Need To Respect Nature?

Another week, another tragedy. Jammu and Kashmir has now witnessed its fifth cloudburst in just two weeks, with eleven more lives lost, seven of them from one family buried alive in Reasi district. In Ramban, four more perished, and one remains missing. The death toll from extreme rainfall in just a fortnight has crossed 130. Pilgrimages have been suspended, highways cut off, rail lines paralyzed. And yet, in our public conversations, we speak of“natural calamities” as though these disasters are acts of fate alone, as though we, with our unchecked encroachments, unplanned construction, and neglect of ecological safeguards, bear no responsibility.

Yes, the limate change is amplifying extreme weather. The ongoing frequency in cloudbursts is unusual. They were once rare and localized events. The weather experts say that this is because warmer air holds more moisture, releasing it suddenly as torrential rain. Similarly, the higher reaches in Jammu and Kashmir are fragile and naturally prone to landslides and floods. For example, Srinagar-Jammu highway has always been a witness to landslides, leading to its closure for days on end. Now, the situation seems to be getting worse, aggravated by human interference. Cutting of slopes, building in floodplains, and choking of rivers with encroachments has turned what should be manageable risks into lethal disasters.

Look around: Jhelum remains clogged despite hundreds of crores spent on“flood mitigation.” Wular Lake and the wetlands that once absorbed excess rain are shrinking under sedimentation and encroachment. Sand mining, often illegal or unregulated, has altered riverbeds. Deforestation has destabilized slopes that once held firm against heavy rain. And while these vulnerabilities accumulate, governance stays reactive rather than preventive, sending rescue teams only after homes are buried and lives are lost.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Union Minister Jitendra Singh have assured assistance and immediate relief. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has rightly ordered round-the-clock monitoring and timely evacuations from risk-prone zones. These steps are necessary, but they are not enough. Year after year, we mourn the dead, rebuild washed-away roads, and wait for the next cloudburst, as if it were a freak accident rather than part of a disturbing pattern.

What is required is a change in mindset. We cannot continue to tame rivers by throwing concrete at them or carve roads into every mountainside without regard for drainage, slope stability, or natural vegetation. We cannot divert funds meant for disaster management into vanity projects. And we cannot ignore the warning signs of a warming planet, pretending that these tragedies are random.

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