Every now and then we hear about rallies, killings, firings etc.........in the valley. Everyone knows that J&K burns every now and then because of one reason or the other. Unfortunately, it has started to look like the usual stuff. It's as if we don't care anymore!
But that's not the only problem in the paradise (or the ex-paradise). The issue that i am going to raise in this post is an environmental one. Although, now it's turning out to be a social one.
The valley is full of beautiful mountains covered with the nature's finest flora and fauna. From the outset, it's the valley's pride. But wait a minute! We shouldn't judge a book by its cover. If we get a little closer, we find the bitter truth.
The valley has a new enemy in town. I would name it "The Timber mafia". Hundreds of acres of forrest on the hills have been wiped out (pic above). The locals say that they operate in the night. Probably, that's their strategy of not getting caught. That's the reason (probably) that inspite of some checks (and all carried out in the daytime) the authorities couldn't find anything wrong. Or is it so??
According to the localites, the authorities operating in the region, are themselves the culprit! Firstly, they created an artificial imbalance of demand-supply in the region. And when the mafia came up, they did nothing. It's not that the locals didn't try their bit. But whenever anybody tried to do something, he was silenced forever. There have been some casualities in the region. In a shocking piece, one person was beaten to death for whistleblowing. There is a complex nexus between the mafia and the forrest authorities that's active in the poor region.
But the most shocking fact is the force that has been recruited by the forrest department in the area. I just couldn't make out the strength of the so-called "Forrest defence". One person is covering 8 km sq. of the region (the mafia generally travel in big numbers, i guess the forrest department recruited a few rajnikanths (south indian superstar) from the region). Moreover, they have been given a "laathi" to fight the mafia, who have AK-47. Real tragedy awaits.
Also, if we look at the roots of the problem then we find out that it's the one created by the authorities themselves and it is not the forrest authorities that i am talking about. Rather it's the J&K government that's the culprit! The main reason why this's happening is unemployment. People in the valley are dying of hunger. They have no work to earn their bread. This is sheer mutiny as nothing has been done about it for years. The government is in a coma and because of them people are suffering. In the end, we know that when the belly rings loud, man shouts! And this time, the noise is just too loud to bear! Unfortunately, we are just too deaf to hear that noise!
According to some noted people in the region, the forrest cover could dissapear within the next 15-20 years if such practices aren't stopped. So, the bottomline is this - "Act quickly and effectively otherwise be ready for another ladakh!"
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