Leh, July 14 - Ladakh is no longer pristine. Rising temperatures are drying up glaciers in this trans-Himalayan cold desert and generator smoke from the power-strapped towns across the rugged mountains in northernmost India are eating into the fragile ecosystem, destroying its sparse green cover.

'The effect of climate change is very high in the mountains. More than 10 percent of the glaciers have melted and at the most I give Ladakh another 30-40 years, if measures are not taken to save the fragile ecosystem and conserve water,' Sonam Gorjyes, director of the Ladakh Ecological Group, told IANS.

The signs of change are apparent in the topography.

Barely 15 km from crowded Leh lies a desolate stretch of white sand dotted with nearly 50 small Buddhist shrines at the foot of a mountain, next to an ancient palace of the king of Ladakh.

A decade ago, Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan and actress Monisha Koirala smouldered on the exotic stretch in an emotionally-packed shot in Mani Ratnam's hit movie 'Dil Se'.

Ten years on, the little bend along the river Indus is home to a settlement, shacks, a tourist spot and acute water scarcity.

In the district headquarters, Leh, the scene is even more alarming. Depleting ground water, ghetto-like buildings, an explosion of hotels, guest houses, motels, eateries and bazaars that run on diesel generators from noon till dawn, and a profusion of SUVs and cars belching noxious fumes make for a visitors' nightmare.

The pungent smoke of the diesel first hits the eyes and then the nose as one enters the town. Coupled with the thin oxygen cover at an altitude of over 3,500 metres, the process of breathing stabilisation and altitude acclimatisation takes longer than the mandatory 24 hours.

'Do not move for at least 36 hours and roll up the windows of your vehicle,' instructs the taxi driver with an anti-pollution shield covering his nose and mouth.

At least 40 percent of people in the town working outside homes cover their faces to avoid the diesel smoke -- which does not dissipate easily in the thin air.

The construction of flush toilets in hotels, army bases and modern apartments have added to the water woes because the water used cannot be recycled owing to the absence of recycling systems, eco-experts rued.

'The water system in Ladakh is snow-fed. Precipitation is less than 40 mm a year. So, most of the villages and towns, including Leh, is dependent on the melting snow. Statistics compiled by the Indian Air Force shows that temperature of Ladakh has risen by one degree Celsius over the last 35 years which is alarming for the region,' said Gorjyes, whose group has been working for the last 25 years to promote renewable energy in the area.