The National Green Tribunal has ordered a halt to mining operations in Shaliganga Nallah in Kashmir’s Budgam district, overturning the environmental clearance granted by the Jammu and Kashmir Environment Impact Assessment Authority (EIAA).
Environment activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat had appealed towards the permission for mining of riverside supplies akin to sand and rocks in three blocks. The NGT order, which was handed final month, units apart the permissions granted by the EIAA in May.
Shaliganga nallah serves as a feeding channel for the Hokarsar wetland – one of many 5 Ramsar wetland websites in Jammu and Kashmir. The website is house to hundreds of migratory birds from Europe, Russia and Central Asia. It can also be a breeding floor for these birds.
“Mining along its feeding channel and thereby disrupting the flow of water to the wetland will have a direct impact on the ecology of the area, livelihood of the people living near the wetlands and breeding ground of migratory birds,” Bhat stated in his attraction. Tribunal.
The NGT has stated that the atmosphere clearance can’t be retained, declaring: “The EC in drive dated 19.04.2022 is hereby put aside. J&Ok PCB and District Magistrate Budgam will guarantee compliance of this course. J&Ok PCB may also observe the directions issued above relating to fixation of environmental compensation.
The proposal for all three mining blocks was rejected by the J&Ok Expert Appraisal Committee in January. After the venture proponent, NKC Projects Pvt. Ltd. lowered the scale of the proposed mining websites to 1.81 hectares (ha), 1.29 hectares and a couple of.90 hectares – the tasks got environmental clearance by the J&Ok EIAA in March, simply two months later.
All three proposals have been initially rejected on the grounds that the world for which the ECs have been applied is already overexploited and largely depleted resulting from unlawful mining.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
