Sand, Stone and the Sustainability Dilemma
Sand, Stone and the Sustainability Dilemma “J&K’s construction material crisis exposes the consequences of past resource mismanagement, the pressures of present-day development and the urgent need for a sustainable path ahead.” Peerzada Mohsin Shafi Jammu and Kashmir is beginning to face a construction-material crisis at a time when demand for roads, bridges, housing, hospitals, schools, drainage systems and other infrastructure is rising. Restrictions on quarrying operations and curbs on the extraction, lifting and transportation of mining material have created difficulties for ongoing development works. The Government has valid reasons for tightening control over the extraction of sand, gravel, stone and other minor minerals. The region’s rivers, mountains and fragile ecosystems cannot be treated as unlimited sources of construction material. Yet the emerging shortage exposes a deeper problem: development needs and natural-resource management have not evolved together...