Erection of structures for Amarnath Yatra dangerous for environment

Srinagar, May 24 (UNI) Criticising the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for erecting structures on Amarnath pilgrimage routes, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today said this would cause environmental degradation and pollution hazards.

In a statement, a spokesman of the PDP, a partner in the Congress-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, said erecting of three hundred lavatories in Pahalgam and Baltal was dangerous for the environment.

He said that SASB, in contravention to the admonitions of environmentalists and local administration, was erecting structures on the way to the Amarnath cave in Pahalgam and Baltal, which would certainly cause environmental degradation and pollution hazards, thereby endangering the very vitals of the natural resources.

The spokesman also expressed his strong resentment over the SASB's proposal of constructing a mechanised road from Baltal to the Amarnath cave.

''The PDP has, time and again, made it clear that any action detrimental to the interests of the people of the state was condemnable,'' he said and demanded that the SASB should stop erecting structures in Pahalgam and Baltal He also said, ''the SASB has been giving the impression that it was running a parallel government in the state,'' the spokesman said and asserted that the PDP would not allow the wreckage of our world famous tourist resorts and for that matter it would lock horns with all those forces ''allergic'' to the preservation and protection of the interests of the people of Kashmir.

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