Onlykashmir.in News Desk
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has told the Legislative Assembly that mineral extraction across the Union Territory is being carried out under a regulated framework designed to balance environmental protection with the ongoing need for construction material in development and infrastructure projects. The clarification came in a written reply to a question raised by MLA Irfan Hafiz Lone concerning measures taken to address environmental concerns linked to mining activity.
According to the government’s response, mineral extraction is governed under the Jammu and Kashmir Minor Mineral Concession, Storage, Transportation and Prevention of Illegal Mining Rules, 2016, in conjunction with other applicable environmental and statutory requirements. Officials said the regulatory structure is intended to ensure that extraction proceeds strictly according to prescribed norms while still meeting the material demands of infrastructure works underway across the Union Territory.
Minor mineral extraction, largely sand, stone and gravel drawn from riverbeds and quarries, has long been a sensitive subject in Jammu and Kashmir, with successive administrations facing pressure both from the construction sector, which depends on a steady local supply, and from environmental groups and riverside communities concerned about unchecked or illegal quarrying damaging riverbanks and agricultural land. The 2016 rules framework, cited by the government in its Assembly reply, was itself introduced to tighten oversight of extraction sites, transportation permits and storage facilities in response to earlier concerns over largely unregulated mining along the Jhelum, Chenab and their tributaries.
The written response tabled this week does not detail specific enforcement figures, such as the number of illegal mining cases registered or penalties imposed in the current year, leaving open the question of how effectively the 2016 rules are being implemented on the ground. Legislators from districts with significant riverbed mining activity have periodically raised concerns in the House over the gap between the stated regulatory framework and actual practices at extraction sites, an issue likely to resurface as infrastructure spending in the Union Territory continues to expand.
