Srinagar
Regarding suspected illicit mining on a district riverbed, the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and deputy commissioner of Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama District have received notice from the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The NGT has sent notices to the J&K State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the District Magistrate (Deputy Commissioner) of Pulwama in response to allegations of illicit riverbed mining in Romshi nallah.
Acting on a petition by social activist Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat, the double bench of the NGT, consisting of Justice Prakash Srivastava, the Chairperson, and Dr. A. Senthil Veil, the Expert Member, ordered the District Magistrate Pulwama and the J&K State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority, or SEIAA, to submit their comprehensive reports by the next hearing date. The NGT has rescheduled the case for February 5, 2024.
Advocate Rahul Chowdhary, representing the petitioner, submitted to the NGT that the contractor (project proponent) was engaging in mining activities in violation of the Sustainable Sand Mining Guidelines, 2016 and the Enforcement & Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining, 2020, as well as the terms of the Environmental Clearance (EC) dated 04.03.2022, particularly the clauses prohibiting the use of heavy machinery in mining (condition no. 53) and prohibiting mining outside of prescribed areas (condition no. 22). In a related matter, the Geology and Mining Department in Budgam has already paid Rs 1 crore as a penalty last year, and on June 1st of this year, the illegal riverbed mining in Doodh Ganga was stopped per the orders of the NGT. The NGT is still considering the case, and the government recently approved the use of Rs 32 crores to restore the Doodh Ganga in accordance with NGT orders
