Jhelum, Kashmir’s lifeline, faces ecological collapse from pollution, encroachment, and neglect; urgent restoration is vital.
In an age of climate anxiety and ecological reckoning, the Indus in Ladakh is finally receiving the attention it deserves, with a bold and timely river-cleaning initiative launched by the administration. The same urgency, however, continues to elude Kashmir’s historic waterway: the Jhelum. For a region that is fast emerging as a crucible of climate change in the western Himalayas, this apathy is more than environmental negligence; it is a dangerous collective failure.
Jhelum is not just a river. It is Kashmir’s main artery, economically, culturally, and ecologically. It irrigates orchards, quenches thirst, powers turbines, and cradles heritage sites and wetlands. Yet, the river is choking, suffocated by untreated sewage, silting, encroachments, and wilful administrative neglect. Despite multiple court interventions, damning scientific studies, and community appeals, there has been little systemic action to halt its decline.
The roots of this crisis run deep. During the conflict years of the 1990s and early 2000s, illegal occupation of riverbanks became rampant. Much of this encroachment was later legalised under the now-scrapped Roshni Act, leaving no space for sewage treatment infrastructure. Meanwhile, pollutants from towns like Anantnag, Pulwama, Srinagar, Sopore, and Baramulla continue to be flushed into the river untreated. Even Srinagar’s major hospital, Lal Ded, drains directly into the Jhelum.
Worse still, studies have shown that nitrate-nitrogen concentrations in the river have risen by over 260 per cent over the decades, an alarming indicator of agrochemical and domestic pollution. Silt from deforested and eroding watersheds like Ranipora and Shalnar now settles in the Jhelum and its key wetlands, such as Wular. The situation is dire, yet the Pollution Control Committee remains a passive bystander.
The state cannot afford this inaction any longer. Kashmir’s fragile ecology cannot withstand the double blow of climate disruption and institutional apathy. The river that carried the memory of saints and poets, ferried crops and commerce, and stood as a metaphor of Kashmiri continuity, now carries sludge and disease.
It is time for a Kashmir-specific river rejuvenation mission, transparent, court-monitored, and community-backed. STPs must be fast-tracked. Polluters must be penalised. Revenue records must be cleansed of illegitimate ownerships. Above all, the Jhelum must be re-imagined as a living entity with legal and ecological rights.
If Ladakh can clean the Indus, why can’t Kashmir save the Jhelum? The future is watching, and the river is dying.
