National Green Tribunal
Shailendra Kumar Yadav vs State Of H.P on 13 February, 2025
Item No. 03 Court No. 1
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
Original Application No. 187/2023
(I.A. Nos. 325/2024 & 166/2024)
Shailendra Kumar Yadav Applicant
Versus
State of H.P. Respondent
Date of hearing: 13.02.2025
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAKASH SHRIVASTAVA, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant: Mr. Shailendra Kumar Yadav, Applicant in Person
Respondent: Mr. Shaurya Kuthiala, Advs. for R - 2 to 9
Mr. Divyanshu Srivastava, Adv. with Mr. Manish Rampal, DFO, Theog
(Through VC)
ORDER
1. In this original application, Applicant has raised the issue of unscientific management of the horses plying in Kufri and regulation of the tourist activities and consequential damage to the natural vegetation, local ecology and environment.
2. The Tribunal by order dated 05.11.2024 had taken note of the suggestions of the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board (HPPCB) and also considered the letter dated 08.02.2024 enclosed with the report of the State (page 122) recording the willingness of three horse unions to reduce the number of horses from 1029 to 700 and also inaction in this regard. The Tribunal had considered the report of DFO, Theog dated 01.11.2024 and had found that the report did not disclose the extent of garbage which is piled up at difference places and to be remediated and the survival of plantation for deforestation. The statement made by the DFO, Theog was recorded by the Tribunal as under:
1"xxx........................................xxx.........................................xxx
6. The DFO, Theog who is the Chairman of the Committee constituted on 29.10.2024 has submitted that the Committee will be interacting with the Horse Owners Association and will find a solution to remediate the problem. He has submitted that since the Committee has been recently constituted, therefore, till now, the Committee could not take any action.
7. He has sought two months to do the needful and submit the report. The prayer is allowed. Let the fresh report be filed by the State of Himachal Pradesh and the DFO, Theog within two months by way of affidavit keeping in view the observations which has been made above."
3. In pursuance to the above, the report dated 10.02.2025 has been filed by the DFO, Theog mentioning the action taken by the Forest Department to remediate/manage the horse dung problem at Kufri as under:
"xxx........................................xxx.........................................xxx a. The department has assessed the quantity of horse dung accumulated from February 2024 to December 2024. The total number of horse trips plied in the Kufri-Mahasu trail is 2,63,489 and assuming each horse plied thrice a day the amount of horse dung fallen in the trail is 440 MT (determined by taking into account 5 Kg/horse/day). Taking the account of trips, the horse- dung quantity fallen in the forest is estimated in the range of 400 to 500 MT.
b. To manage the horse dung in the Kufri-Mahasu a meeting was convened chaired by the Member-Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Chief Conservator of Forests Shimla, DFO Theog, Environmental Engineer HPPCB on 26.11.2024 in the head-quarters of the HP Pollution Control Board (Annexure R I-Minutes of the meeting at the Regional Office, HP Pollution Control Board, Shimla). It was apprised by the Member-Secretary that the Uttrakhand State had managed the similar problem in Gauri Kund (Sonprayag), Uttrakhand with the help of Patanjli Research Foundation. Thereafter, it was decided to visit the Patanjali Organic Research Institute (PORI), Haridwar, Uttrakhand and to learn the efforts taken in resolving the issue of horse-dung.
c. The team of Forest Officers Officials visited the Patanjali Organic Research Institute (PORI), Haridwar to study the process in which horse dung was converted into agriculturally useful organic manure. The detailed discussions held with the Scientists/Researchers regarding management of the collected horse dung in Kufri-Mahasu Peak based on their experience gained by Patanjali Research Foundation in the similar problem 2 at Gauri Kund, Uttrakhand. The details of discussion is enclosed as Annexure R II (Minutes of the visit of members from the Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh at Patanjali Haridwar on 09.01.2025) and based on the discussions and learnings from the visit, the following action plan was devised by the Forest Department for managing the dung is as follows:
i. The horse dung can be used in the forest nurseries after storage in the pits at Kufri. The collected horse dung will get reduced to 70 percent of about 280-350 MT of original mass. Later on, the stored horse dung will be treated with the earth worms for preparation of vermi-compost and the horse dung will further reduce to around 50% to about 200-250 MT (of the original mass) which will eventually be used in nurseries @ 300-400 gms in each polythene bag to be used for raising the seedlings. The final vermi-compost will be used in the following nurseries of Theog/Shimla Forest Divisions as provided in the Table No. 1.
