Unabated illegal mining in various water bodies
*JKPCC says rules being violated openly in Ganderbal
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 15: Even after explicit directives of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and repeated reminders from the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (JKPCC), three Deputy Commissioners, Chief Engineer Jal Shakti Department Jammu and Director Geology and Mining have failed to submit status reports regarding unabated illegal mining in various water bodies.
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However, a committee of the Pollution Control Committee of the Union Territory has conveyed to the National Green Tribunal that rules are being openly violated in Ganderbal district of Kashmir valley due to lack of proper vigil and non-maintenance of record of minor mineral extractions.
The National Green Tribunal, while taking cognizance of news-item published by EXCELSIOR regarding unabated illegal mining in various water bodies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, vide order dated July 16, 2024 sought status reports from all the concerned authorities.
In compliance to the order of the NGT, the J&K Pollution Control Committee constituted two separate committees for Kashmir as well as Jammu divisions with the direction to visit the affected areas and furnish comprehensive reports along with recommendations.
Similarly, Deputy Commissioner Kathua, Deputy Commissioner Samba and Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal were also requested to share the status reports with respect to the observations of the NGT. Similar request was also made to Director Geology and Mining Department and Chief Engineer Jal Shakti Department Jammu.
Though both the committees constituted by J&K Pollution Control Committee submitted their reports yet the status reports are still awaited from Deputy Commissioners of Samba, Kathua and Ganderbal, Chief Engineer Jal Shakti Department and Director Geology and Mining Department even after repeated reminders from the Pollution Control Committee.
As far as Deputy Commissioners of Samba and Kathua are concerned, the first communication was sent by JKPCC on July 30, 2024 followed by reminders dated September 2, September 21 and October 5, 2024. Similarly, apart from main communication dated July 30, 2024, the JKPCC sent reminders to Director Geology and Mining Department on August 28 and September 27 respectively for furnishing status reports. Likewise, numerous reminders were sent to Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal and Chief Engineer Jal Shakti Department Jammu.
In the communications sent to all these officers it was mentioned that NGT will take up the case on October 16, 2024 and timely furnishing of status reports was imperative to facilitate the JKPCC in submission of comprehensive report to the Tribunal. However, communications of the JKPCC have not been taken seriously and the same is evident from the fact that JKPCC in its report submitted to the Tribunal today has mentioned: “Status reports from Deputy Commissioners of Kathua, Samba and Ganderbal, Chief Engineer Jal Shakti Department and Director Geology and Mining J&K are awaited”.
Meanwhile, the JKPCC committee constituted for Kashmir division has pointed out uncontrolled illegal mining in Ganderbal district. “The blocks visited by the committee are not demarcated properly and no sign board has been installed”, the report said.
“The excavation work is not being done to the extent of river bed only but near the bank also. The permissible distance has not been left from the river banks during mining activity to maintain safety and stability of river bank—three meters or 10% of the width of the river, whichever is more, has not been left intact as no mining zone”, the report further said, adding “the depth of sand mining at some spots has been seen exceeding the permissible limits, which has increased beyond the height of banks and there are chances of collapse of the river banks”.
The committee has also pointed out excavation in excess at some spots causing degradation of the river bed and landscape. “The unscientific mining taking place in these blocks has caused bed degradation, erosion of peripheries, uprooting of plants along the banks”, the committee added.
“There is no visible damage to the bridges but the possibility of any future damage to the bridges near Arch village and Wussan cannot be ruled out”, the committee has concluded.
The committee for the Jammu division specifically for Samba and Kathua districts, in its report, has mentioned that there are no recent signs of mining in the area along the rivers and other water bodies particularly near the pillars of Ravi Tawi Canal bridge and railway bridge.
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