Looting karewas & mountains for Baale Sekh

Last time I visited Chalyan and Darwan villages in Charar Sharief on April 25th 2025. I, along with some friends, had to visit a common friend there. As explained already in one of my write-ups, after having lunch with a local friend we left the place around 4.30 PM. As we were driving back we found massive sand and clay excavated from a hillock on the main road. A large portion of that hillock had been raised to ground as well. We all got down from the car and I started making a video and took some photographs as well. I was thinking why the concerned Govt officials who drive the same road were watching all this so unconcernedly, as this activity would endanger their lives and destroy the road as well. Leave aside climate and environment?

In the evening, I shared these videos and pics on social media and the forest department took notice of it as the damaged area belonged to them. The forest officers on the direction of Divisional Forest Officer Pir Panjal Division Budgam filed a complaint in Charar Sharief Police station & police filed an FIR as well the very next day. A JCB machine was seized and some people were detained as well. I thought the criminals would desist from such actions.

After 3 months 

After 3 months I again happened to travel through the same route, and while we crossed Watkaloo village which is around 18 kms from Chadoora town, I along with some friends noticed that a large-scale damage had been caused to a mountain zone / karewas. This time the area of operation was not near Darwan but near Watakaloo village which is located around 5-6 kms downwards. As the streams and rivers have been over exploited, there are less sand deposits there. The sand mafia is now exploring Karewas and mountain zones to excavate sand which is locally called - Baale Sekh.

The organised mining mafia is working in districts like Anantnag, Pulwama, Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipora, Kupwara to excavate this Baale Sekh with cranes and JCB machines. The material is sold to local people and construction contractors @ Rs 10,000 - Rs 11000 per tipper. Every day they excavate almost 30 to 40 tippers (trucks) on dry weather days from a particular spot. As it was raining, the miners were not at the location. People in the area told me that these people prefer bulldozing these karewas in the night but on many occasions when they bribe Govt officials they even do this nasty work in broad-daylight.

Only assurances 

Again, like the last incident, for the whole night I couldn’t sleep properly and during my. As usual I brought the matter into the notice of Director Geology & Mining Department, DFO Budgam, Charar Sharief Police and even Revenue Department DC & Tehsildar Chadoora. SHO Charar Sharief was cooperative and assured me that as soon as the Revenue of Forest Department filed a written complaint he would file an FIR. Director Geology & Mining J&K Govt also assured to act and said he would speak to the Commissioner-Secretary and make sure some new District Mineral Officer-DMO is posted in Budgam. DFO Budgam also gave assurance to curb the mining. The forest officers were in touch with me.

The damage has been caused to forests in the area in the past, right now there is a good block forest officer. Unfortunately the Revenue Department officials who are the custodians of the state land, that was devastated, didn’t respond? I had to tell Patwari to file a written complaint and he seemed unaware of the situation, which he was pretending to be. Tehsildar Chadoora was also non responsive as I sent him a detailed message on his WhatsApp with photos and videos of the site but he didn’t acknowledge the receipt of the message. Nowadays many Govt officials manage their WhatsApp in such a way that they see the message but there is no blue color double tick mark visible to the sender of the message? This is deliberately activated to make sure as if the officer hasn’t seen the message ?

Use of Drones 

In J&K the Geology & Mining Department, which claims to have earned more than Rs 180 Crores revenue from riverbed mining, is reluctant to use drones or install even CCTVs around the mining sites? For the last 5 years I have been asking them to install CCTV cameras in Doodh Ganga, Shali Ganga, Romshi, Rambiara, Sasra, Sukhnag and other rivers / streams but they failed to do so. In karewas and mountain areas, that are located on main roads we don’t see CCTV cameras installed to check sand or clay mining.

The Mining Department always claims that they have less manpower but can’t they buy drones which can do better work with accuracy and efficiency? When we ask them they blame Revenue Department officials and Revenue Department officials who are guardians of state-land and Kah Charai blame Mining Department officials. Actually both are partners in this crime and should be dealt with iron fist if found involved in these activities. They should be taken to task, especially those who are posted in the areas where we see massive damage caused to karewas, mountains, rivers & streams. The unscrupulous elements in the concerned Department have also to be identified who work in league with the mining mafia. This illegal trade fetches no revenue to state and we only get environmental disaster, and destruction to our biodiversity.

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow and Chairman Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement