Srinagar- At Panzan in Budgam, the Shaliganga stream became the setting for a legal fight over riverbed mining, environmental safeguards and the cost of restoring a damaged waterway.
Now, more than seven months after Jammu and Kashmir imposed a Rs 3.10 crore environmental compensation on the construction company involved, the bill has grown to Rs 12.30 crore under the government’s application of the Polluter Pays Principle.
The government told the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Monday that it had asked the National Highways Authority of India to withhold and recover the compensation from pending bills payable to NKC Projects Pvt. Ltd.
The disclosure came in a written reply to a starred question from Ali Mohammad Dar, the National Conference legislator representing Chadoora.
The original compensation was imposed by the J&K Pollution Control Committee in February after the Supreme Court upheld the National Green Tribunal’s action against mining in Shaliganga.
The company had received environmental clearance for riverbed mining and was accused of violating conditions attached to that clearance during mineral extraction.
Earlier proceedings had found that heavy machinery was used in breach of prescribed environmental safeguards.
The dispute began with environmental clearances covering three mining blocks along the Shaliganga Nallah. The National Green Tribunal banned mining in 2022 after a challenge brought by environmental activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat.
The Supreme Court later upheld the tribunal’s decision and directed the J&K Pollution Control Committee to act against violations.
The Rs 3.10 crore compensation reflected damage assessed at three locations. The committee calculated about Rs 87.47 lakh for Dreygam downstream, nearly Rs 70 lakh for Banderpora and about Rs 1.57 crore for the stretch between Panzan Bridge and Lalgam in Chadoora.
The amount has since multiplied under the Polluter Pays formula.
Bhat said the compensation doubles when payment remains pending for three months and doubles again after another three months.
That calculation has taken the amount to Rs 12.30 crore, according to the J&K Pollution Control Committee’s order and the latest account placed before the Assembly.
NKC Projects has challenged the compensation in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The government has described the matter as sub judice. The company has yet to deposit the compensation.
The latest government response says the Pollution Control Committee has written to NHAI seeking direct recovery from pending payments due to the company.
Bhat questions the description of the matter as sub judice because, he said, the High Court has not stayed the Pollution Control Committee’s compensation order.
He has called for the money to be recovered and used to restore the Shaliganga stretch around Panzan, where he says extraction during 2021 and 2022 caused extensive damage.
The dispute now moves from the riverbed to the accounting of its damage. A penalty that began at Rs 3.10 crore has become a Rs 12.30 crore claim, while the stream that triggered the legal battle still awaits the consequences of that calculation.
