The freshwater streams of Kashmir, which originate from our high-altitude alpine lakes, are the lifeline of Kashmir’s biodiversity. These streams not only irrigate our farms but are also the source for drinking water as well.
Moreover, these cold freshwater steams also act as a habitat for various types of aquatic life, especially trout. Which is why Kashmir is also referred to as an Angler’s Paradise. There is a large network of streams across Jammu & Kashmir where trout is found in abundant quantities. But due to large-scale riverbed mining using heavy machinery, these freshwater streams have been looted and plundered in the last 10 years.
The illegal excavation of sand, gravel and massive boulders gained momentum in the last five to six years as construction companies got free access to these waterbodies in connivance with the local administration. From Kathua to Kupwara and Budgam to Baramulla, our streams and rivers have been vandalised.
As someone who has been writing and researching on these freshwater streams, trekking and hiking to the glaciers wherefrom these streams originate, it pained me a lot personally to see the vandalisation happening before my eyes. When my blogs and vlogs didn’t work, when my news reports had no response from the government, I chose to seek the intervention of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
In the last six years, I have filed almost 12 petitions in the NGT and by the grace of God, I got some very good orders and judgements as well. Not only did I get these orders with the help of my counsels like Rahul Chowdhary, Saurabh Sharma, Kaustav Dhar and Itisha Awasthi but I also managed to get them enforced as well on the ground as well. The illegal riverbed mining in the Doodh Ganga, Shaliganga and Sukhnag was halted in the last two to three years.
In fact, the damage caused was immense in the last five years. But the further loot of minerals was halted and now, no heavy machinery can be seen working in these streams in broad daylight. On some occasions, machines are used but that too during the dead of the night. Unfortunately, the work which had to be done by the departments of mining, irrigation, flood control, fisheries or the police is now done by me, my friends and counsels with the NGT’s intervention.
The Sukhnag is a small stream that originates from the glaciers of the Pir Panjal range between Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch and Budgam districts. When the NGT banned a construction company NKC Projects Pvt Ltd from mining the in the Shaliganga in response to my petition in October 2022, the company went 30 kilometres west of the Shaliganga to loot and plunder the Sukhnag. Two villages, Sail and Kangripora were especially targeted. Interestingly, no tenders for mining work had been invited nor was any Environmental Clearance (EC) granted by the Jammu and Kashmir Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (EIAA) which is pre-requisite for such works.
In fact, I had challenged the EC granted to this company for mining in the Shaliganga earlier as the EC guidelines were being violated & the NGT had taken my plea seriously. The Budgam district administration and some senior bureaucrats facilitated the mining work to M/S NKC Projects Pvt Ltd, which is constructing the Srinagar Semi Ring Road project at an estimated cost of around Rs 3,000 crore. The material that was collected from the Sukhnag, like boulders, rocks, gravel and sand, were taken to its warehouse and stone crushing factory where they were processed further.
This was not only an environmental loss but a huge loss to the state exchequer as well. According to the documents submitted by the government in the last five years, a mere Rs 1.50 crore has been realised as royalty from NKC and some other contractors whereas the mineral cost would be more than Rs 300 crore. Every day, 200 massive trucks (dumpers) would excavate riverbed material from the Sukhnag and this continued for three long years.
On Friday, October 4, 2024, the NGT’s Principal Bench of Justice Prakash Srivastava (chairperson), Justice A K Tyagi (judicial member) and A Senthil Vel (expert member) heard my petition.
I had raised the issue of illegal mining plus damage caused to a poor fish farmer whose 2,000 fully grown trout got killed in May 2023 due to halting of water supply to his fish farm located near the Sukhnag in Sail village of Beerwah tehsil (subdistrict) in Budgam. My counsel, Advocate Saurabh Sharma, argued so well that the NGT’s three-member bench constituted a team in the first hearing itself. They were directed to visit the site in eight weeks. The team consisted of senior officials from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC); the Central Pollution Control Board; the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Fisheries and the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (JKPCC). They visited the Sail and Kangripora villages on December 26, 2024. The people from these villages came out and told their stories. The heavy machinery had already been taken out of the Sukhnag just before the dawn of December 26, 2024.
The local administration who accompanied the team, especially the district mineral officer, police, revenue department and flood control officials couldn’t speak even a single word. These officials had been threatening village residents not to raise their voices against the company muzzling them for almost three years.
The mining work stopped that day itself and a formal stay order was passed by the NGT in January 2025 when the reports from the departments of fisheries, Jal Shakti and mining in addition to the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee confirmed that the Sukhnag had been looted and plundered under the garb of ‘Disposal Permits’ granted by the district magistrate.
Around 12 freshwater springs had dried up in the villages of Kanigund, Sail and Kangripora due to the illegal mining. When there was no mining for six months, 50 per cent of these springs came back to life again in June and July this year.
This was a great achievement and the local village residents celebrated this. In August this year, I took Principal Accountant General (Audit) Jammu and Kashmir K P Yadav with me to the Kunigund and Sail villages to see the damage caused to the Sukhnag. He was happy to see the springs revived.
The deputy commissioner of Budgam on August 27, 2025, issued an order for undertaking damage assessment of the Sukhnag.
A five-member committee headed by the subdivisional magistrate of Beerwah was asked to look into the extent of damage caused due to mining/short-term permit operations/illegal mining.
The other members of the committee include the executive engineer, flood spill channel division (Narbal); divisional forest officer (Budgam); block development officers of Beerwah and Sukhnag; district mineral officer, Budgam and the assistant director, fisheries (Budgam).
The NGT directed that the committee constituted by the deputy commissioner of Budgam be supervised by another panel of officers from the Government of India which includes the regional officer of the MoEFCC in Chandigarh and an official from the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment in Almora. The Member Secretary, JKPCC was asked to coordinate in this joint committee.
“The joint committee will ensure that committee constituted by Deputy Commissioner, Budgam by the order dated 27.08.2025 assesses the damage caused due to mining/short-term permit/illegal mining by taking into account all the relevant factors and consideration and also ascertain the persons responsible without showing any favour or bias towards any person. If need arises, a joint committee formed by the Tribunal can send its representative to the spot when the verification is done by the five members joint committee appointed by Deputy Commissioner, Budgam. Let report be submitted by the joint committee within 10 weeks,” reads the NGT’s order.
There are still challenges. As the water level recedes in the winter, the springs of the Sukhnag might dry up again. Now is the time to recover environmental compensation from the government & company, contractors which looted it. This money can be used to revive these springs and do better landscaping work on the Sukhnag.
Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an activist and columnist based in Kashmir
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth