Finally NGT’s enquiry team visits Sukhnag!
On the early morning of December 26th 2024 the huge JCB and L&T Cranes were taken out all of a sudden from Sukhnag river. The operators started hiding them in different areas of the Sail and Kangripora villages. Some machines were hidden under dry paddy grass used to feed cattle in winter months. I saw some machines parked in secluded places so that nobody would see them. The dumpers were off the road. This action alerted the locals who had been trying to raise their voice against the illegal riverbed mining. They tried to stop this work and held protests as well. The heavy trucks (dumpers) carrying boulders, bajri, nallah muck and other riverbed material (RBM) were stopped by villagers on some occasions but the local administration, mining department and police reprimanded them.
They were told that the construction company involved in Srinagar Ring Road construction work has been allotted the work by Govt. When this author investigated it I found Disposal Permits being given to them by Irrigation & Flood Control Deptt on the advice of DC Budgam. The disposal permits are given during floods or weathering and are valid for a few days or weeks only. These permits have been misused by the company. The locals were made to keep quiet and the destruction continued. The Chairman DDC Budgam Nazir Ahmad Khan at one point of time tried to get this illegal work stopped but he too couldn’t succeed. Khan on one occasion stopped these trucks on Beerwah Budgam road, but the administration didn’t cooperate with him.
Death of 3000 Fish
When things went out of control I raised my voice more vehemently especially when around 3000 fish perished inside a trout fish farm at Doenkuel Bagh Sail in May 2024. The farm owned by a local resident Peerzada Rayees suffered major loss and he moved from pillar to post to get justice. Ironically not even an FIR was registered by the local Police and administration failed to help him or compensate this poor fish farmer. I highlighted this issue on different social media platforms & legally argued this issue through my write-up. I explained in detail that the riverbed mining done in Sukhnag was completely illegal as the company had not obtained any Environmental Clearance from J&K State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority-JKSEIAA. This also violated the J&K Fisheries Act 2018, Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1974, J&K Minor Mineral Concession Rules 2016 and many other environmental laws. I sent written representation to the Chief Secretary, IGP Kashmir, DC Budgam, Director Mining J&K, Member Secretary J&K Pollution Control Committee.
Petition in NGT
When there was no action from authorities, I finally moved a formal petition before the National Green Tribunal -NGT through my counsel Advocate Saurabh Sharma. In the very first hearing the NGT’s three member Principal Bench of Justice Prakash Srivastava (Chairperson), Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi (Judicial Member) and Dr A Senthil Vel (Expert Member) issued notice to J&K Govt and constituted a team of officers from Govt of India assisted by Director Fisheries J&K Govt & Member Secretary JK Pollution Control Committee-JKPCC to visit the site for on spot assessment and enquiry. The Oct 4th 2024 order of the Hon’ble NGT reads :
“Having regard to the seriousness of the allegation made in the OA, we also form a Joint Committee comprising of the representative of the Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board (State PCB), Regional Officer, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and Director, Fisheries Department, Jammu & Kashmir. The Member Secretary, State PCB will act as the nodal agency in the Committee. The Committee will visit the site, ascertain the correctness of the allegations made by the Applicant, the extent of illegal mining in the river bed of Sukhnag River at Sail and also persons responsible for the same and suggest punitive and remedial actions. Let this exercise be completed by the Committee within a period of eight weeks and the report be filed immediately thereafter “
Team finally visits Sukhnag
The team constituted by NGT finally visited Sukhnag on December 26th 2024. It consisted of senior officers from Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change -MoEF, Central Pollution Control Board-CPCB, Director Fisheries J&K, Member Secretary JKPCC. The company involved in the criminal act had directed its workers and machine operators to stop the work and all the machines were hidden in fferent corners of Sail and Kangripora villages of Beerwah Budgam. The villagers came to know that riverbed mining that was being done in the Sukhnag River also called Sukhnag nallah was illegal.Emotional scenes were witnessed and the locals in large numbers came out and urged upon the senior officials to prepare a factual report so that this illegal work is stopped and people involved in the heinous act get punished. The team of officers assured the locals that justice would be done with them as per law and they would submit a report to the NGT based on facts before the next date of hearing. The matter is listed for another hearing on January 14th 2025
Conclusion
The Govt officers who had been asking locals that mining work taking place in Sukhnag was legal couldn’t defend the company involved in this illegal work. They had to accept the fact before the visiting team constituted by NGT that mining work done in Sukhnag was illegal. The District Mineral Officer-DMO clearly told the team that no environmental clearance had been obtained. Director Fisheries accepted the fact that Rayees lost thousands of Fish. SDM , Tehsildar , SDPO were present and they all couldn’t defend the wrongdoings of the company that has been looting Sukhnag for more than 3 years. I am sure that a massive Environmental Compensation would be imposed on the violators by the NGT when the final judgement would be pronounced in this case.
Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow and Chairman J&K Climate Action Group
