Sir,
This has reference to the news item ‘Mount Everest, high -altitude rubbish dump'(DE, June 18, 2018).It is sad to read that Mount Everest, which has the unique distinction of being the highest mountain peak in the world, has been turned into the world’s highest rubbish dump with the fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and even human excrement littering the route to the summit of this 29029 ft high peak.The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that about 600 people have scaled this world’s highest peak so far this year alone and melting glaciers are exposing the trash accumulated on the mountain, as a result of global warming.Though the climbers are required to bring down at least 8 Kg of waste and are fined and their rubbish deposit forfeited if they fail to do so,the rich and inexperienced climbers chose to forfeit the deposit rather than bring back the rubbish with them.What is worrying the environmentalists and making them voice their concern is that the pollution on this mountain is affecting the water sources down in the valley as the raw sewage from the base camp is carried to the next village and dumped into trenches.Then it gets flushed down into the hill during monsoon into the river.Thus, the need of the hour is to maintain the fragile ecological balance of this region and install a biogas plant near the Everest base camp to treat the sewage and turn human excreta into fertilizer.The members of Rubbish Collection Team’ are doing a yeoman’s service in bringing down tonnes of trash from the mountain.Such teams need to be appreciated, encouraged and motivated to do this job more effectively so that this highest mountain peak is kept neat and clean and free from any rubbish.Moreover, the climbers need to be sensitized about the harmful effects of throwing rubbish on the mountain.Last but not the least,stricter rules need to be formulated and enforced to prevent the climbers from throwing their equipment enroute the mountain peak so that the pristine glory of this lofty mountain peak be maintained.
Ashok Sharma,
Housing Colony,
Udhampur.
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