to extract iron ore from the south Maharashtra sea coast. The tribunal's order was in response to an appeal filed by the affected villagers of Tiroda in Sawantwadi block of Sindhudurg district in May 2011. The principal bench of the tribunal, comprising C V Ramalu and Devendra Kumar Agrawal, found serious procedural lapses in grant of EC by an expert Advisory Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to the company, Gogte Minerals.