The Rule 4.3 of Jammu & Kashmir Minor Mineral Concession, Storage, Transportation of Minerals and Prevention of Illegal Mining Rules, 2016 also called J&K MMC Rules 2016 clearly says that no mining activity/operation shall be carried out in any river bed below the depth of 3 metres or below the water level, whichever is lesser. The use of machines is also banned as the work is to be done manually and material sold to locals in an area of 2 sq kms. On the contrary , the riverbeds in J&K are over-explored with heavy machinery and machines are going as deep as 20 to 30 meters. From Poonch to Pulwama and Kishtwar to Kupwara our streams , nallah’s and rivers are being plundered by construction companies and contractors violating all the laws and rules governing riverbed mining in J&K.
Sukhnag Plundered
After being directed not to use heavy machinery for riverbed mining in Shaali Ganga and Doodh Ganga , the construction company involved in Srinagar Ring Road construction has moved towards the Beerwah area of Budgam where deep mining is done in Sukhnag nallah. Every day at least 100 dumpers carry boulders and other riverbed material from Sukhnag river and the same is dumped and processed at Gudsathoo Budgam. It is estimated that at least Rs 30 to 50 lakh damage is caused to state exchequer every day and in addition to it the environmental loss is immense which can’t be even calculated monetarily.
When this author spoke to the District Mineral Officer-DMO Budgam Geology and Mining Department on Monday, he said Flood Control Department Budgam gave permission to the contractors but the officers of the Flood Control Department blame Geology & Mining Department for this. Under the garb of carrying riverbed material for construction of Srinagar Ring Road the said material is dumped at various places and sold in black-market as well. Same thing is done in areas falling under Karewas where clay , sand and bajri is excavated for the Srinagar Ring Road project and a lot of this material is sold in black-market. Several Police officers , Geology and Mining department officials and other Govt officers are involved in these criminal acts across J&K.
Romshi Plundered
Romshi Nallah which flows through Pulwama district has been looted and plundered during the last many years. In the last 3 years the damage has been so immense that it is much more than the damage that was caused in the last 20 years to this water-body. On April 5th 2024 around 6:1`5pm someone posted a video with GPS location on X (formerly Twitter) about illegal riverbed mining taking place in Romshi nallah at Rahmoo Pulwama. The X account named Save Rumshi Nallah had tagged me as well. I contacted the Deputy Commissioner Pulwama and also alerted the District Mineral Officer -DMO Manzoor Ahmad. The DMO told me that Executive Engineer PWD , R&B division Pulwama had forwarded requisition for disposal permit of riverbed material that had been accumulated near Rahmoo village inside the Romoshi nallah. “ The machines were removing that material, “ he said . But the locals allege that illegal riverbed mining was happening in violation of J&K MMC Rules 2016 and against the orders of National Green Tribunal -NGT where a case has been filed already by this author.
The Govt officers always play safe by involving in blame games. On the other hand riverbeds are being over-exploited. This will be catastrophic in the coming years as a large number of springs have dried up and the water table has gone deep which is also impacting the water channels irrigating our paddy lands . The bore wells and tube wells in many areas of J&K are also drying up. The situation is dangerous in the areas located around Vaishav nallah in Kulgam, Rambiara in Shopian and Pulwama, Romshi nallah in Pulwama and Sukhnag nallah in Beerwah. The Doodh Ganga and Shali Ganga have also been over explored as the use of JCB cranes etc has almost been stopped except in the upper reaches of Shali Ganga nallah area where it is still being used but when it comes to other districts the loot and plunder is going on which needs to be stopped soon. Infact the DC Pulwama has been serious about this but these illegal acts are committed during the night hours
Flood Mitigation Capability Eroded
The excessive riverbed mining has eroded the flood mitigation capabilities of Kashmir’s rivers and their embankments now have developed cave-like structures due to deep mechanized mining. This has made them porous and, in some places, completely weak which can be destroyed with gush of water in summer floods. This has resulted in an increased risk of flooding, landslides and soil erosion. This is posing a threat not only to the river landscape but also to the surrounding paddy fields, apple orchards as well.
When machines were not used for riverbed mining several years back, the streams and rivers followed a proper course. The paddy fields and apple farms were properly nourished through small irrigation channels. The capillary action of the water also fed the adjoining springs and tube wells as well and the water table was maintained. Now when the riverbed has been explored as deep as 10 to 20 meters, this is impacting everything. The springs are drying up , bore wells , tube wells are getting impacted plus the irrigation channels don;’t get adequate water supply also.
Frequent Flooding
Frequent flooding, water logging on roads / fields is an annual phenomenon in Kashmir. But this would not have been dangerous earlier even if it would rain for 24 hours. Now things have changed completely. In the last 4 to 5 years, there isn’t a single year when Kashmir valley did not experience water-logging and flooding. Maybe the intensity of these floods is small as compared to September 2014 floods but saying that there were no floods at all would be an incorrect statement. Kashmir valley especially has witnessed many floods in the last 200 years which caused unprecedented damage and loss of lives.For instance, Kashmir valley witnessed major floods in 1841, 1893, 1903, 1929, 1948, 1959, 1957 , 1992 and 2014. Infact, Govt created many embankments around Jhelum and other small streams like Romshi, Doodh Ganga, Shali Ganga, Vaishav but due to illegal Riverbed Mining and constant movement of trucks, cranes and JCBs around these nallahs, streams and rivers, the embankments have been weakened and this is also leading to floods and water logging in the areas.
Conclusion
The constant movement of huge trucks,tractor trolleys, dumpers and tippers has weakened the embankments of streams like Romshi, Rambiara, Doodh Ganga, Shali Ganga, Vaishav, Sukhnag and other streams. The excessive use of JCB & L&T cranes has caused havoc in our streams and they look like bombarded sites. The landscape of these beautiful streams is extremely shabby now and Govt is yet to penalize the involved Govt officials and other non state actors ? How can we expect the judiciary or National Green Tribunal to take cognizance of these issues when we have institutions like Flood Control Department, Geology & Mining Department , Pollution Control Committee , J&K Environmental Impact Assessment Authority who are not working as per the mandate they have been assigned. These institutions need to be taken to task and should be held accountable.
Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer
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