J&K Assembly's Committee on environment demands urgent inquiry into Kishtwar cloudburst

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly's Committee on Environment Saturday expressed grave concern over the Kishtwar cloudburst, and demanded an urgent and time-bound inquiry into the tragic incident.

Chairman, Committee on Environment, M Y Tarigami said the deadly cloudburst has once again brought into focus the vulnerability of Jammu and Kashmir's Himalayan region to extreme weather events like flash floods, landslides, and avalanches.

"The tragic incident underscores the existential threat posed by climate change to the fragile environment of the Himalyan range and its ecological balance. Most of the area happens to be the abode of shrines where thousands of devotees/yatris throng annually, as such, measures need to be taken to safeguard the human lives," he said.

Tarigami, who represents south Kashmir's Kulgam in the Assembly, asked whether any survey and assessment of the whole area has been made by involving the department of environment and other organisations and suggestions recommended for prevention of cloud bursts and safety of people.

He demanded an urgent, time-bound probe into the tragic incident, questioning why precautionary measures were allegedly not taken despite early warnings from the Meteorological Department about severe rainfall, cloudbursts and flash floods in high altitudes of the Jammu region.

"Why were these alerts ignored and preventive measures not taken? It amounts to criminal negligence," he said, adding, the "bureaucratic inertia and lack of concern" must be accounted for.

The senior CPI(M) leader said such disasters are not merely natural, but are "exacerbated" by the "reckless exploitation" of resources, deforestation, unabated and unauthorised use of stone crushers and the "commodification" of land.

The working class and marginalised people of Jammu and Kashmir cannot continue to be "sacrificial lambs" at the altar of profit-driven environmental degradation, he said.

He highlighted the alarming frequency of cloudbursts and extreme weather events across the region, including Pahalgam, Bandipora, Shangus, and Ladakh, where infrastructure and livelihoods have been severely impacted.

"The hills mourn, the birds wait in despair, the winds howl warnings, and the rivers weep - ”nature is screaming for justice. Yet, the ruling elites remain deaf to these cries," he lamented.