The court emphasizes geological assessments and urgent remedial actions for mitigating land subsidence in environmentally fragile regions.

ORDER

1. This original application has been registered on the basis of the news item titled "Land sinking: A new environmental challenge in J&K" appearing in greaterkashmir.com dated 29.04.2024.

2. The news item states that there was a massive land sinking at Parnote Village in Jammu’s Ramban District, and till the publication of the news item, 58 houses were destroyed due to the land subsidence in three days and more than 500 people were required to shift at safer places. The news item also states that Ramban town had vanished in land subsidence and the miseries of the inhabitants was continuing as there was no let up to land sinking. It was a nightmare to the residents to see their houses and agricultural fields vanishing. The news item further discloses that the team of Geologist had conducted survey of the affected area and had taken soil samples for tests. As per the news report, the land sinking in last several years had emerged as one of the major environmental challenges in J&K and many areas in J&K, including in Badgam District in Kashmir are prone to land sinking. It is alleged that increasing human activities and haphazard constructions trigger soil erosion and land sinking. The news item further alleges that massive construction activities including expansions and construction of tunnels in eco-fragile zones in various areas of J&K had been witnessed. The Himalayas are one of the most fragile ecosystems and need adequate safeguards against the onslaught to protect their fragility and most of the parts of J&K fall under high seismic Zones IV and V making J&K highly vulnerable to earthquakes and subsequent landslides and floods.

3. The Tribunal had taken up the matter suo motu on the basis of the above news item and by order dated 30.05.2024 had impleaded the concerned respondents and had issued notice to them. Office report indicates that all the respondents are served.

4. The Respondent No. 4, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology Dehradun has filed the response dated 27.01.2025 giving elaborate details of location and geology of Ramban area as under:

“Location and Geology

The geological succession of Ramban area show continuous lithounits with variable thickness comprising mainly of sandstone, mudstone, limestone, quartzite, slate, and ma-felsic rocks (Fig. 1). Regional strike of the bedrock is NW-SE and dips towards NE. The region forms a succession of sub-Himalayan belt comprising of Siwalik sediments and Murree Group which are overlain by Ramban Formation. In this region several characteristic tectonic zones as thrusts sheet have been noticed, the Murree Thrust (-Main Boundary Thrust) and the Panjal Thrust are the major structural units (Sharma et al., 1979; Karunakaran and Rao, 1979; Jangpani et al., 1986; Raiverman et al., 1994). Murree Thrust delineates the Tertiary rocks of Murree Group from the pre-Tertiary rocks of Ramban Formation and trends parallel to the Panjal Thrust. In the Ramban-Pernote area, the Lower Murree Formation largely shows unconsolidated thick sections, display em to meter scale anticlinal and synclinal structures. On the basis of relative dominance of mudstone and sandstone, the Murree Group is divided into a Lower Murree Formation and Upper Murree Formation (Wadia, 1931). Lower Murree Group mostly consists of cyclic alternation of sandstone-siltstone and mudstone sequence, whereas, in the upper part sandstone and thick mudstones dominates. In places high mountain range in the Ramban, encompasses low grade metamorphic, igneous intrusive, and mafic bodies which are intercalated with pyroclastic material and lava flow (Wadia, 1931; Bhatia and Bhatia, 1973; Raina et al., 1990). Ch