Category: Environment

Environment

Quake in Himalayan region overdue, warns experts

Editor

India’s Himalayan Region is highly vulnerable to earthquakes and according to an estimate by the World Bank, in a year, about 1000 small and big earthquakes strike the country. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in an assessment found that almost 59 per cent of India is “vulnerable to moderate or severe seismic hazard”. Startlingly it also found that most buildings in sub-urban areas are “non-engineered and built without adhering to earthquake resistant construction principles… Traditional houses are being replaced with modern reinforced cement concrete (RCC) buildings, often without compliance…

Read More

Dry winter spells doom for summer

Editor

With the 40-day coldest spell of winter (Chilai Kalaan) nearing its end on a dry note in Kashmir, experts have warned of serious consequences for tourism, power generation, water supply, health, agriculture and allied sectors. Tourism sector has been badly hit for the lack of snow at Kashmir’s twin ski resorts- Gulmarg and Pahalgam. The chances of snowfall are usually most during ‘Chillai Kalan’, which began on December 21 and ends on January 31. However, with ‘Chillai Kalan’ in its fag end, Kashmir continues to experience dry weather. Except for…

Read More

As Chilai Kalaan basks in sun, experts sound alarm

Editor

On January 18, at minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, Srinagar for the first time this winter was colder than Pahalgam which recorded a warmer minus 2.7. However the following day temperature in the summer capital soon zoomed to 13 degrees way above the historical average of 5 degrees. These are some of the anomalies that are becoming normal to changing weather pattern in Kashmir. This year Chilai Kalaan, the traditional 40 days harshest period of winter, is basking in sunlight. The India Meteorological Data (IMD) for the week between 07 to…

Read More

Identify officials who allowed constructions in, around Dal Lake; High Court to SVO

Editor

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the State Vigilance Organization Kashmir to file a comprehensive report about the officials, who allowed illegal constructions in and around Dal Lake, and accumulated assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. Underscoring that some progress appears to have been made by VOK in registering cases against LAWDA officials who prima facie appear to have facilitated illegal constructions within Lake and its prohibited area, a division bench of High Court said the “investigation is required to be taken to its logical end…

Read More

5.8 Magnitude quake to hit Valley soon, seismic survey, State ‘most susceptible’ to quakes, 50 tremors since 2014

Editor

A moderate-intensity earthquake jolted the Kashmir valley in the middle of the night but caused no damage or casualties in the region. An official of the state Meteorological Department said the tremor was of 5.8 magnitude and its epicentre was located at a depth of 220 km in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. The earthquake was recorded at 1.34 am on Tuesday night, the official said. It was the sixth tremor to jolt the Kashmir region in the past one month and seventh since October last year. There were,…

Read More

Big quake coming, warn MHA experts

Editor

The Union home ministry’s disaster management experts have warned of a bigger catastrophe, earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.2 or greater on the Richter scale which may hit the already ruptured Himalayan region. They say quakes with higher intensity than the one that struck Manipur on Monday are likely to rock the region in future. The tectonic shift a series of these recent earthquakes have caused in the region — Manipur 6.7 (Jan 2016), Nepal 7.3 (May 2015) and Sikkim 6.9 (2011) — have re-ruptured the plates that had already…

Read More

Cantonment Board stakes claim over stretch of Jhelum

Editor

The desiltation of river Jhelum at Shivpora here has come to a halt as the Cantonment Board is staking claim over water expanse and embankments there. Shivpora locality was one of the worst hit areas in September 2014 floods as it remained submerged for more than 20 days. The Cantonment Board’s claim has shocked the locals. “We have never heard of any such claim in past. Everyone knows that only Irrigation and Flood Control department has jurisdiction on Jhelum,” said Farooq Ahmad, a member of Mohalla Behbood Committee at Shivpora.…

Read More

As Wular dies, conservation project is race against time

Editor

One of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia, Wular Lake has shrunk to nearly half its original area in the last few decades due to administrative apathy, extensive pollution, siltation and encroachment. The lake in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district is dying a silent death. The lake faces environmental threats including the conversion of large parts of catchment areas into agriculture land, siltation, rampant willow plantation, encroachment, untreated sewage, solid waste and weed infestation. Wular covered an area of 217.8 sq km which included 58 sq km of associated marshes in…

Read More

Govt seeks public response on actual size of Dal lake

Editor

After conducting extensive surveys to measure the area of Dal lake, the Government has sought response from public to ascertain actual size of the water body. On the directions of High Court monitoring the Dal lake, the Government has conducted several surveys including using satellite images to ascertain the area of the water body—which is bedeviled by encroachments. Amid conflicting figures about the actual area of Dal lake, the Government has taken the settlement record of in 1895 by then settlement Commissioner Sir Walter Lawrence as yardstick. In his settlement…

Read More

Amid protests, ERA continues to work on Doodh Ganga water scheme

Editor

With the rising public anger over Doodh Ganga  water supply scheme built at summer capital Srinagar outskirts, Jammu and Kashmir Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) Saturday said that they would continue implementing the scheme. Hundreds of protestors held peaceful demonstrations, saying that they would continue to protest against the scheme till it is dismissed.  “We will continue to protest. The diameter of the pipe is such that the Dhoodhganga river will dry up even in summers,” said Irshad, a local.  “There is an undercurrent going on. The priority to irrigation is…

Read More