SRINAGAR: Apni Party president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Wednesday urged the government to assess whether human activities had contributed to the severity of the recent natural disasters in Jammu and Kashmir and called for immediate as well as long-term corrective measures if environmental degradation was found to be a factor.
In a statement, Bukhari said experts should examine whether environmentally harmful practices had intensified the impact of the ongoing calamities across the Union Territory.
He said the assessment should examine factors such as encroachment of water bodies, construction on fragile mountain slopes, deforestation, excessive extraction of sand, gravel and stones from riverbeds and hills, and other activities that could have aggravated the damage.
Bukhari said that if such practices were found to have contributed to the devastation, the government should take corrective measures to reduce future risks. He also called for restoration of degraded ecosystems wherever possible and measures to prevent further environmental damage in areas where degradation could not be reversed.
The Apni Party leader urged the authorities and the public to draw lessons from the recent disasters and ensure that the causes of such damage were identified and addressed.
He also appealed to the government to provide timely relief, adequate compensation and rehabilitation to all those affected by the natural calamity, saying assistance should reach every eligible victim without delay.
