Three prominent non-government organisations have called for restricting mountaineering beyond the snowline, disallowing motorcar rallies and other commercial tourism activities in Himalayan ranges and negotiating a memorandum of understanding with China for undertaking measures to protect Sutlej, Indus and Brahmputra rivers.

A delegation of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) - Trans Himalaya Chapter, Green Himalayas and the Save Our Shimla called on Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal here today and submitted a memorandum urging him to take efforts for saving the fragile Himalayan environment further by strictly regulating commercial tourism activities, particularly in the higher mountain ranges. P.S.Negi, convener of the chapter who led the delegation drew attention of Dhumal to the desecration of the sacred mountains by climbers who littered the slopes with garbage and hastened the melting of glaciers by their footprints.

While hailing the state’s decision to ban the use of plastic and opt for a low-carbon economy, Negi urged Dhumal to allow mountaineering expeditors only for geo-scientific investigations to help prepare and inventory of snowfields, monitor movements of glaciers, mapping of lakes, rivers and streams and for clearing the hills of garbage. Base camps of climbers should not be allowed up to a distance of 5 km from snowline and only environment-friendly activities based on handlooms and handicrafts be allowed.

Motorcar rallies and other commercial tourism activities should not be allowed as a small trade off for conserving the Himalayan eco-system. Instead, the native people should be given easy access to the alpine pastures and forests for grazing and collection of medicinal plants and other minor produce in exercise of their traditional rights

Source: tribuneindia.com