The Hon'ble Supreme court had issued directions to the state of J&K ,Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board -SASB ,PDa and SDA in SUO MOTU Writ Petition Civil No 284 of 2012 judgement that the environment and ecology of the himalayas amarnath region should not be disturbed at any cost.

Pahalgam July 25,2017: The Hon'ble Supreme court had issued directions to the state of J&K ,Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board -SASB ,PDa and SDA in SUO MOTU Writ Petition Civil No 284 of 2012 judgement that the environment and ecology of the himalayas amarnath region should not be disturbed at any cost. No major efforts have however been made by the board to restore conserve the environment in the face of damages occurring to it due to its activities. The board collects a very substantial amount of money as offerings and donations every year and a part of it should ideally be spent on environmental conservation efforts.

We local organizations and local volunteers had ourselves made an effort to recollect polythene from the yatra trek last year as volunteers but we were denied permission for the same from the concerned authority, making clear the board's intentions and sensitivity about this very sensitive issue.

Even though the Municipal Committee Pahalgam MCP and Pahalgam Development Authority PDA have done a good job in maintaining cleanliness, garbage disposal and sanitation this time in pahalgam and chandanwari , the situation is not good on the other yatra camps from Chandanwari to Holy Cave or Holy Cave to Baltal in camps .
We urge and appeal to Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board SASB,Pahalgam Development Authority PDA,Sonamarg Development Authority SDA  to have all litter ,polythene and plastics etc cleared and collected from the Amarnath region and disposed off in at Pahalgam and Sonamarg an environment friendly way, in keeping with the board's  guidelines. The garbage is usually dumped into earthen pits which is subsequently dug up by wild animals after the yatra. The same then gets washed into down side water bodies, destroying both these water bodies a swell as the glaciers.

We urge the PDA,  SDA and SASB to run a comprehensive and effective sanitation drive safai abhiyan in both the regions after yatra , including in yatra camps and trek route and the Himalayan Welfare Organization-HWO offers its support for any of these action programs required.

Mushtaq Pahalgami,
Himalayan Welfare Organization-HWO