SRINAGAR: The Environmental Policy Group (EPG) has sounded a grave warning over the illegal establishment of a garbage dumping site near the Guryul Ravine Fossil Park in Khonmoh, on the outskirts of Srinagar. The group has called the act a shocking case of environmental vandalism that threatens one of the world’s most significant geological heritage sites, dating back 252 million years.
The EPG said the waste yard not only violates key environmental laws but also endangers a globally rare formation that preserves the only known geological evidence of the world’s first recorded tsunami. The tsunami traces are embedded within the park’s sedimentary layers, a discovery that has earned the Guryul Ravine recognition in international scientific literature and global research circles.
“The Guryul Ravine is not merely a local landmark; it is a living classroom, a research base for geoscientists, and one of the world’s most critical Permian-Triassic boundary sites,” the EPG said. “This is where the story of Earth’s most dramatic extinction and its slow recovery is preserved in stone.”
Located in the Khonmoh area of Kashmir, the fossil site has drawn international attention for the clues it offers into Earth’s climate history, mass extinctions, tectonic shifts, and evolutionary processes. The sedimentary rock formations found at Guryul Ravine uniquely capture the transition between the Permian and Triassic periods, a time when over 90 per cent of marine species and 70% of terrestrial life were wiped out.
Yet, despite its scientific value, the area remains unprotected. According to the EPG, local authorities have illegally enclosed a large zone near the park for garbage dumping, even constructing a waste shed. The move, the group says, is in direct violation of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. It also disregards previous directives of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which had ordered conservation of sensitive geo-heritage sites like this.
“This is an act of erasure — of history, of science, and of a globally significant landscape,” said an EPG spokesperson. “Even after the Central Government banned mining in and around the park on the Prime Minister’s directions, illegal activities continue. This new garbage yard is the most damaging act so far.”
The dumping poses an immediate threat to the fossil beds and fragile rock structures. Researchers fear that any further neglect could irreversibly destroy the last accessible traces of a 252-million-year-old mass extinction — an event often referred to as the ‘Great Dying’.
In response, the EPG has announced it will move the Jammu and Kashmir High Court again to seek urgent intervention. It has also urged the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee, District Administration Srinagar, Department of Geology and Mining, Wildlife Protection Department, and Rural Development Department to act immediately.
The group has called upon Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and the Chief Secretary to personally intervene and order the immediate dismantling of the garbage yard. Among its demands is the formal declaration of the Guryul Ravine Fossil Park and its surrounding buffer as a “No-Dumping Zone” and its notification as an Eco-Sensitive Area under Indian environmental law.
Civil society, scientists, and legal experts have joined EPG in condemning the violation, warning that further delay could result in the loss of one of Earth’s most remarkable natural records.
“If we lose Guryul Ravine to neglect and garbage, we lose a chapter of Earth’s own autobiography,” the EPG said. “This is not just a legal obligation — it’s a moral duty to protect it for future generations.”
