The Amarnath Yatra attracts thousands of pilgrims each year. And while the pilgrims progress braving inclement weather, the carbon footprints of the yatris are hard to miss.

The crystal clear snow near the holy Amarnath Cave has lost its pristine self, just a week into the annual pilgrimage.

Living in thousands of tents pitched along the glaciers, yatris go about carelessly littering, even using the river as a sewage and garbage drain. They completely ignore warnings.

“There is no need for toilets. The river is serves all purposes. We use it for washing and bathing,” said Ashish, a pilgrim.

As if the inflow of sewage and garbage was not enough, people blatantly violate the rules. They come here and wash their vehicles.

“All the people wash their vehicles here,” said Kamal Sharma, a taxi driver.

Over one lakh pilgrims have visited this week alone and the stress on the fragile Lidder Valley is already showing.

And that’s not all. The colour of a glacier, which is on the route taken by the yatris, has now turned black.

“People are moving on foot in thousands. So there is a generation of dust that ultimately settles on these glaciers and enhances the melting of these glaciers,” said Shakeel Ramshoo, a Glaciologist at the Kashmir University.

Since the early 90s the pilgrim rush to the holy Amarnath shrine has increased 40 times. But the enforcement of rules does not match this rush.

Nor do pilgrims who read about global warming and ecological damage