After a few days of mild rains the heat of summer is back in the Kashmir valley. The hot and humid conditions have persisted in almost all the districts of the valley. Even though there is a prediction of light to moderate rains for the upcoming week but somehow the rains do not fall for an extended period and it is mainly mild showers that has blessed the land so far. The entire valley is still keenly waiting for a prolonged spell of rains that can augur well for the harvesting season.
The cause of worry however remains that even a brief spell of rains is causing flash floods in the valley. The case of Khrew in particular is worrying. Same holds true for landslides in Kishtawar, Ladakh and other parts of the region. The soil has lost a good proportion of its absorption power and the rain water just literally glides over the tree-less slopes. Had these slopes been dotted with water retaining roots of trees that a lot of this rainwater can get absorbed on the slopes itself without leading to damaging flash floods. Some two to three decades back even a seven days prolonged spell of rainfall would not cause us to worry. However, the times have changed. Now even two to three days rainfall is enough to scare us and we begin monitoring the gauge levels. There was a metrological department back then also but only when it would rain with a good intensity for five to six days would one turn the transistor on to check about the water levels. Now even a two days rainfall makes us glued to our mobile screens surfing the latest gauge levels.
So praying for a prolonged spell of rain is now a catch-22 prospect for us. One that we want the temperatures to ho down but on the other hand we do not want the prospects of a flood. Rigorous methods of afforestation would have prevented both scenarios. One that there would not have been excessive heat and second that even a week’s rainfall would not have ruffled our feathers much.
These hot and humid conditions are our own doing. Had we not fiddled with nature the nature would not have bared it’s fangs on us. Now, the trick of the trade is to immediately resort to Miyawaki forestry technique in the urban areas and rigorous afforestation in the rural areas. The city of Indore has set up an example before us by planting a million saplings in a single day. We also need a many such days of planting a million saplings.