Table 1 - Proposed use of composted horse-dung in various nurseries Sr. Name of the Plants Average Quantity of No Nurseries available plants raised horse dung to in the in the last be consumed.
nursery three years.
1 Sainj 07 Lakhs 02-03 80-120 MT
Lakhs
2 Nahol 02 Lakhs 0.7-1.0 30- 40 MT
Lakhs
3 Reoghathi 01 Lakhs 0.5-0.7 20-35 MT
Lakhs
4 Dhanain 02 Lakhs 0.7-1.0 30-40 MT
Lakhs
5 Thachi 01 Lakhs 0.5-0.7 20-35 MT
Lakhs
Proposed consumption of Horse dung 180-270 MT ii. In the forest area nearby Kufri, an earlier dug pit (Annexure R III - Photograph of the pit (5 x 5 x 2 m) deposited with horse-dung) was modified with new dimensions 5 x 5 x 2 m. The accumulated horse-dung in Kufri was collected mechanically and dumped in the newly modified pit. Another pit with size 3 x 3 x 2m (Annexure R IV - Photograph of two pits (3 x 3 x 2 m) created for transferring composted horse-dung from the pit in Annexure III) was dug for shifting from the first pit after 15- 20 days for self-composting in the newly dug pit.3
iii. Two samples were collected from the field (fresh sample and 10 days old) and these were sent to the Patanjali Research Foundation for getting the analysis report to determine the physiochemical-composition of the horse- dung(Annexure RV-Copy of letter regarding analysis of samples of horse dung sent to Patanjali Research Foundation, Haridwar), in order to corroborate the claim of Patanjali Research Foundation upon the effect of time period on the usefulness of the horse-dung. First sample was taken on 01.02.2025 and the second sample was collected from the pit in which the horse-dung was dumped on 20-1-2025.
iv. The possibility of using the manure for nurseries in the other forest divisions and in the agriculture land of farmers on the commercial lines will also be explored in future, if the results are in consonance with the claims of the usefulness of the composted horse-dung. Since, the cow- dung is expensive; the self-composted horse-dung will be used as a substitute and will also help in saving the money spent on purchasing the cow dung for the forest nurseries.
v. In order to test the calorific value of the horse-dung, the sample of horse-dung was sent to the Nalagarh based Shiwalik Solid Waste Management Limited Laboratory. The calorific value of sample (Annexure R VI Copy of test report for the calorific value of horse dung) was found to be 2930 cal/gm. It was suggested by the HP Pollution Control Board officers that the calorific value of the sample should be higher than 2500 cal/gm thus suggesting the sample eligible for use in the boilers. Therefore, the Forest Department has another option for disposal by briquetting of the horse-dung. During discussion with the team of Patanjali Organi Research Institute (PORI), Haridwar, they offered the role of an Advisory for setting up of plant for briquetting of dried horse-dung using dryer similar to the dryer-plant set up at the Patanjali Food Park in Haridwar. The establishment of this plant would cost at least Rupees 70 crores.
