Everybody says the local environment at Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam is being destroyed by pony walas, nomad gujjars and other local people.

Pahalgam July 23,2017: Everybody says the local environment at Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam is being destroyed by pony walas, nomad gujjars and other local people. This could be partly true too as links between environment and poverty are well established now, these people are poor and backward and are not very highly educated so it is perhaps even obvious that they know only traditional living practises and don't know about sustainability etc.

However nobody asks about pollution caused by the lifestyle choices and daily living practises of the educated city dwellers of cities/towns  like Srinagar,Ananthnag,Budgam, Baramulla,Ganderbal,Bij hera.....where perfectly well educated people choose to dump garbage irresponsibly, dont hesitate in polluting water bodies and have encroached upon banks and catchment areas, incliding in Dal lake,Jehlum,Sindh and other flood channels and canal area .. which actually caused much of the human disaster in 2014.

It is easy to pose questions to the weak and poor and hold them responsible for all problems, but difficult to practise what we preach.

Unfortunately today those people are trying to teach us lessons in environmental conservation who have themselves never practised what they are preaching. We Himalayan Welfare Organization-HWO  and Pahalgam Peoples Welfare Organisation-PPWO on the other hand, have continuosly faught for the pahalgam masterplan and got the Environment Impact Assessment EIA and expert committe report done for pahalgam and it's surroundings .

Finally, even as there may be a need to educate and sensitize the poor of the risks and dangers of environmentally hazardous lifestyle practices, it is the choices made by the rich and the redponsibilty evaded by those in power that causes large scale damage to the environment.

And so, for those who enjoy preaching others about the ordinary citizen's rile and duty .. one last word of advice, passing the blame onto others won't help solve the problem. It will only tell about their real intensions and expose their vested designs!

Mushtaq Pahalgami,
Himalayan Welfare Organization-HWO