THE Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has told the Supreme Court that illegal mining has continued and intensifiedinAssam’sParkupPahararea neartheKazirangaNationalPark, despite a 2019 top court order banning all mining and related activitiesinandaroundthepark’s eco-sensitive zone. Kaziranga, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to around 65 per cent of the endangered one-hornedrhinopopulationin the world. It forms part of an important wildlife corridor betweentheBrahmaputrafloodplains and the Karbi Anglong hills. The SupremeCourt, actingon earlier findings by the CEC, had prohibited all mining and relatedactivities inthis regiontoprevent degradation of critical wildlife habitats and forested landscapes.

 

Based ona complaintfroman anonymous government employee in Assam and fieldlevel verification, the CEC submitted a fresh report dated May 30 to the SC, saying that mining activitiesintheregionhave“continued and intensified” despite the apex court’s ban ordered on April 4, 2019. “Rampant mining continues, particularly in the Parkup Pahar Range,adeclared wildlife sanctuary forming the southern boundary of the Kaziranga National Park,” the report said. The complaint received from the government employee in December 2024 contained GoogleEarthimagery from 2019 to 2023 and site-specific data. Theimagesreportedlyshowed that mining, which had stopped followingtheSC’s2019banorder, resumed and intensified after 2021. The CEO forwarded the complaint to the Assam forest and police departments, requesting a factual report.

 

The principal chief conservator of forests, Assam, submitted a detailed report on February 5, outlining the actions taken, includingthesuspensionofmining leases. The report confirmed that stoneminingwasoccurringclose to the Borjuri Waterfall and its surroundingstreams,whichflow towards Kaziranga. The CEC report also said the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) gave fresh permissions for “dozens” of mines in forest areas and in proposed eco-sensitivezones,violatingthe SCbanandwithouttherequired approvalfromthestandingcommittee of the National Board for Wildlife and theCentral government under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.