Politicians and environmentalists argue as death toll rise
By RakeshAgrawal
UTTARAKHAND: Rishi Kumar, 45, from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, had come on a trek with his wife Ritikato the heavenly solitude of Uttarakhand, to visit the world famous Valley of Flowers. Suddenly, the sky that was moments ago a spotless canvas of inky blue, turned crimson on the eastern horizon, then gray and suddenly, it began to drizzle.
The duo were on the last leg of their trek. The Valley of Flowers lay 21 kilometers ahead. On their way, surrounded by high mountains, they had seen masses of wooly white flowers, the famous Edelweiss. There were also Bellflowers, whose sparkling blue color matched the color of the sky.
They were at GovindGhat, from where the trek to the Valley of Flowers and to the sacred Sikh shrine, Hemkund Sahib,began. They had walked about 200 yards after leaving their taxi that had brought them from Rishikesh to GovindGhat, when it started to drizzle.
They ran and took shelter in an old country house. That move saved their lives as the drizzle soon became heavy.
“We escaped death by a whisker as we heard a booming sound we’d never experienced in our lives,” recalls Kumar in an interview.
“It was as if hundreds of bombs exploded or as if thousands of truckloads of stones fell from the heavens,” added Ritika.
That avalanche of stones on the wee hours of Sunday, June, 16th, when the upper ranges of Garhwal had a sudden cloud burst, resulted in one of the worst natural disasters in India in recent times.
The avalanche fell with full force and fury on scores of hotels, shops and restaurants that had come up alongside the banks of Alaknanda River, to cater to thousands of pilgrims and trekkers.
Standing under the open verandah of that old house, the couple witnessed nature’s terrible wrath.
“They (the buildings) fell like a loose pack of cards in front of our eyes, but nothing happened to us,” Ritikasaid.
But, more than a natural disaster, it was a manmade calamity in Uttarakhand that has till now killed more than 10,000 people, injured thousands more, scores still remain missing and unaccounted for, and washed away hundreds of structures.
Thousands of pilgrims who had come to the sacred char dhamyatra (travel to the four abodes of god), are still stranded in the hills and forests, despite the best efforts of rescue teams lead by the Indian Army and paramilitary forces, especially the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
It was a disaster waiting to happen.
Uttarakhand has bumper-to-bumper dams and hydro-electricity projects (HEPs). The river Ganges runs into many tunnels, only to be seen at a few spots as reservoirs, legal and illegal mining goes on unabated, and thousands of buildings constructed in cement and concrete have come up all alongside the river banks.
“Today, more than 220 HEPs are operational in Uttarakhand and about 600 are proposed. Large scale mining and tunneling are carried out to construct them under the fragile hills that must be blown away, using massive explosions,” says Prof. Govind Singh, a Garhwal-based teacher and writer.
To make matters worse, massive construction have been carried out alongside the river banks of Bhagirathi, Mandakini, Alaknanda, Vishnuganga, Goriganga, Pinder, Dhauli, Kali, Gori Ganga and Ramganga rivers where hotels, shops, restaurants and resorts have come up in order to cater to pilgrims.
“This is clearly a manmade disaster. Permission has been given to build hotels and resorts on river banks in the IV and V category seismic zone,” says VimalBhai of MatuJansansthan, a Haridwar based group of activists, fighting for the rights of dam affected people.
Vijay Bahuguna, Chief Minister, Uttarakhand, a vocal supporter of dams and HEPs, however, says that the tragedy is a consequence of nature.
“It was simply a natural disaster and dams and HEPs are pillars of development and anti- development theorists are propagating this (man-made calamity),” he says.
Earlier this year, the government of India had declared a total area of 4179.59 sq. km, comprising of 5 km on either banks of the Ganges River from Uttarkashi to Gomukh as Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ), and imposed restrictions on quarrying, commissioning HEPs on Bhagirathi above 2 MW, and construction of roads in the prohibited area. It had also announced a blanket ban on felling of trees and setting up of factories to manufacture furniture and other wooden items.
Environmentalist had welcomed this declaration, even as opposition to it grew from several local quarters, including the state government.
NitinPandey, a Dehradun based pediatrician and coordinator, Citizens For Green Doon, analyzes the intention behind the opposition to the central government’sdeclaration.
“The contractors’ and builders’ lobby is opposing it as it would affect their business, whereas locals will benefit since only small hotels in local tradition and architecture will be allowed. Moreover, the declaration forbids dumping of sewage into Ganga,” says Pandey.
Bahuguna had also opposed the New Delhi declaration. He was then trying hard to revive three major HEPs: 600 MW Loharinag Pala, 480 MW Pala Maneri and 380 MW Bhaironghati. Besides, a series of other projects, including 150 MW Karmoli and 50 MW Jadganga of THDC India Ltd. had been scrapped.
This disaster however has also unmasked the government of Uttarakhand of its poor disaster preparedness, as revealed by a new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report. It slams the state government for its lackadaisical approach towards implementation of important aspects of disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness.
The CAG report was released in April this year. Though the state disaster management authority was formed six years ago (2007), it didn’t meet even a single time till the date and did not have required personnel in place. Nearly half of the posts in the district emergency operations wings are lying vacant.
This is even more worrisome as more than 650 people were killed in a span of six years since 2007 in the state in natural disasters and hazards. A majority of them lost their lives due to landslides and heavy rains. The state however has till date not taken any measures for prevention and mitigation of disasters and no medical personnel were trained for disaster preparedness, sources said.
“Even the Central Government cannot have a perfect disaster preparedness plan, how could we have?” defends Bahuguna.
Many others were also opposed to the center’s proposal, includingAvadheshKaushal, Chairperson, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, a Dehradun based mega-NGO.
“It is an erroneous decision of the Centre, because this area is strategically important as it shares border with China, which has laid a vast network of roads and other infrastructural facilities along its border with India. If India does not match up with China, it will spell disaster for the country’s defense. Then, it doesn’t consider the development of the area, the sentiments and opinions of the local population and is against the spirit of democracy,” Kaushal says, adding, “It is nothing but an attempt to stop the hydro power projects forever and hamper the pace of progress of the state.”
Even as politicians and interest groups try to ward off blame for the tragedy, corpses in the holy dham have begun to decay.