vi. During the visit to the Patanjali Institute, Haridwar, the Department was provided with two options. The first option for disposal of horse-dung was by using it as manure in the Forest Nurseries. It is the cost-effective method involving less labour. The process would involve storage of horse-dung in the pits and thereafter carriage of dried horse-dung to Nurseries for vermi-composting. The only pre- requisite is that of the preparation of the pits, which the Department had already dug out (Annexure III and IV). There are numerous nurseries in the Department using manures for raising of seedling and there is continuous annual demand of manures. The availability of horse-dung as a free raw-material round the year would certainly help lowering the cost of raising of plants. Keeping in view the requirement of vermi-compost in the Nurseries of Theog and Shimla Forest Division, as shown in Table No. 1, the 4 annual production of horse-dung would suffice the requirement of dung for use in vermi-compost. If in case there more collection of the horse-dung it can be supplied to Nurseries of other Forest Divisions of Himachal Pradesh. Whereas on the other hand, the method involving the briquetting of horse-dung is capital intensive and costly method added with higher recurrent cost involving wear and tear of machinery and higher bills of electricity. The availability of at least 1 hectare of land for establishment of the dryer-plant and the skilled labour would be a pre- requisite. Therefore, the benefits of the first option of using the horse-dung for vermi-composting outweighs the second option of briquetting of dung using the dryer-plant.
(3) The report also states about the regulation of movement of horses and restricting their time between 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We find that earlier, the action taken report was submitted by the State of Himachal Pradesh stating that the meeting of the Chief Secretary with the concerned Department was held on 02.02.2024, and a remedial measure of reducing 10% horses in each subsequent year was reported.
(4) The said report of the State encloses a letter dated 8.02.2024 (page 122) submitted by all three horse Unions expressing their readiness and willingness to reduce the number of horses from 1029 to 700. Though almost months have passed thereafter, the number of horses has not been reduced.
As per the directions of Hon'ble Tribunal, in order to conduct the census of horses plying over the Kufri-Mahasu trail, the Forest Department advertised (Annexure R VII - Notice for inviting applications from horse-owners and media coverage) in the news daily/notice boards of prominent offices and places to submit applications to the office of DFO, Theog Forest Division for plying horses in the Kufri-Mahasu Peak. In response to the applications received, a Committee was constituted by the Chief Conservator of Forests vide office-order No. 96 dated 29.10.2024 (Annexure R VIII- Copy of the order of constitution of screening committee for physical verification of horses) to physically verify the each horse plying in the horse trail. The detail of committee members is as follows:
1. DFO Theog/Chairman
2. RFO Theog/ Member
3. RFO Kufri(WL)/Member
4. Veterinary Officer/Member
5. Block Officer Cheog/ Member Secretary.
The department received 547 applications from the owners of 1091 horses. Whereas, the verification in the field revealed that the actual number of horses was only 936 of 496. applicants/horse- owners (as provided in Table No. 2) and the remaining horses were not physically produced/present during verification and the detail is given below:
Table 2 - Verified number of horse-owners' applications and verified horses Sr. Name of the Distance Tehsil Distt. Verified Verified No Panchayat from applications No. of 5 Kufri horses 1. Bani 17 Theog Shimla 25 42 2. Barog 32 Theog Shimla 11 22 3. Bhogra 33 Sunni Shimla 1 2 4. Cheog 11 Theog Shimla 29 52 5. Dadas 23 Theog Shimla 4 7 Shimla
