The residents of the Panzan area in central Kashmir have approached the court to initiate action against the Jammu Kashmir administration for having failed to check the unabated mining in the area.
Reports reaching The Kashmiriyat said that aghast over the illegal mining at Shali Ganga stream in Budgam, the locals of Panzan have issued a legal notice through their counsel to the District Mineral Officer (DMO) Budgam and top officials asking them to stop the illegal practice.
The notice has reached Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Director Geology & Mining JK, Member Secretary Pollution Control Committee and Deputy Commissioner Budgam.
“The mining work allotted to one Abdul Rashid Mir (project proponent) through e-auction at block number 10 in Shali Ganga nallah was blatantly violating Environmental norms and rules particularly the Jammu Kashmir Minor Mineral Concession, Storage, Transportation of Minerals, Management and Prevention of Illegal Mining Rules 2016 , Biological Diversity Act 2002, The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution)Act 1974 and particularly Specific Condition number 53 of JK Environmental Impact Assessment Authority,” read the notice.
The project proponent is going above and beyond to harm the environment, according to the legal notice, and neither functional and operational CCTVs on the mining site nor selling the river bed material at a 50% discount to the local community and surrounding areas have been implemented.
Also, the abovementioned person is openly employing JCBs, L&T, hydraulic excavators, etc., in violation of the 2016 Mineral Rules and the restrictions set by the JK Environmental Impact Assessment Authority, according to the legal notice sent by petitioners’ attorney Badrul Dujja Advocate J&K High Court.