Tells DC to identify officials who caused destruction of streams through illegal mining
Budgam– As National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a 212 page judgement on illegal mining in streams and rivers of Budgam especially Shali Ganga nallah , the Chairman District Development Council (DDC) Budgam Nazir Ahmad Khan has shot a letter to Deputy Commissioner Budgam asking him to probe into the illegal riverbed mining so that officers who allowed unabated environmental degradation were put to task.
On Friday DDC Chairman Budgam wrote a detailed letter to DC Budgam which reads as:
“I went through some news items mentioning the National Green Tribunal’s detailed judgement to restrict a private company from carrying out any mining activities in Shaliganga stream in Budgam district. In an order pronounced on Wednesday, the NGT has directed the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board (PCB) and the District Magistrate Budgam to enforce compliance of its directions. The NGT has observed that the project proponent has used heavy machines for excavation. NGT has also raised serious concerns over the procedure followed by State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) while grating prior environmental clearances, the NGT has further asserted that the sand mining in river bed has serious consequences “ reads the letter
Nazir Ahmad Khan in his letter to DC Budgam said that NGT order has highlighted various administrative lapses and laxity which reveals that concerned Govt officers dealing with riverbed mining have miserably failed to implement the Mineral Rules 2016 and guidelines of State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).
“The officers who allowed the environmental degradation in streams, rivers or even Karewas need to be dealt strictly. At the outset, the concerns raised by the litigant before the NGT should have been addressed by the officers at district level only. It is only the result of their carelessness that the National Green Tribunal has now taken cognizance of the issue. The tribunal has now issued a 212 paged judgement highlighting the huge administrative and environmental lapses on part of Geology & Mining Department and other concerned departments like Flood Control Department , Fisheries , District Pollution Control Board etc . I request you to order a probe into this so that those officers who allowed this unabated environmental degradation are put to task “ the letter further reads.
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