6. Darbhog 7 Shimla 84 160 Gramin 7. Dehna 12 Theog Shimla 49 88 8. Dhamandari 40 Theog Shimla 20 37 9. Dharech 45 Theog Shimla 1 2 Shimla 10. Fagli 25 Shimla 1 2 Shahri 11. Jais 50 Theog Shimla 1 2 12. Jogindernagar 197 J/Nagar Mandi 1 2 Shimla 13. Junga 28 Shimla 3 6 Gramin Shimla 14. Koti 19 Shimla 1 2 Gramin Shimla
15. Kufri/Shwah 3 Shimla 69 136 Gramin
16. Majhar 12 Theog Shimla 78 151 17. Makhrol 12 Theog Shimla 45 84 Shimla 18. Baldeyan 24 Shimla 2 3 Gramin Shimla 19. Moolkoti 4 Shimla 1 2 Gramin 20. Mogra 30 Sunni Shimla 1 2 Shimla 21. Nala 5 Shimla 24 46 Gramin Shimla 22. Neen 8 Shimla 3 6 Gramin Shimla 23. Sanjauli 10 Shimla 2 4 Gramin 24. Satog 20 Theog Shimla 1 2 25. Sunni 35 Sunni Shimla 2 4 26. Devrighat 8 Theog Shimla 1 2 27. Shateyan 3 Theog Shimla 33 63 28. Tiyali 19 Theog Shimla 1 2 Shimla 29. Patgair 8 Shimla 2 3 Gramin Total 496 936 After completion of scrutiny, the Executive Committee meeting was conducted on 23.01.2025 with stakeholders to reduce the horses' number to 700 as per the readiness and willingness of three horse unions. Leaders of the horse-owners groups stated that their Ld. Counsel will plead the case for horses before the Hon'ble Tribunal and they did not agree for the reduction of the number of horses (Annexure R IX-Copy of proceedings of the meeting with owners of horse-groups held on 04.02.2025). Based on the verification of applications and horses, it was revealed that most of the horses plying in the trail were from 29 Panchayats covering 4 6 Tehsils of District Shimla and 1 Tehsil of District Mandi (about 200 km from Kufri). Hence it is pleaded before the Hon'ble NGT that the horses from the Eco Development Committee /Watershed area i.e. D 104 Kangar (90 ha) and R IV Teer-Mahasu C1 (42.2 ha) only may be allowed to operate in the trail. The details of horses that may be allowed to move in the Kufri-Mahasu trail based on the area of operation of the Eco-Development Committee is given in Table No. 3 below:
Table 3 - Proposed list of applicants and horses to ply in Kufri-Mahasu trail Sr. Name of the Distance Tehsil District No. of No. of No. Panchayats from application horses Kufri s (KM)
1. Darbhog 7 Shimla Shimla 84 160 Gramin
2. Dehna 10 Theog Shimla 49 88
3. Kufri/Shwah 3 Shimla Shimla 69 136 Gramin
4. Majhar 12 Theog Shimla 78 151
5. Makhrol 12 Theog Shimla 45 84
6. Moolkoti 4 Shimla Shimla 1 2 Gramin
7. Nala 5 Shimla Shimla 24 46 Gramin
8. Neen 8 Shimla Shimla 3 6 Gramin
9. Shateyan 3 Theog Shimla 33 63 Total 386 736 It is prayed before the Hon'ble Tribunal that the remaining Panchayats which falls far away from the EDC/Watershed area may not be allowed to operate in the trail. As per the preamble of the Re-
revised HP Eco Tourism Policy 2017 (Annexure R X Copy of the preamble of the Re-revised Policy on Development of Eco-Tourism in Himachal Pradesh, 2017), the main objective was to create the livelihood opportunities for the local communities and commercial interests cannot be allowed operate. In order to comply with the reduction of horses, it is submitted before the Hon'ble Tribunal that every household that operates two horses, it may be allowed to operate one horse per household i.e. 386 horses on rotation basis up to the carrying capacity. It is further submitted before the Hon'ble Tribunal that the horse-owner may not be allowed to replace the dead or infirm horse.
3. Learned Counsel appearing for Horse Union has submitted that each horse owner is paying ₹50 per horse per trip to the Forest Department, therefore, the Forest Department is collecting Rs.1 lakh per day which can be utilized for managing the cow dung and remediating the problems in that area. The factum of collection of ₹50 per horse per trip is not denied by DFO, Theog appearing virtually. Therefore, the State is directed to produce a complete account of the amount which has been collected from the horse owners in the last five years and its utilization for remediating the problem.
