STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Peeved over the huge environmental and ecological degradation besides serious health hazards caused by un-authorised brick-kilns and illegal stone crushers operational in and around Jammu, Harsh Dev Singh JKNPP Chairman and former Minister has accused the Pollution Control Board (PCB) of allowing immunity to influential offenders including sitting ministers, MPs and legislators. He said that there were hundreds of brick-kilns and stone crushes operating in the State without fulfilling the pre-requisites laid down by the GoI, Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Mines in pursuance of the Supreme Court directions.
He said that even the J and K High Court in its order in July 2015 in writ petition titled Mohd Maqbool Lone vs State of J and K had called upon the State Government to ensure strict monitoring of the stone crushers, brick-kilns and HOT/wet mix plants. He regretted that State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) which was the nodal agency for regulation of such pollution creating units, had abdicated its responsibility due to vested interests thus allowing hundreds of such units to operate with impunity.
Harsh further pointed out that while the SPCB had issued notices to hundreds of health institutes of Jammu Division to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Water Act, Air Act and Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, the un-authorised brick-kilns and stone crushers were given an open field by the SPCB without any check whatsoever. He said that it was astonishing, rather intriguing to note that more than five hundred health centres of Jammu Division were served two weeks notices by SPCB to apply for consent to operate under Water/Air Act and to train their staff about Control of Pollution and Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules to the exclusion all other pollution creating units including Hot/wet mix plants brick-kilns and stone crushers.
Lambasting the SPCB for allowing hundreds of brick-kilns and stone crushers to operate in violation of guidelines and directives of Supreme Court and J and K High Court, Singh pointed out that several units had been installed in prohibited areas and non specified locations by powerful mafia in league with government functionaries.
He said that several such units were being allowed to run on political considerations as they were owned by powerful mafia including ministers, MPs and MLAs while others were running in collusion with corrupt officers and vested interests in the department.
Seeking immediate action against illegal brick-kilns and stone crushers, Harsh regretted that apart from SPCB, the other concerned Deptts. including Geology and Mining, Forests, I and FC and District administration concerned had also failed to book the delinquents due to political clout enjoyed by them and money power wielded by them.
He said that brick-kilns and stone crushers installed on river beds, on Kahcharai/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. He urged upon the Chief Minster and State Vigilance Organisation to intervene so as to rescue the people from health hazards caused by such illegal units and to further stop the illegal extraction of minerals including stones, Bajri, sand and boulders by such powerful mafia in blatant circumvention of prescribed norms.
