Bilal Ur Rehman
Pulwama, August 31 — The people living along the Rambi Ara stream in Pulwama are living through nights of terror. What was once a lifeline of agriculture and ecology has been turned into a “gold stream” by a mining mafia that operates with impunity. From SIDCO Lassipora to Pulwama to Kakapora, the night is no longer meant for rest but for the endless roar of dumpers, tippers and tractors loaded with boulders mined illegally by L&T cranes and JCBs.
Children have stopped studying, elderly are forced to rely on sleeping pills, and patients are losing the last right they deserve — peace and comfort. “How can you imagine people sleeping when heavy dumpers run with God’s speed throughout the night?” asked Mohammad Shafi, a young entrepreneur, his voice heavy with despair. “Even children have been forced to leave homes and live with relatives just to study without the constant noise.”
Locals say depression and sleeplessness have become a silent epidemic. Tariq Ahmad Wani, a youth from Pulwama, put it bluntly: “We are the only unfortunate people deprived of the basic human right to sleep. Our kinders, our elderly, all are harassed mentally. Tranquilizers have become part of family medicine boxes.”
The Rambi Ara, a tributary of Jhelum, once nourished villages and fields in Pulwama and Shopian. Today, its riverbed is torn apart every night. Illegal mining has altered its course, dried up farmlands, and destroyed aquatic life. “Each night, more than 500 vehicles carry minerals worth nearly a crore. How do they cross security vestibules and reach stone crushers unchecked?” asked Khursheed Ahmad Laway, a resident. His disbelief echoes across villages now sliding into ecological and social collapse.
Earlier, RTI filed by an activist revealed that no mining is permitted beyond manual extraction or after 6 PM. Yet, in Pulwama, even monsoons — when mining is strictly banned under Indian law — have not stopped the L&T 
cranes and JCB’S. Locals blame the nexus between the mining mafia and officials, accusing District Mineral Officers of willful silence. Farmers living around the vicinity seem to be more dispirited and hopeless; While local youth in general feel more downcast with this illegal avocation appealing for an end to this unjust.
The unsustainable and illegal excavation of riverbed minerals has having a negative impact on river ecosystem too. This intensive extraction of sand and stones is completely destroying the flaura and fauna due to the sliding of agricultural land. The functionality and illegal run of a good section of stone crushers (established along the bank of Rambi Ara) cannot be overlooked while describing illegal mining. An employee of SIDCO expressed wondrament over the run of these stone crushers and said, that almost none of them adhere to the injunction of govt. and neither they uphold business standards behind. Almost every stone crusher is feeding on the stream like a parasite and every owner has kept an L&T or two with number of dumpers just for the illegal mining they could do during the night intervals and carry that illegal material in the daytime; the employee further added.
Despite High Court and NGT bans, despite monsoon restrictions, despite promises of “zero tolerance” by the government, the loot continues unabated. Every dumper that thunders down the road each night not only robs Kashmir’s resources but also robs its people of peace, dignity and the hope of a future.
Farmers say their fields are drying, youth see no future, and the community lives in fear that Pulwama will face the same disasters that struck Uttarakhand and Kishtwar.
As one elderly resident near Lassipora said with hollow eyes:
“We don’t count nights in Pulwama anymore. We count dumpers.”
