Tag: Deforestation

This year’s devastating Himachal floods have uncovered a massive timber smuggling racket, with visuals of the Ravi River in Chamba choked by felled logs exposing rampant illegal logging. Experts warn that collusion between forest mafias and unchecked development has stripped hillsides, worsening landslides and floods. With 156 lives lost and over 820 roads blocked, the disaster highlights how deforestation and climate change are pushing Himachal toward ecological collapse. Environmentalists demand urgent action, strict enforcement, and reforestation to prevent the state from “vanishing in thin air.”

The Ravi River’s swollen waters in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, have exposed alarming evidence of timber mafia activity, with massive wood logs floating downstream amid recent floods. Environmentalists warn that the scale of logs indicates systematic illegal felling, not just natural erosion, deepening the region’s ecological crisis. As flash floods devastate villages and infrastructure, activists demand a high-level probe, stricter enforcement, and community-led monitoring to curb rampant deforestation threatening Himachal’s fragile biodiversity.