JAIPUR: A division bench of Rajasthan High Court on Monday said that chief minister of Rajasthan is expected to prepare a project aiming at recharging of water bodies, checking deforestation and illegal mining.The bench comprising Justice MN Bhandari and Justice BL Sharma while hearing suo motu petition on the revival of Ramgarh Dam, which was once a lifeline for Jaipur, directed the state government to remove all the encroachments from pasture land and water bodies in villages and sought a compliance report in three weeks.“It is expected from the chief minister of Rajasthan to prepare a project aiming at checking deforestation, illegal mining and recharging of catchment areas,” the bench observed.Bench also asked the state government to ensure that directions issued by the court on May 29, 2012 have to be followed. Court during then had issued directions including removal of encroachments from Ramgarh dam area, a remote sensing survey to find out if any allotment were made around water resources, and if any allotments are found they should be cancelled, water resources department should not allow construction of anicuts without survey, policy to be framed for recharge of catchment area and increase forest area, district level committee to comply with orders and state level central monitoring committee including legal experts, catchment areas having encroachment to be identified and removed, no NREGA work near flowing area of water bodies, residential colonies should not be developed near water bodies, revenue department should maintain water bodies, water resources department should work as nodal agency to remove encroachments, monitoring committee should regularly file its reports, and government should file interim action plan.During the hearing court observed that no effective measures were taken by the state government to remove encroachments from catchment areas of water bodies. “The pollution control board should take effective action to ensure water bodies may not get polluted. Rajasthan has got biggest area in the country and no compliance of court orders is seen. The state government needs to take the matter of illegal mining and encroachment near catchment area seriously and accountability of officers should be fixed,” the court observed.Court has also asked people to refrain from approaching revenue court and subordinate court if they find any discrepancies in upkeep of water bodies but allowed them to approach high court. JDC, T Ravikant, Naguar collector and Ajmer collector were present at the court

Stay updated with all the Latest Ajmer headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.