J&K Assembly’s environment panel seeks urgent probe into Kishtwar cloudburst

The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly’s Committee on Environment has expressed grave concern over the Kishtwar cloudburst, and demanded an urgent and time-bound inquiry into the tragic incident.

Chairman, Committee on Environment, MY Tarigami said the deadly cloudburst has once again brought into focus the vulnerability of Jammu and Kashmir’s Himalayan region to extreme weather events like flash floods, landslides, and avalanches.

Tarigami questioned why precautionary measures were not taken despite early warnings from the Meteorological Department about severe rainfall, cloudbursts and flashfloods in high altitudes of the Jammu region.

“Why were these alerts ignored and preventive measures not taken? It amounts to criminal negligence,” the CPI(M) leader said, adding, “Bureaucratic inertia and lack of concern must be accounted for”.

He said that the incident underscores the existential threat posed by climate change to the fragile environment of the Himalayan range and its ecological balance. “Most of the area happens to be the abode of shrines where thousands of devotees throng annually. As such, measures need to be taken to safeguard the human lives,” he said.

Tarigami, who is the MLA from Kulgam in the J&K Assembly, asked whether any survey and assessment of the whole area has been made by involving the department of environment and other organisations and suggestions recommended for prevention of cloudbursts and safety of people.

The senior CPI(M) leader said such disasters are not merely natural, but are “exacerbated by the reckless exploitation of resources, deforestation, unabated and unauthorised use of stone crushers and the commodification of land”.

“The working class and marginalised people of J&K cannot continue to be sacrificial lambs at the altar of profit-driven environmental degradation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also raised concerns over the rising incidents of cloudbursts and said that it was a wake-up call. In a post on X, he said “Kishtwar cloudburst has taken 65 lives, left 100+ injured & many missing — a heartbreaking tragedy and a test from the Almighty. Today’s Kathua cloudburst too claimed innocent lives. Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, prayers for the injured. In J&K’s fragile Himalayas, cutting trees, road-building, unregulated construction and tourism disturb nature’s balance, turning rain into ruin. It’s a wake-up call. Policymakers must act with foresight — we must protect nature to protect life”.