7The information stated by the Learned Counsel appearing for Horse Union before the Hon'ble Tribunal regarding the entry fee is not correct. The entry fee at the rate of Rs. 50 per tourist is collected by the Forest Department from tourists directly. As per the knowledge of the deponent, the horse-owners were previously registered with SADA (Special area Development Authority) and they used to pay Rs. 100 per horse annually to SADA for renewal of registration. Since 2023, the renewal of registration was not done by SADA thereafter. At present these horse-owners do not pay anything to the Eco- Development Committee. The department registered Eco- Development Committee, Kufri-Mahasu on 8-2-2024 (Annexure R XI - Copy of the certificate of the registration of the "Eco-Development Committee, Kufri-Mahasu" under Himachal Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 2006) as per H.P Eco-tourism Re-revised Policy, 2017 and H.P Societies Registration Act, 2002. The detail of revenue generated from entry-fee since February, 2024 to December 2024 as given Table No. 4 below:
Table 4 - Revenue generation and its distribution as per Re-revised Eco-Tourism Policy, 2017 Sr. Month Gross No. of Revenue Generation Details No Income Tourist s GST 18% 20 % 20% State 60% visited State HP Division Govt. ECOSOC Share Share 1 Feb. 514585 10291 92625.30 102917 102917 308751 2024 2 Mar. 1177360 23547 211924.80 235472 235472 706416 2024 3 Apr. 1671750 33435 300915.00 334350 334350 1003050 2024 4 May. 3574550 71491 545270.00 714910 714910 2144730 2024 5 Jun. 2255000 45100 0 451000 451000 1353000 2024 6 Jul. 538608 10772 0 107721.6 107721.6 323164.8 2024 7 Aug. 282837 5656 0 56567.4 56567.4 169702.2 2024 8 Sep. 431989 8639 0 86397.8 86397.8 259193.4 2024 9 Oct. 1016725 20328 0 203345 203345 610035 2024 8 10 Nov. 1711650 23552 0 342330 342330 1026990 2024 11 Dec. 1772500 35450 0 354500 354500 1063500 2024 Total 14947554 288261 1150735 2989511 2989511 8968534 It is submitted before the Hon'ble Tribunal that the Eco-
Development Committee, Kufri-Mahasu has been collecting the entry-fee since its constitution from the in-coming tourists from February 2024 onwards till December 2024. Thus the data of entry-fee collection from February 2024 to December 2024 is provided in the Table No. 4, therefore data of entry- fee for the last five years is not available and hence it cannot be provided. The total monthly collection since February 2024 to December, 2024 is ₹1.49 crores and the detail has been listed and compiled in the Table No. 4. As per item No. 30 of the approved byelaws of the Eco-Development Committee, Kufri-Mahasu (Annexure R XII - Copy of bye-laws of the Eco- Development Committee, Kufri-Mahasu with clause No. 30 depicting sharing mechanism of revenue), out of the total revenue collection, 20% share amounting to ₹29.89 lacs was transferred to the Himachal Pradesh Government, and the other 20% amounting to ₹29.89 lacs was transferred to the State level Eco-Tourism Society of Himachal Pradesh (ECOSOC) and ₹11.50 lacs was deposited as GST till the month of May 2024. The balance amount of 60% amounting to ₹89.68 lacs of the total revenue collection is being utilized in the activities for the as per the "Action Plan" that was submitted before the Hon'ble Tribunal for development of Eco- Development Committee, Kufri-Mahasu. These activities are detailed in Table No. 5 below -
Table 5 - List of activities undertaken since February, 2024 S. ACTIVITY AMOUNT No.
1. Cobbling of Bridle-Path/Horse-Trail 28,62,011.00
2. Railing along the Horse Trail 6,97,340.00
3. Improvement of Walking Trail 4,78,600.00 Removal/Transportation of Horse
4. 4,25,250.00 Dung
5. Sign-Boards and Awareness Material 2,62,400.00
6. Protective terracing around the Trees 1,60,425.00
7. Sculpture 4,64,626.00 9 Expenditure on Entry ticket/Machines
8. 1,80,781.00 etc. Meetings (Governing Body/Executive
9. 46,957.00 Committee/Stakeholders) Barriers for regulation of
10. 1,39,800.00 Horses/Tourists -3 Nos
11. Security Cabin (Gumti) 5,97,881.00 Service provider for Entry ticket
12. 22,000.00 regulation/collection.
