Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 10: Peeved over the open defiance of laws and prescribed guidelines by the politicians in running illegal brick kilns, stone crushers and hot/wet mix plants in the State, Chairman of the National Panthers Party and former minister Harsh Dev Singh today cautioned the Govt to initiate action and remove the same or be prepared to face public wrath including ‘gherao’ of such illegal units.
Singh regretted that consecutive media reports on the subject besides public protests had failed to awaken the concerned authorities who were willfully supporting these illegal units in view of their political influence. He said that several brick kilns, stone crushers and hot/wet mix plants in district Jammu, Samba and Kathua were owned and operated by Ministers who abused their position and authority to run these illegal units in circumvention of laws as also the categoric directives of National Green Tribunal, Supreme Court and High Court. He regretted that two illegal stone crushers adjacent to each other were installed by a Member Parliament in Krishanpur- Manwal without requisite NOCs and despite huge public outrage in the area, with authorities concerned shutting their eyes to the grave irregularity.
Seeking the immediate disbanding of such un-authorized brick kilns and stone crushers, Singh said that such illegal units had caused huge environmental and ecological degradation besides serious hazards to human health. He said that there were hundreds of stone crushes operating in the State without fulfilling the pre-requisites laid down by the Union Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Mines in pursuance of the Supreme Court directions. He said that even the J&K High Court in its order in July 2015 in writ petition titled Mohd Maqbool Lone vs State of J&K had called upon the State Govt to ensure strict monitoring of the stone crushers and hot/wet mix plants. He regretted that Deputy Commissioners and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) which were the nodal agency for regulation of stone crushers, brick kilns etc had abdicated their responsibility due to vested interests.
Lambasting the District Magistrates and SPCB for allowing hundreds of Brick kilns and stone crushers to operate in violation of guidelines and directives of Supreme Court and J&K High Court. Harsh Dev pointed out that several units had been installed in prohibited areas and non specified locations by powerful mafia in league with Govt functionaries.
NPP leader said that stone crushers installed on river beds, on kah-charai/state lands or in the vicinity of schools, habitations, forests, hospitals etc in violation of rules were required to be immediately disbanded with action under law against the violators with a beginning to be made by dismantling such illegal units operated by Ministers, MPs and MLAs.
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