Severe floods underline perils of deforestation

THE Supreme Court’s observation that illegal felling of trees has led to the disasters in Himachal Pradesh and other states is rooted in ground reality. Striking visuals of logs swept away by floodwaters leave no room for doubt that the timber mafia has been at work, possibly in connivance with officials and local residents. The court has rightly issued notices to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, the National Highways Authority of India as well as the governments of Himachal, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab. The onus is on these stakeholders to spell out what steps they have taken to strike a balance between infrastructure development and environmental protection, and why the results have been so dismal.