Illegal mining study: HC asks Punjab why it’s averse to roping in Survey of India

The high court has asked the Punjab government to apprise why it was against the assessment of illegal mining in the rivers along the border with Pakistan by Survey of India.

The high court bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Anil Kshetarpal has sought response in this regard after the Indian Army and the Border Security Force (BSF) had expressed their inability to conduct the survey for tracing the illegal mining in view of lack of expertise. Thereafter, the court had proposed during a hearing in September that an independent study should be conducted by Survey of India. However, the Punjab government had objected to roping in Survey of India. In view of this, the court has posted the matter for December 2 and asked Punjab to make its submissions and objections by then.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) in which it is overseeing steps being taken by the Punjab government to check illegal mining in the state, especially along border areas. It was in August, the high court had asked the Centre whether the army can be involved in for the survey in question.

In August 2022, the high court had restrained the state government from allowing mining along Ravi river in Pathankot and Gurdaspur near the Pakistan border. The order was passed after the army and the BSF, in their reports to the high court, had termed it threat to the national security. In its report, the BSF had said besides posing a huge threat to ecology, mining is also posing a threat to the security of the international border.

The army had said that ditches and gorges which are formed as a result of illegal mining facilitated cross-border infiltration. “Unplanned and uncontrolled mining may cause changes in the natural water drainage and even change the course of river resulting in army posts being susceptible to floods. Illegal mining has been a facilitating factor towards the nexus between drugs smugglers, terrorists and anti-national elements, operating in the hinterland, nurtured and controlled by Pakistani spy agency ISI,” it had stated.

Following the revelations before high court, the state government had said that a three- member committee has been set up to study the effect of mining activities on the flow of river Ravi and its behavioral changes. Impact of mining activities on the river flow upstream and downstream of mining sites of the river in Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Amritsar would be studied. The panel will also examine impact of mining operations on the infrastructure built in the riverbed area by the army, the BSF and other departments in three districts, the government had told the court.