Unchecked mining is ruining Kashmir’s rivers. The government is doing little about it

For the last two years, 35-year-old Mohammad Altaf Bohru of Kashmir’s Kulgam district has been working as a scrap dealer.

A father of three, Bohru belongs to Kashmir’s 66,000-strong fishermen community, locally known as gaadi hanjis (those who catch and trade in fish). He lives in Kulgam’s Bhan village which sits on the banks of Vaishav river, a tributary of the Jhelum.

Like his ancestors, Bohru knew only one occupation all his life – catching fish and then selling them in the market.

Not anymore.

Two years ago, Bohru stopped casting his net. “There are no fish in the river now,” said Bohru on a sultry July afternoon while unloading collected scrap material at a warehouse in Kulgam. He blamed it on the excessive sand mining in Vaishav.

Around five years ago, Bohru said, miners shifted from mining sand manually with shovels to using heavy machinery like excavators, bulldozers and earthmovers, even though their use is forbidden under the conditions set by the environmental clearances. Since then, the catch has speedily declined.

This isn’t Bohru’s story alone. More than 70 fishermen families live in the village of Bhan. Almost everyone has switched to other work. Those who still cast their nets in the river say they...

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