Bhat Yasir
Residents of Pattan, Baramulla are aghast over an administration order giving heads up to soil mining in the area. They allege that incessant mining will not only destroy Karewas, but will also affect the natural beauty of the area along with changing topography.
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The district administration Baramulla vide order number DCB/SQ/8042-8050 has granted consent/NOC to NKC Pvt. Ltd for extracting/levelling and lifting of soil in Zangam Pattan in Baramulla district, area of north Kashmir.
As per order, a copy of which lies with The Kashmiriyat, the administration has inspected the site before granting permission for soil extraction. “Whereas Addl. Deputy Commissioner Baramulla visited the spot on 29/11/2021 alongwith SDM Pattan, DMO Baramulla, AEE PHE Division Pattan, Tehsildar/Naib Tehsildar Pattan, other committee members and local farmers,” the order copy reads.
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“Whereas Addl. Deputy commissioner Baramulla submitted his report to Deputy commissioner Baramulla on 30/11/2021 suggesting that certain survey No.s for which NOC/Consent is granted by the land owners are fit for excavation. While as others for which consent is yet to be granted are also fit subject to grant of consent by the land owners as well as PHE Department,” it reads.
The order copy further reads as “Now therefore in view of the circumstances explained here as above, Deputy commissioner Baramulla is satisfied to grant consent/NOC for extraction/levelling/lifting of soil from the survey No.s detailed here as under situated village Pattan tehsil Pattan subjected to the terms and conditions with.”
Municipal Committee, Pattan, president, Prit Pal Singh Obrai, Traders Federation President, Nasir Bashir and Civil Society representative, Hamid Rather, on Thursday, held a Press Conference at the office of President Municipal Committee, Pattan, and demanded the revocation of order granted by district administration, Baramulla.
In a presser they said that, “The people from outside are coming here and extracting soil. We don’t understand where this soil mafia came from. We will not allow them to do this at any cost.”
“Pattan is a historical town and we want administration to look into this and save our topography,” they said.
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Hamid Rather, who also held a protest at the Press Enclave, Srinagar, opposing the permission granted by administration told The Kashmiriyat, “I can’t see environment around me being damaged and destroyed. I raised voice with soft tune so that it can hit the conscience of the Civil Society. I am making efforts to collaborate with different institutions in protecting our environment in general and Karewa highland, in particular.”
“If soil mining continued this way, I will loose hope in this society. I will see a state where administrators themselves don’t respect laws and court orders,” he said, adding that “The soil mining in Pattan is destroying an asset that is worth 20,000 crore INR. Unfortunately, the people at the helm of affairs don’t assess the value of the asset in terms of its ecological, touristic, economic, agricultural, and strategic importance.”
Meanwhile, RTI Activist Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat told The Kashmiriyat, “Karewas are our heritage. They are geological and archeological treasure of Kashmir having a history of more than one million years. If we loose them, we will loose everything. Excavation of clay from Karewas is also prohibited under Land Revenue Act. Let the clay be taken out from Flood Channel and Wullar embankments.”
A Netizen namely Hassan Wani took to twitter and demanded the revocation of order.
We citizens are Demanding Revocation of Massive Soil Extraction Order Issued by #Adc Baramulla near to Pattan Town.@OfficeOfLGJandK @arun64@dwivedimk_ias @DivisionalComm1 @imranrezaansari @hamidrather123@BhatYasir_ @pzfahad
— Hassan wani (@Hassanwanii) December 17, 2021
The Kashmiriyat tried to contact Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla, who didn’t respond to our repeated calls. However, in a text message, he said “Sorry, I can’t talk right now.” The story will be updated when the official responds.