The devastating Kishtwar cloudburst that claimed precious lives is not just another chapter of nature’s fury—it is a chilling reminder of how human negligence, greed, and reckless exploitation of fragile ecosystems are accelerating disasters that could have been prevented.
Communist leader and chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly’s Environment Committee, M Y Tarigami, minced no words in calling this tragedy an act of criminal negligence.
The Meteorological Department had already sounded alarms of severe rainfall, flash floods, and cloudbursts in the higher reaches of Jammu, yet precautionary steps were ignored. When science warns and administration remains silent, disasters cease to be “natural”—they become failures of governance.
Tarigami has demanded an urgent, time-bound inquiry into the tragedy. But inquiry alone is not enough.
He has emphasized that accountability must be fixed—those responsible for ignoring warnings and neglecting safety protocols must be punished in a manner that future generations learn the right lesson: that nature cannot be exploited, warnings cannot be brushed aside, and human lives cannot be collateral damage in the race for profit.
Accountability is not revenge—it is a necessity. Without strict punishment for negligence, the cycle of bureaucratic inertia and profiteering at the cost of ecology will continue unchecked.
Tarigami underlined how disasters like these are man-made in magnitude. They are worsened by:
- Deforestation of fragile slopes,
- Unregulated stone crushers are eating into the earth,
- Unplanned, unsustainable construction on unstable terrains,
- And the commodification of land under neoliberal profit models.
The result? The Himalayan ecosystem, one of the world’s most delicate natural shields, is collapsing under human greed. And always, it is the poor, working-class, and marginalized who are forced to pay the price with their lives.
But there is a path forward. Tarigami has called for climate justice in Jammu and Kashmir, demanding that affected families be rehabilitated and compensated, and that long-term safeguards be institutionalized. His proposals include:
- Advanced Doppler radars and weather satellites for real-time detection of cloudbursts.
- Timely warning systems via SMS, mobile push notifications, local broadcasters, and loudspeakers in remote villages.
- A mass people’s movement against deforestation, over-construction, and corporate plunder of natural resources.
- Strict regulatory frameworks are needed to preserve fragile ecosystems before they are destroyed beyond repair.
The Kishtwar tragedy is a wake-up call for India and the world: climate disasters will only intensify if we do not change our ways. From Kedarnath to Himachal, from Joshimath to Kishtwar, the story is the same—warnings ignored, profits prioritized, people sacrificed.
The message must be made clear: those who neglect warnings and destroy nature for greed will be held accountable and punished—not tomorrow, but today. Only then will future generations learn that preserving nature is not a choice, but survival itself.
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