Category: Environment

Environment

Keep Srinagar clean or will dump trash in Sectt – National Green Tribunal

Editor

Lambasting the Jammu and Kashmir Government for the municipal waste scattered across Srinagar, the National Green Tribunal today warned that it would order dumping of all trash in the Secretariat complex if its orders were not implemented within a week. Asserting that it would hold top officers, including the chief secretary, personally responsible for ensuring compliance of its orders passed a year ago, the green panel took the state administration to task over the delay in setting up of a waste-to-energy plant in Srinagar despite its order. The delay was…

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Encroachments eat up Aanchar lake

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With authorities failing to take measures for conservation of Aanchar lake here, unscrupulous persons are having a field day to encroach upon the water body and undertake constructions on it. In absence of any regulation, constructions of several structures is in full swing on the banks of Aanchar lake at Upper Soura. A vast stretch of land near the lake overlooking the Kil Khan lane is abuzz with construction activity. “Though constructions are prohibited in the area, however the officials have failed to take any measures to prevent encroachments and…

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Quake in Himalayan region overdue, warns experts

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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…

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Dry winter spells doom for summer

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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…

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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…

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

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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…

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

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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,…

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Big quake coming, warn MHA experts

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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…

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Cantonment Board stakes claim over stretch of Jhelum

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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.…

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As Wular dies, conservation project is race against time

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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…

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