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Karan concerned over Himalayas’ deforestation
KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 6/30/2013 11:21:27 AM
SRINAGAR, JUNE 29: Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Dr Karan Singh said that horrific Himalayan tsunami caused untold havoc in Uttarakhand where thousands of precious lives including our brave security forces had been lost, whole villages disappeared and the fragile Himalayan ecology received a massive blow.
In a statement issued here on Friday, Karan Singh said that for decades he had lent his voice to the anxiety felt by committed environmentalists’ regarding the extensive deforestation in the Himalayas and also the building of massive dams on the Ganges and its tributaries.
“I would urge that there should be an agonizing reappraisal of our whole environmental policy in the Himalayas. Meanwhile, we must all do our bit to support the massive relief and rehabilitation effort that is urgently needed,” he added.
He donated Rs 50 lakhs from his MPLADS fund and Rs 5 lakhs on behalf of the Dharmarth Trust, Jammu and Kashmir.
Describing the completion of the over eleven kilometre long railway tunnel between Qazigund in Kashmir and Banihal in the Jammu region as a landmark achievement, Karan Singh said this was indeed a remarkable technological achievement and it was befitting that Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi both participated in its inauguration.
“I recall many years ago, Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi had laid the foundation stone of the rail link in Udhampur, the then my parliamentary constituency,” he said.