Many contractor companies engaged by National Highway Authority of India for carrying out excavation work from Nashri to Banihal along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway have come in for severe public criticism with people accusing them of using the rivers and ravines as dumping sites and harming the local environment.
Locals here alleged that the companies after excavating the earth were dumping all the muck, debris and stones into the rivers and ravines thereby damaging the environment and ecology of the place. They alleged that the district administration was hand in glove with these companies allowing them to damage the local environment with impunity.
“Thousands of tons of muck, debris and stones are being thrown into river Chenab from Nahri to Banihal by these companies,” the locals said. They alleged that these companies have not established dumping grounds from Nashri to Banihal. “Hundreds of trees have been damaged by throwing the debris into the river Chenab from Chanderkote to Seri and in Bislari Nullah that flows from Banihal to Maroog in Ramban district,” the locals said.
“All rivulets and ravines are being filled illegally by the earth and muck and construction debris that too under the nose of the district administration,” the locals alleged.
An employee working in a contractor company on condition of anonymity said the “main company” which has sub-let work to other companies also, enjoyed the patronage of some high ranking politician. “It is because of this patronage that the district officers are unable to take action against them,” he said.
The locals said “the greenery, shrubs and herbs including plants are not visible from Banihal to Nashri as they have either been damaged and covered under huge mounds of earth and debris.” They added that even the water sources—springs and nullahs—have vanished from the area.
The local residents including the members of the civil society have meanwhile appealed to the chairman National Green Tribunal, New Delhi, to take note of violations of the environmental laws by these companies and take a strict action against them all.
Pertinently, earlier the NGT had imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore (which was later enhanced to Rs 2 crore) on Gammon India, HCC each for damaging the environment by dumping construction debris into Chenab and Tawi rivers in Jammu and Kashmir.
A petition filed by a Ramban resident, Amaresh Singh, had sought the tribunal’s direction to stop dumping of debris generated during the construction of a stretch of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway between Udhampur and Banihal into the water bodies.