Regulate Sale & Purchase of Hydraulic Excavators
Last year a news report was published in the Financial Express which said that it took 15 years for JCB India to sell 50,000 excavators in the country but more than 50,000 units were sold in the year 2022 & 2023 (until mid October) alone. The newspaper quoted Deepak Shetty, CEO and Managing Director, and says that JCB India is at number three in excavator manufacturing in the world behind China and the US and is soon going to be the second largest manufacturer in the world. From manufacturing around 85,000 units annually, India is all set to manufacture more than 2,50,000 units in another 6 years i.e., 2030.
This is because of the execution of heavy infrastructure projects like roads, railways and mining. For construction companies and contractors who are associated with construction business procuring earth moving equipment like hydraulic cranes, excavators etc., is understandable but in Jammu & Kashmir these heavy machines have been purchased by every Tom, Dick and Harry? Even in remotest villages we see such machines and there are no checks and balances from Govt side at all. In fact there are no regulations from the Govt side and the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA) is also not applicable to such machines?
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways-MoRTH in July 2020 clarified that the heavy road making machinery is not a motor vehicle, and is not covered under MV Act. The Ministry requested the States and UTs not to insist upon registration and driving licence for these machines. This was especially meant for road building and rehabilitation equipment like cold recycling machines, soil stabilization machines, but under this garb the excavators , hydraulic cranes, bull dozer owners take benefit and they are involved in all sorts of illegal work.
NREGA & JCBs
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act -MG-NREGA was enacted in 2005 as a landmark legislation that promised to provide 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. This was meant to benefit the poor and marginalized communities in rural areas who live below the poverty line-BPL. Such people do not have sufficient funds to provide for the necessities of their life. The Government, therefore, introduced NREGA for them so that they won’t have to travel to towns and cities for jobs and that could be provided to them locally in their own village. The works done under NREGA would also benefit the villages by getting better infrastructure like lanes, drains, small roads, wells, washrooms, check dams, rainwater harvesting pits etc. Instead of making poor and marginalized people to do this work some local rich people started using earth movers, excavators like JCBs etc. In Jammu & Kashmir especially the majority of the NREGA work is done by JCBs under the garb of land levelling, playground construction etc. In every village of J&K one can find one or two JCB excavators and they not only do the NREGA work but are also involved in all sorts of illegal work like illegal Riverbed Mining, Clay Mining and digging up forest land to make small roads etc.
RBM with Excavators
Heavy duty earth movers, excavators and cranes are being used extensively in J&K for Riverbed Mining-RBM. One can see JCBs, L&T cranes in the streams and rivers of Kashmir, and Geology & Mining Department, Irrigation and Flood Control Department along with J&K Fisheries Department have maintained a criminal silence. This author has been fighting these people in the court of law especially in the National Green Tribunal. More than Rs 35 crores penalty was imposed on JK Govt for allowing illegal mining and discharge of liquid waste in Doodh Ganga. In March this year acting swiftly on my application against use of JCBs and L&T cranes in Doodh Ganga Justice Sudhir Aggarwal, Member NGT passed an order and imposed an interim penalty on some contractors for contravening the terms and conditions outlined in the environmental clearance granted for their mining lease.
The contractors were directed to deposit Rs 16 lakhs as penalty in two months with the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board. This author filed a case against a construction company for illegal mining in Sukhnag nallah where almost 100 to 150 dumpers excavate boulders and other RBM daily for last 3 years. They have caused a loss of more than Rs 400 crore to state exchequer plus destroying entire landscape of this stream along with flora and fauna.
As per J&K Minor Mineral Concession Rules 2016 the use of heavy machinery like JCBs, L&T cranes banned for Riverbed Mining-RBM . This is also not allowed by J&K State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority -JKSEIAA when they give Environmental Clearance -EC. While issuing the EC they make the lease holder / project proponent to sign the agreement wherein they are prohibited from using such heavy machines. In spite of all these legal bindings the use of machines is in full swing and many Govt officers are supporting this illegal work.
Conclusion
Let the Govt impose a moratorium on sale and purchase of hydraulic excavators in J&K now in view of environmental destruction. Only those people involved in genuine construction trade be allowed to procure the new machines. All the existing JCB and L&T crane owners are asked to get themselves registered with some Govt authority.
Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow. He also is Anant Fellow for Climate Action and Chairman Jammu & Kashmir
RTI Movement
