National Green Tribunal has constituted a joint committee to submit the Report on the Declining snowfall in the State. The Division bench of Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Dr A. Senthil Vel, observe that a severe environmental issue had been raised, which requires the attention of the Tribunal.

Advocate Shailendra Kumar Yadav filed a petition in which he highlighted the issue of environmental destruction in Kufri. Further, he submitted that due to the negligent attitude of state authorities, the rising number of horses, and other local reasons, snowfall in Kufri has been continuously declining for the last two decades. As a consequence, water resources are drying up, and Shimla town itself remains devoid of any snow for most of the winter season.

After taking note of the petition, the Tribunal said substantial environmental questions related to the implementation of Scheduled Enactments under the NGT Act, 2010 arise.  A joint committee was formed consisting of Divisional Forest Officer, Shimla, Regional Officer, MoEF&CC, Chandigarh, State PCB, and District Magistrate, Shimla, who will visit the site and submit a factual report, including any actions taken within two months.

Advocate Shailendra Kumar Yadav submitted - "Uncontrolled movement of horses has irreparably damaged flora and fauna of this eco-system. It has damaged the food chain in the area. Continuous plying of horses has severely damaged beautiful forest trail and causing further damage to tree roots. The local administration has made available a huge area as parking area for horses in the prohibited area of forest. After the day's plying, the owners of these horses let the horses into the adjoining forests causing severe damage to deodar tree roots along with flora and fauna therein. One can see naked tree roots and drying trees and shrubs with heaps of stinking horse dung all over the area," 

The next date of the hearing is on 25th May, 2023