The cave which is visited by people in lakhs is situated at an altitude of over 5,000m from the sea level and nearly at a distance of nearly 48 kilometers from Pahalgam in South Kashmir’s Anantnag, indicating the eco-sensitivity of the place which is not used to the excessive and beyond limit human interference and presence. The authorities, while securing political mileage out of the conduct of Amarnath Yatra, have side-lined and not looked into the environmental impact of the same, disrupting the ecosystem near and around the cave, which usually manifests in a way it did on Friday.
It is for sure that what happened up there at Batlal was triggered by the humans, the political greed at the back of the conduct of the yatra, otherwise, people do know the ecological hazards of conducting yatra on such a big scale—which ends up wreaking havoc; inviting the anger of mother nature. Those at the helm of affairs do not weigh the ground situation; do not take care of the ecological sensitivity of the place and just give a green signal for conducting yatra, ending up even endangering the lives of yatris who reach here out of devotion and faith from different parts of the country.
Rather than ensuring a controlled yatra, a large and full-scale intervention, interference of humans is being facilitated, while what has been forgotten is that it is nature that has to permit, and allow the presence of humans and not the security apparatus. Friday’s incident needs to be seen in that light as the same is the classic example of what happens when there is the uncontrolled presence of people in such places. There is no need to push the people to visit the cave; rather, there is a need for safeguarding the lives of people which is the sole responsibility of the Government. Let us not shy away from stating that the tragic cloudburst incident was nature’s anger; the anger of angry Shiva—we better know that!
