As Amarnath Yatra Route Reels Under Garbage Crisis, CRPF To Raise Awareness About Environment

World¡¯s largest paramilitary force, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), apart from maintaining law and order, has now turned its attention towards saving the environment.

The CRPF will launch a "save environment" campaign during the pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas.

The 46-day annual yatra is scheduled to begin from the twin routes - the traditional Pahalgam track in Anantnag district and the shortest Baltal track in Ganderbal district - on July 1 and will conclude on August 15, coinciding with the Raksha Bandhan festival.

The ecologically sensitive area of the Himalayas is under constant threat due to influx of tourists during the yatra.

The CRPF has prepared the hoardings and banners that will display these on prominent places along the yatra route, including Jammu Tawi Railway Station, airport, bus stands, etc.

The messages will request people to minimise/avoid the use of plastic and polythene and do their part in saving the environment.

Tonnes of garbage along the route

Lakhs of polythene bags and other plastic bags are dumped at all stations during the yatra.

The Amarnath Shrine Board (ASB) erects temporary toilets along the yatra trek route from Pahalgam upwards but these toilets neither have septic tanks nor soak pits and pose a massive threat of contamination. The sewage from these toilets is discharged into Lidder and Sind rivers.

Free Press Kashmir

A report by Kashmir Life says the Army units posted at Yatra camps or ROP sites have some 200-300 men posted there with only three-four toilets which cause a majority of them to defecate in the open thus further increasing adverse ecological pressure on these water bodies.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan limited to Cyber Cities; There are piles of garbage lying on way to Amarnath Ji Cave #Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/tMOW4GOCJT

¡ª Salman Nizami (@SalmanNizami_) September 8, 2015

This is Chandanwari base camp of Amarnath Yatra, even before the Yatra has started. Last years garbage. pic.twitter.com/x7ASvrsj4x

¡ª Ibnebattuta (@ibnebattuta) June 28, 2016

Last year, 2.85 lakh devotees visited the shrine. The ASB has vowed to take proper care of garbage collection and disposal, construction of toilets and maintenance of sewage treatment plants, to ensure better sanitation during the Yatra.

Earlier this year, the district administration of Rudraprayag has decided to impose a complete ban on the use of single-use plastic items like disposable raincoats made of plastic, plastic bags, disposable cups, plates, straws, thermocol cutlery and other such items during the Kedarnath Yatra. Most visitors buy disposable raincoats and throw them in the valley or on the trekking stretch.

To minimise pollution along the tracks, the ASB has installed 2,850 toilets and 516 baths in the yatra area and had placed 150 bottle catchers, 30 bio bins, and 1,515 color-coded bins for on- source waste segregation.