The Supreme Court on Monday voiced concern over the growing risk of natural disasters in the Himalayan region, following recent landslides and monsoon-related devastation across Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said the court will expand the scope of its suo motu case on ecological imbalance beyond Himachal Pradesh to cover the entire Himalayan range. “It isn’t going to be limited to Himachal only, but the entire Himalayan range that is facing the issue. This time it has been very, very violent,” the bench observed.
The court said it will issue orders on the matter on September 24.
The suo motu proceedings stem from an earlier hearing on July 28, when a bench led by Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan warned that Himachal Pradesh might “vanish in thin air” if corrective steps were not taken. At that time, the court noted that climate change, unchecked construction, deforestation, hydropower projects and multi-lane roads were aggravating the situation.
The top court had also flagged the strain on the fragile environment caused by uncontrolled tourism growth and stressed the need for inputs from geologists, environmental experts and locals before approving development projects.
The Centre, the court said, has an obligation to ensure that ecological imbalance in the Himalayan states does not worsen. It had earlier directed the Himachal Pradesh government to submit its action plan to address the crisis.
Frequent floods, landslides and avalanches have battered the Himalayan states in recent years, with disasters recorded in 2025, 2023, 2021 and 2013, leaving behind loss of lives, destruction of homes and villages, and severe damage to infrastructure.
-ANI
