Srinagar, July 24 -- By Sadaket Ali Malik

Dawn hits the upper Chenab hours before it reaches the towns below. Snowmelt starts moving through narrow gorges near Kishtwar, picking up speed and joining the Neeru, Kalnai, Kalgoni and Marusudar rivers along the way.

Together these waters form the Chenab Basin, one of the most sensitive river systems anywhere in the western Himalaya.

Communities in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban have depended on it for generations, and now something bigger is being asked of it.

Roads, tunnels, hydropower plants and growing towns all need sand, gravel and boulders, and rivers like the Chenab are the easiest place to get them.

The bigger issue isn't whether this construction happens. It's whether anyone truly und...