Uttarakhand tops list of Himalayan states in environmental crimes

DEHRADUN: The state tops the list of Himalayan states in the field of environmental crimes. Among the 13 Himalayan states in the country, the highest violation of environmental rules has taken place in Uttarakhand.

The state has recorded the highest number of cases of cigarettes and other tobacco products act under the law. Their number is 850. While only 14 cases of violations were registered in UP and 46433 cases of violations in the country were registered in Tamil Nadu. That is, cigarettes and tobacco were consumed the most in public places here. While 53 cases of the FC Act came in Uttarakhand, nine cases came from Wildlife Act.

The National Crime Records Bureau, in its recently released report on crimes committed in states across the country in 2021, pointed out that 912 cases were registered in Uttarakhand in various environmental acts among seven different categories. It is followed by Himachal with 163 different crimes. Jammu and
Kashmir ranks third among Himalayan states with 85 cases. 

Apart from this, such cases are also very low in other states. Statistics show that in the country, UP ranks fourth with 1573 cases in the total cases of all categories. While UP was number one in the country in cases of violation of the Forest Conservation Act. A total of 56 cases of environmental crime were registered in Bihar, 66 in Delhi and 272 in Jharkhand.

According to the report, environmental crimes have been divided into seven different categories. These include the Forest Conservation Act, Wildlife Protection Act, Environment Protection Act, Air and Water Pollution Control Act, Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, Noise Pollution Act and NGT Act.