New Delhi, April 3 -- On October 31, the executive engineer of the Jal Shakti Department in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district issued an alarm about a "drastic decrease" in drinking water availability. In a letter to the district mineral officer, Shakeel-ul-Rehman identified rampant illegal riverbed mining on the Sukh Nag stream as the primary cause.

Despite no mining leases ever being granted due to the stream's ecological importance-it supports a thriving trout population and serves as a water source for numerous villages-illegal mining has led to its drying up.

A similar crisis has unfolded in the district's Dawlatpora village, where a Rs 30-crore modern water treatment plant built between 2010 and 2022 is now almost defunct. While ...