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Trekking & hiking firm digs pits near glaciers at Pahalgam to construct lavatory blocks

Saahil Suhail

Early Times Report

Anantnag, Aug 20: In blatant violation of environmental laws, a private Trekking & hiking firm is allegedly digging pits near high altitude glaciers at Pahalgam to construct lavatory blocks.
Videos and images shared by local hikers show a group of laborers digging deep pits at unknown locations.
However, on being asked about these pits, the laborers name some individuals and claim that they have been hired to dig pits for lavatory purposes.
The laborers also claim that Trekking & hiking firm owners have directed them to dig similar pits at other locations including at Lidderwat and near Kolahoi Glacier and Tarsar Marsar.
These videos and images are being shared widely on social media platforms.
Pahalgam Municipal Committee President Owais Nazir called the digging of pits at high altitude trekking locations a ‘disaster’ and tweeted the pictures showing laborers digging pits on twitter.
Deputy Commissioner Anantnag Dr Piyush Singla immediately reposed and said that a case was being registered into this incident.
“FIR is being registered besides action under wildlife protection Act,” DC Anantnag tweeted.
Wildlife Range Officer Pahalgam, Dildar Bhat told Early Times that they have dispatched a team towards the mentioned locations and action as warranted under law was being taken.
“We will not only take action but will restore the areas to its actual position for filling these pits,” he said.
Important to mention here, during the last few decades, a study has found that the glaciers in Kashmir Himalayas were melting at an alarming rate.
Kolahoi glacier is Kashmir’s biggest glacier and is the main source of water for the river Jhelum, which serves as a blessing for the fertile Kashmir valley is too is receding at a very fast pace, A study titled 'Linking the recent glacier retreat and depleting stream flow patterns with land system changes in Kashmir Himalaya, India' has found.
It has lost almost 23 percent of its area since 1962 and has fragmented into smaller parts and has shrunk, this study said.