news details |
|
|
| In the name of environment, ecology opposition in Kashmir | | Amarnath Yatra | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 27: Amarnath pilgrims are dying everyday. The reason is official apathy. Instead of taking remedial measures and providing the required facilities to the visiting pilgrims, the Shrine Board is praising its chairman NN Vohra, who is also Governor of the State. The Government too is insensitive. As if all this is not enough, elements in the Kashmiri society have also expressed concern over what they call damage to the Kashmir's ecology, saying the authorities have not fixed the number of pilgrims. They are saying: "For the last so many years the people in Kashmir, local media and environmentalists have been voicing concern on the damage caused to fragile ecology of the glacier, nestling Amarnath cave. The area has been witnessing extremely huge rush of pilgrims. Pahalgam, Sonamarg and Lidder Nalla are facing the main brunt of this man-made catastrophe. But as usual the State Government, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board and Delhi all remain frigid. The cave area is 'a very sensitive place' from the environment point of view. Why seven times the requisite number of people coming to visit the cave per day is being permitted? The Government is duty bound to control pollution and damage to environment".
It is not for the first time that certain elements in Kashmir have expressed concern over the increase in the number of pilgrims visiting the Holy Cave Shrine of Amarnath as well as for various other reasons. It has been happening, particularly since June 2008, when the State Government honoured the directions of Jammu & Kashmir High Court and diverted a small piece of land in the Baltal area to the Shrine Board for creating additional facilities for yatris.
It bears recalling that in 2008 the Kashmiri separatists and other "mainstream" leaders had opposed the decision of the Government to transfer "forest land" to the SASB asserting that the order, if not withdrawn, would destroy forests and disturb ecology in the area. Their opposition was ill-conceived as it was unwarranted. They had at no point of time during all those 19 years of secessionist violence raked up the issue of destruction of green-gold or felling of the trees or environmental degradation. The felling of the trees had become the order of the day then in Kashmir as well as the Muslim-majority areas of Jammu province. The mafia and militants, backed by certain elements within and outside the Government, felled and cut thousands of trees for making easy money, with the Government watching the destruction of green-gold as a mute spectator. Their motivated apprehensions were ill-founded all the more because there was not a single tree on the land, which had been transferred to the SASB. It was, and continues to be, the forest land, sans any forest. Not a blade of grass grows there. The area remains snow-bound for most part of the year. It is also important to note that in May 2008, the State Government had endorsed six land transfer cases, and not just one, which the Kashmiri leadership raked up for vitiating the State's atmosphere. That the extremists only raked up the Baltal issue and overlooked the remaining five must lead one to conclude that their intentions were not pious.
Besides, they had never raised a hue and cry when thousands of acres of forest land at Sidhra, Sunjwan and Bathindi (all in Jammu) was usurped by using means of fair and foul by the various people, including almost all the Kashmiri leaders, Farooq Abdullah also included, for constructing palatial houses there. In fact, the Kashmiri leaders converted the dense forest lands in these areas into densely-populated colonies. Similarly, they did not react when the Government diverted thousands of acres of forest land in Rajouri (Jammu) to the Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University without charging any money. Nor did they react when the State Government and the Union Government decided to start work on the Mughal road, which led to the felling of more then 10,000 trees, shifting of a 25-kilometer long wildlife sanctuary and construction of permanent structures. On the contrary, the SASB did not cut even a single tree. Nor did it do anything which could in anyway disturb wildlife.
The Kashmiri extremists had then also alleged that the SASB had planned to import Hindus from different parts of the country with a view to establishing a "Hindu township at Baltal". It was a false charge levelled to vitiate the atmosphere in Kashmir. In the words of the former Governor, Lt Gen S.K. Sinha, "Total falsehoods were propagated to mislead the people and arouse communal passions. A canard was spread that the Shrine Board was bringing Hindus to establish a Hindu township at Baltal, with a view to changing demography of the Valley like Israel had done in Palestine. Baltal is unapproachable and uninhabitable for over seven months a year". Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha wrote a comprehensive article "Battle for Kashmiriyat" after relinquishing the office of Governor. An impartial authority, Nitish Sengupta, who knew much about the area, had also repudiated outright the militants' formulation. He had said: "In any case how many people can settle on a stretch of land which is no larger than the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Delhi)?" According to him, "The Amarnath yatra lasts for around a month and pilgrims come only during that period. They would use these shelters for only two-three days during the yatra, and would thereafter leave the Valley. How could this be viewed as settling non-Muslim 'outsiders' in the Valley and 'permanently' changing its demographic composition?"
All this should expose things in perspective and establish that there are elements within and outside the establishment who do not want the Amarnath yatra to continue or who want that the number of pilgrims be drastically cut. Is it not interference in the religious affairs? Indeed, it is. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
