Huge human intervention in the ecologically fragile areas of Pahalgam in the name of Amarnath Yatra could lead to an Uttarakhand-like disaster in Kashmir. High time for powers that be to act, limit and regulate the pilgrimage writes Junaid Rashid
Nature is the best teacher. If you stay in its company and are nice to it, it can bring you close to God. But in case you are nasty and play foul, it will send you straight to him.
Nature is as calm and beautiful as a chaste maiden, but when men try to exploit and plunder her chastity in their lust for power and for money; she rises in anger, to unleash her wrath.
The recent devastation caused by the cloudburst in the state of Uttarakhand was nothing but nature’s revenge upon man who has tried to ravish and outrage her modesty. Hundreds of men (550 till last reports) have perished so far there and thousands others lay in danger zones of death and hunger in the hill state.
Experts and Ecologists have blamed unprecedented human intervention; construction of buildings, dams and roads in the fragile environment as the reason for nature’s fury.
The disaster in Uttarakhand brings Kashmir in sharp focus where experts foresee similar destruction if large human intervention continues in its ecologically sensitive areas. The insinuation goes to unprecedented flow of Yatris in ecologically sensitive areas of Pahalgam and Sonmarg. Amarnath Yatra, which had been a week-long low key affair until a few years ago, has assumed proportions of a gigantic religious show.
Now thousands and lakhs of yatris visit the cave temple in the most ecological fragile area in Pahalgam every year. The increasing inflow of yatris continues to sweep the region. Last year the pilgrimage lasted for only 39 days and this year the duration has been increased to two months. This time the number of pilgrims expected to visit Kashmir is much more than last year when around 6 lakh devotees paid obeisance at the shrine.
It is sad to note that the religiosity of the affair has become quite political now. There are sections in and outside the government, who want more and more yatris to visit the sensitive area, without caring about the ecological disaster that it would cause. These sections are simply motivated by political and communal considerations.
It is a public fact now that the huge human intervention has already disturbed the ecological balance.
The glaciers in the area are melting, wild animals have been forced to leave their habitats and the huge resources of pure and wholesome mineral water have got polluted.
Environmental experts have time and again been warning of the impending disaster. The cry has become loud and wild with the destruction and devastation in Uttarakhand. There is a national agreement on the fact that the Uttarakhand disaster is the result of man’s fight with nature.
It is high time for the powers-that-be to wake up and take remedial measures before we have a similar disaster in our valley.
Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.
(The author is opinion editor at Freepress. You can send your contributions to [email protected])
