Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Jan 5: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought personal appearance of the Administrative Secretary, Public Works Department (PWD) in response to a petition alleging environmental damage due to the construction of the Handwara-Bungus road in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
A three-member Principal Bench comprising Justice Prakash Srivastava, Chairperson, Justice Sudhir Aggarwal, Judicial Member, and Dr. A. Senthil Vel, Expert Member, while hearing the petition filed by Advocate Rasikh Rasool Bhat-a lawyer and RTI activist from Handwara-has directed the Administrative Secretary, PWD, J&K Government, to appear before the NGT on the next hearing date, scheduled for April 22, 2025.
Advocate Rasikh Rasool has alleged environmental violations during the execution of the Handwara-Bungus road project. The NGT has been hearing the case for almost a year.
“I was compelled to approach the NGT after the government failed to act on my repeated pleas. Both the PWD R&B Handwara Division and the PWD Administrative Department failed to respond to an earlier notice issued on February 21, 2024,” Rasikh stated.
He added that despite being informed about potential violations, no action was taken by the respondents, even though the Executive Engineer of R&B Handwara is a party to the case.
“On January 2, the Executive Engineer, R&B Handwara, appeared before the tribunal but failed to justify his lack of responsiveness in the previous hearings,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention that the R&B Division Handwara initiated the construction of the Handwara-Bungus Road without obtaining the required environmental clearance from the competent authority.
The petitioner has alleged that more than 25,000 forest trees were cut down or uprooted and that illegal riverbed mining was conducted to extract material in violation of the J&K Minor Mineral Concession Rules.
In its January 2, 2025, order, the NGT stated: “Though notice was duly served and the matter was subsequently taken up on 25.04.2024, 07.08.2024, and 19.11.2024, no reply on behalf of respondent number 2, Administrative Secretary, Public Works Roads and Buildings Department, UT of J&K, and respondent number 5, Executive Engineer, Public Works R&B Division Handwara, J&K, has been filed.”
The order further stated: “It has been pointed out that these officers are the main respondents responsible for the alleged violations. Hence, we direct respondent no. 2, Administrative Secretary, Public Works Roads and Buildings Department, UT of J&K, to appear on the next date of hearing and apprise us of the allegations and alleged violations.”
On November 18, 2024, the J&K Pollution Control Committee (JKPCC) filed a report highlighting a discrepancy of 2,728.82 MT between the material consumed and the disposal permits obtained by the executing agency, the PWD (R&B) Department.
The report further noted that the executing agency failed to provide any justification for this discrepancy.
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