Housing & Urban Planning Dept, Govt of UP

“Himachal on the verge of environmental disaster “

Himachal Pradesh is no less beautiful than Switzerland in terms of natural endowments. It is abundantly endowed with rich natural resources like mountains, forests, rivers, wildlife, herbs and areas of scenic beauty. However, the mafias here are equally bestowed with a strong greed to make fast buck through exploitation of these resources. Strong nexus between the mafias and the local administration is leading to incessant illegal mining of boulders/sand in the river beds, cutting of Catechu trees and other rare species of plants, amorphous construction all along the highways/roads, dumping of litter in the open along the roads which is really agonising. People are unaware of the fact that indiscriminate and large scale exploitation of natural resources will eventually jeopardise the very human existence in the long run. What appears strange is that all this is happening under the nose of the government. There's still time to put a curb on all such illegal activities otherwise it will be too late to rehabilitate the trail of destruction. The State Government must shed its slumber forthwith and notify mountains, forests, rivers/water bodies, watershed areas and wildlife habitats as "Conservation Zones" while protecting the rights of the aborigines. There is also an urgent need to sensitise the public about the aftermaths of such criminal exploitation of State's natural heritage.