Punjab’s river desilting policy has come under intense judicial scrutiny, with both the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) expressing concern over allegations that commercial sand mining is being carried out under the guise of flood-control and desilting operations.
In the latest development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered an immediate stay on activities depicted in photographs submitted with a petition alleging illegal mining in the Sutlej and Swan river stretches of Ropar district.
The interim order was passed on June 8 by a Division Bench, comprising Justice Sandeep Moudgil and Justice Neerja K Kalson, while hearing a civil writ petition filed by Ropar resident Prem Dutt Sharma against the State of Punjab and others.
During the hearing, the Punjab Government sought additional time to file its response. Acting on instructions from Executive Engineer Mahavir Sharma, the State informed the court that no mining activity was being carried out at the site and that the work in question was related to the maintenance and strengthening of an existing bridge over the Sutlej and Swan rivers.
However, the High Court directed the state government to place on record the tender documents under which the work had been awarded, along with details of the contractor executing the project. The Bench observed that these records would help determine whether the activities shown in the photographs formed part of authorised maintenance work or amounted to illegal extraction of riverbed material.
Pending further examination, the court ordered that all activities reflected in the photographs annexed to the petition shall remain stayed until further orders.
The respondents have been granted one week to comply with the directions, and the matter is scheduled for further hearing on June 16.
The order assumes significance in view of an earlier direction by the High Court in related proceedings concerning illegal mining in Ropar district. In that case, the court had warned that the Deputy Commissioner of Ropar would be held personally responsible if any illegal mining activities were found to be taking place in the district.
Meanwhile, the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal has also intervened in the matter. A Bench headed by Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Chairperson of the NGT, and Expert Member Dr Afroz Ahmad has restrained the Punjab Government from permitting further dredging or desilting operations for commercial purposes under 79 disputed tenders unless mandatory environmental safeguards are complied with.
The interim directions were issued while hearing an application filed by Kuljinder Singh, who challenged tender notices relating to desilting works in several rivers, including the Sutlej, Ravi, Ghaggar, Swan and Siswan.
The Tribunal observed that the applicant had established a prima facie case that the State’s “No Cost to Government/Volume Share" model could effectively amount to commercial sand mining under the cover of desilting operations.
Accordingly, the NGT directed that no further desilting or dredging for commercial purposes should be undertaken under the disputed tenders without the preparation of District Survey Reports, replenishment studies and the requisite environmental clearances under the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006.
The Tribunal, however, clarified that genuine desilting activities undertaken for river maintenance, flood control and disaster mitigation could continue through appropriate mechanisms, provided they did not involve the commercial exploitation of riverbed material.
The parallel interventions by the High Court and the NGT place Punjab’s river management and desilting policy under heightened legal scrutiny, with questions being raised over whether environmental safeguards and mining regulations are being adequately enforced.
