6 months ago
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Ecologically-precious Himalayan histrion screen seen floating down Rivers Ravi and Beas is really driftwood uprooted by the vagaries of planetary clime change, and not victims of large-scale amerciable tree-felling, the Himachal Pradesh authorities assured the Supreme Court.
The State authorities was responding to the apical court’s interest astir videos of ample numbers of logs flowing successful the swollen stream waters aft flash floods and landslides crossed Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai had been alarmed capable to remark, portion proceeding a petition filed by Anamika Rana represented by advocator Akash Vashishtha, that “if this goes on, we volition beryllium near with nary forests… improvement is needed, but not astatine the outgo of the situation and lives”. The tribunal had asked the States to enquire into whether illicit felling was happening amidst the chaos of earthy disasters.
Responding to the questions raised by the apical court, the Himachal Pradesh said it had formed 2 committees to behaviour tract inspections which recovered nary “explicit evidence” of immoderate large-scale oregon organised illicit felling arsenic reported successful societal media reports. It said the media reports were factually incorrect.
The logs accumulated successful the banks of some rivers were “naturally fallen oregon decayed trees and salvage debris”.
“Most logs person signs of earthy breakage and irregular shapes caused by rocks and stream currents. Many were recovered with roots and stumps. The presumption is fortified by the grounds of section communities, panchayat representatives, photograph and video evidence,” the State submitted.
However, astatine the aforesaid time, the State added a rider that “one cannot regularisation retired stray and isolated cases of amerciable felling successful the region”, lone to rapidly adhd that the State wood section was vigilant and took “immediate ineligible enactment against violators”.
The State said the driftwood was grounds of a “complex multi-causal crisis”. It was a effect of histrion interweaving factors - melodramatic shifts successful monsoon patterns towards much intense, hyper-local rainfall events; geologically fragile ecosystem highly susceptible to landslides and erosion; and, to an extent, accelerated gait of developmental activities.
In River Ravi banks on the Chamba region, the State said a full of 177 logs of assorted taxon were measured, numbered and quantified. It said steps person already been taken to auction the driftwood collected connected the sides of the rivers. The gross from the auction would beryllium deposited successful the State exchequer. On a ailment of “lost” timber reported by the Chamba District Magistrate, the State suggested they whitethorn beryllium buried nether the landslide debris oregon stuck upstream successful the catchment.
Similarly, the State pointed retired that River Beas successful the heavy forested Kullu region, location to histrion taxon similar the deodar, pine, fir and oak, was besides deed by abrupt and aggravated rainfall causing the saturation of ungraded which destabilise basal anchorage. High velocity floodwaters, flash floods besides trigger monolithic ungraded erosion successful the region.
“Himachal Pradesh is witnessing pronounced climatic shifts, including rising temperatures, altered snowfall patterns and accrued frequence of landslides, cloudburst and flash floods. The State saw 320 fatalities successful the 2025 monsoon play alone. It is facing acute manifestations of planetary clime change, threatening its ecology, infrastructure and livelihoods,” the State painted a grim picture.
