Shopian: Officials of the geology and mining department here say they are helpless to stop the illegal mining of minerals from Rambiara rivulet in Shopian district due to lackadaisical attitude of police, revenue, and irrigation departments.
A week ago, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir had ordered a complete ban on illegal mining in rivers and streams. In Shopian district, the Rambiara rivulet is the main, rather the lone source of such minerals spread over 30 kilometers in length.
An official from the geology and mining department told Kashmir Reader that they often face problems in stopping the illegal mining. “Be it police, revenue or irrigation department, none is concerned about the violation of laws,” said Majid Aziz Bhat, District Geology and Mining Officer.
He said that on Friday evening his team seized nine vehicles and machines from an excavation site but despite a long wait, the police didn’t arrive. “I even called the deputy commissioner to send a police team but despite assurances, they didn’t come,” he said.
Hundreds of lorries are filled daily with sand, gravel and boulders extracted from the rivulet, right under the nose of revenue, police, irrigation and geology departments.
According to official data, 36 mineral blocks along the Rambiara rivulet were to be auctioned but among them bidding on six blocks was cancelled. “For the 30 remaining blocks, contractors are yet to get the nod to carry out excavation as different official formalities are under process,” said the district geology and mining officer.
It means that whatever is being excavated from the rivulet is being carried out illegally.
Officials from the mining department say they have to keep watch over a huge area with minimal staff and on some occasions the law violators attack them. “There have been several instances when these illegal excavators attacked us and police never came to our rescue,” said Bhat.
Another official from the department said that they are the only people being blamed when all the other departments don’t care about the violation and abuse of laws. “There are three police stations under which the rivulet comes but all three of them stay away from it. Police never come to help us in seizing machines or lodging cases,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Shopian Choudhary Muhammad Yasin and Senior Superintendent of Police Amrit Pal Singh couldn’t be reached for their comments.

Raashid Hassan