SRINAGAR, JULY 12:The Environmental Policy Group (EPG) has sounded alarm over the establishment of an illegal garbage dumping site perilously close to the Guryul Ravine Fossil Park in Khonmoh, on the outskirts of Srinagar. The fossil site, dating back over 252 million years, is globally recognised as a critical geological and palaeontological heritage zone.
The EPG issued a strongly worded statement denouncing the act as “environmental vandalism of the highest order,” warning that the dumping threatens to irreversibly damage one of Earth’s most unique geological formations. “This is not just illegal — it is an outrageous attack on a priceless global heritage site,” said Faiz Ahmad Bakshi, Convenor of the Environmental Policy Group. “Guryul Ravine is not merely a local landmark; it is a living classroom and a rare window into the Earth’s evolutionary past. Dumping waste here is like setting fire to a museum that holds the history of life itself.”
The Guryul Ravine Fossil Park is the only known site on the planet that preserves definitive sedimentary evidence of the world’s first recorded tsunami. It is also one of the few accessible formations that marks the catastrophic Permian-Triassic extinction event — a period that saw over 90% of Earth’s species wiped out. “To destroy such a site is to sever our link with Earth’s most important biological and geological transitions,” said Dr. Ayesha Qadri, a geologist affiliated with an international climate research consortium. “What’s at stake here is not just local ecology, but global scientific heritage.”
Despite previous court orders and a central government ban on mining and related activities in and around the park — issued following international concern from geoscientists — a large dumping shed has reportedly been constructed adjacent to the site. EPG notes that this not only violates India’s Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, but also openly defies High Court directives aimed at preserving the area. “There has been a complete breakdown in enforcement and accountability,” said Bakshi. “How can such a massive violation take place right under the nose of the authorities? This isn’t just negligence — it borders on criminal indifference.”
The EPG, along with several conservation groups, legal experts, and civil society members, is preparing to file a fresh petition before the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh seeking urgent intervention.