13. Preparation of Action Plan 37,000.00
14. Purchase of Equipment 67,918.00
15. Preparation of Estimates 9,899.00
16. Development of Entry Gate No.-1 8,80,000.00 Development of Toilet facility*
17. (expenditure to be incurred as 10,65,000.00 tenders opened on 06.02.2025) Grand Total 83,97,888.00 *Tenders were opened on 6-2-2025 The activities that are in progress it is planned to spend the amount detailed below -
Table 6 - Proposed list of activities to be undertaken in Eco-Development Committee, Kufri-Mahasu S. No. ACTIVITY AMOUNT
1. Development of Entry Gate No. 2 15,23,000.00
2. Ticket Counter @ Entry Gate No. I 7,52,000.00
3. Cobbling of horse-trail (100 m) at Mahasu 39,00,000.00
4. Cobbling of Horse-trail (100 m) at Kufri 25,00,000.00
5. Development of Animal sculptures 10,00,000.00
6. Providing gazebos at Mahasu 7,00,000.00 The detail of expenditure being spent in the area of Eco- Development Committee is hereby provided and the amount of ₹ 83,97,888.00 was utilized according to the earlier submitted Action Plan. It is submitted before the Hon'ble Tribunal that as the revenue collection progresses the activities pertaining to the sanitation, development and beautification of the Eco-Development Committee, Kufri- Mahasu, will continue and the pictures of the works carried out in the field is included as Annexure R XIII (Photographs of works being carried out in the Eco-Development Committee, Kufri-Mahasu)."
104. In the above report, it has been disclosed that the two options are available to dispose of the horse dung generated in the Kufri track in question.
5. Learned Counsel appearing for the State has submitted that out of the two options, firstly composting the horse dung and, secondly disposal by briquetting the horse dung, it has been found that the first option of composting is cheaper and is acceptable.
6. We find that no detailed plan for composting has been placed on record which would take into account the total quantity of generation of horse dung, its collection point, feasibility of its transportation to the pits where composting is to be done, the manner of transportation and the transportation cost, the availability of land for composting pit, the design of composting pit and also the time which will be taken for composting and the extent and number of composting pits which are required considering the horse dung generated per day and the number of days which will be taken for compositing and also the manner of disposal of compost, the entities who will be using/buying the compost, their requirement and if the entire compost will be utilised and the overall fixed as well as working cost of the project. It has been candidly admitted that no cost analysis has been done. Therefore, we find that the cheaper option cannot be ascertained unless the cost analysis is done and detailed plans for both the options are examined, by taking into account not only the short term cost, but the cost benefit analysis in the long run.
7. The DFO, Theog appearing virtually has submitted that now this exercise will be done and a detailed plan will be placed before the 11 Tribunal. The DFO, Theog has stated that he is the deciding authority on the above aspects.
8. Learned Counsel appearing for 8 of the horse unions submits that he has recently received the report, and he does not have instructions and seeks and granted four weeks time to obtain instructions and file response thereto.
9. It will also be open to the Applicant to file response to the report of the DFO, Theog, dated 10.02.2025.
10. In the next report, the DFO, Theog will clearly disclose the carrying capacity of Kufri in reference to the horses and tourists. Let fresh report be filed by the DFO, Theog within 8 weeks.
11. List on 22.04.2025.
Prakash Shrivastava, CP Sudhir Agarwal, JM Dr. A. Senthil Vel, EM February 13, 2025 Original Application No. 187/2023 (I.A. Nos. 325/2024 & 166/2024) dv..
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