The National Green Tribunal (NGT) took suo motu cognisance of the unscientific dumping of municipal solid waste (MSW) and the establishment of a waste management plant in a wetland and grazing area in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. The area also served as a seasonal playground for local youth.
The issue came to light after Nighat Mir, a resident of Srinagar, alerted the NGT in December 2024. Mir, who owned a small piece of agricultural land near the site in Tulmulla village, alleged that the dumping was affecting her land.
Her letter dated December 22, 2024 was treated as a petition by the three-member principal bench of the NGT, comprising judicial members Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member Senthil Veil.
According to the complaint, the Municipal Committee of Ganderbal and the Rural Development Department had been dumping garbage adjacent to her land, which lay near a designated wetland and grassland.
“A waste management plant was set up by the Rural Development Department about a year ago, but it remained non-functional. Waste lay scattered across the grassland and wetland. A nearby playground had also become unusable due to the presence of street dogs,” Mir told Down To Earth.
She further stated that the accumulated garbage not only blocked access to her land but also disrupted sports activities in a nearby stadium. Increased dog presence had allegedly led to a rise in bite cases. Despite repeated complaints to the Deputy Commissioner of Ganderbal and the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (J&K PCC), no action had been taken.
Mir told the NGT that she owns 2 kanals (10,890 square feet) of agricultural land near the Tulmulla wetland, which was traditionally used for grazing cattle and sheep, as well as agriculture. Migratory birds also visited the area in winter.
The dumping violated the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016; Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016; E-Waste Management Rules, 2022; and the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, Mir’s letter to the NGT contended.
Local residents, including farmers and sports enthusiasts, welcomed the NGT’s intervention and said they hoped Deputy Commissioner of Ganderbal would look into the issue.
Advocate Shakir Parray, an environmental lawyer based in Srinagar, said: “I am grateful to the NGT for taking cognisance of Mir’s complaint. I hope justice is done not just for humans but also for animals and birds. This wetland, a biodiversity hub, has been turned into a dumping site. The infrastructure created by the Rural Development Department should be dismantled, as it violates MSW Rules 2016 and Wetland Rules 2017.”
The NGT, taking cognizance of the complaint, constituted a joint committee on April 25, 2025 comprising the Deputy Commissioner of Ganderbal and the J&K Pollution Control Committee. The Deputy Commissioner was named the nodal officer. The committee was directed to visit the site within 15 days and submit a factual report.
The NGT’s April 25, 2025 order stated: “If the committee finds that solid waste is being dumped at the land in question in violation of statutory rules framed under environmental statutes, it shall take effective, preventive, prohibitive, punitive and remedial action, which may also include imposition of environmental compensation upon the violator by applying the principle of ‘polluter pays’.”