Progress must not be at cost of environment: Dr Farooq

Srinagar, Jun 5: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Party President and Member of Parliament from Srinagar Dr. Farooq Abdullah in his message on world environment day said that the Nation’s progress must not be at the cost of the environment, stressing on meeting human development goals in integration with environmental ethics and sustainability.
In his message, Dr. Farooq said that that reckless human activity in the form of deforestation, water and air pollution and overuse of natural resources has imperiled the natural balance in the global environment and that Jammu and Kashmir has not escaped the global pattern triggering extinction of various species by the wanton adulteration of our lakes and springs with plastic and other adulterants. “All natural aspects of life in Kashmir have been ingeniously affected by the impact of reckless greed of human beings. We all have to inculcate environmental ethics in ourselves and in the coming generations. Since we live in a place having immense tourism potential therefore it becomes more imperative for all of us, particularly the young, to keep our environs clean. We in our individual capacity can contribute in protecting our fragile and land locked environment by stopping improper waste disposal, abandonment of plastic usage, using water and electricity judiciously,” he said adding, “We as individuals should not wait for government to take action; good parenting and schooling, edification of community and religious leaders comes into play. The theme of this year’s world environment day is ecosystem restoration. It goes without saying that with healthy ecosystems people’s livelihoods can enhance. Crumpling of one ecosystem will have an impact on the other. All of them are interlinked. The saying “ Food will survive only till forests survive” of our revolutionary patron saint and history’s earliest conservationist Hazrat Sheikh Noor Ud din Noorani (RA) gains much relevance in today’s world; Governments on their part to have a bigger responsibility to strike a balance between development and protection of ecosystems.”
Dr Farooq further said the spike in the man and animal conflict is also a direct consequence of imbalance between development and ecology. “The mauling of a 4 year old girl to death in Ompora Budgam brings home the negative consequences of the faceoff between man and wild creatures due to fussy development and negligence of administration. The gut wrenching incident has saddened me to core; I express my heartfelt sympathies with the bereaved and pray for forbearance to bereaved in their hour of loss and grief. The incident should act as a wakeup call for the administration who the locals are accusing of negligence. The incident should be thoroughly probed to fix the responsibility. Meanwhile the administration should come up with a comprehensive plan to secure the lives of people from the impact of man-animal conflict. Need of the hour calls for making good of the deficiency of manpower, infrastructure and equipment in the wild life and forest department. I share in the grief and pray for eternal peace to the departed brave heart,” he said.