Sir,
Despite being a Himalayan State and being close to nature, I hardly find any safe and convenient place for joggers, marathon runners and fitness enthusiasts. I usually go for a run on joggers track parallel to Akhnoor road that starts from IIIM and is almost three kms long. The track had a thick tree cover and was a perfect place to do running, yoga etc. To my shock I found that the trees near the track had been cut down as a part of road widening exercise but at a cost of a beautiful track which will be extinct soon. This raises a lot of questions in our mind related to our priorities as development and nature never go well together.
There has to be a balance and it should not be at the cost of nature. If we continue such activities without proper mitigation measures sooner Jammu’s air quality will match that of Delhi’s as air quality index of Jammu city has also deteriorated in the past years, which I think very few are aware of. Unprecedented construction and unplanned infrastructure development will definitely damage the image of this beautiful state as open spaces are vanishing and it’s becoming difficult to find a green, open, dust free and clean atmosphere to run and a thing of beauty wont be a joy forever. Sad..!!!!
Vishal Mehta
GAIL India Limited
UP India
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