Following the Chief Minister’s direction to the Chief Secretary for conducting a study on the drought situation in Uttarakhand and preparing a report on its impact on farming, animal husbandry and potable water supply, scientists and activists state that the people in various parts of the State and various voluntary organisations have for years been calling for measures to avoid this very type of situation. The Chief Secretary in turn has directed all the district magistrates to accord top priority to providing relief from the situation. Observers point out that due to factors like global climate change and political-administrative factors among others, the flooding during monsoon and drought after the monsoon will continue to plague the state in coming years if necessary measures are not taken on time.
On Monday, Chief Minister Harish Rawat had directed the Chief Secretary S Ramaswamy that the drought situation in Uttarakhand be studied and a report be prepared on its impact on agriculture, animal husbandry and the supply of drinking water. The Chief Minister’s media advisor Surendra Kumar informed that the CM had directed the Chief Secretary to seek feedback from the departmental officials concerned and all district magistrates. An action plan be prepared at the earliest to provide relief to the public from the drought, the CM had instructed.
On Tuesday, the Chief Secretary directed all the 13 district magistrates to accord priority to the provision of relief to the people from the drought situation. The officials were also told to prepare effective action plans for tackling aspects like fodder for cattle and different agriculture-related tasks and start relief works. He directed all the district magistrates to conduct an assessment of the damage caused by the drought. The full details will be sought from the district magistrates through video-conferencing on Wednesday. Information will also be sought in the video conference regarding work done towards the facilitation of drought relief and the action plan for the future.
Observers point out that such review meetings and drafting of action plans has become an annual feature in Uttarakhand and even though successive State Governments have touted varied efforts purportedly done towards facilitating a better network for supply of drinking water along with efforts aimed at the conservation of water and recharging of ground water. “The series of workshops, official meetings and instructions seen annually towards mitigating drought and other such issues have had little concrete effect. The State where the Ganga, Yamuna rivers and many of their tributaries originate, is facing drought while the politicians have remained busy intensifying their political efforts in view of the Vidhan Sabha election 2017,” said a scientist wanting to remain anonymous.
Environmentalist Suresh Bhai of Nadi Bachao Andolan states, “Sixteen years after creation of Uttarakhand state, the water policy of the State has not yet been drafted whereas a draft of a people’s water policy had been submitted by the public to the authorities way back in 2004 to the then chief minister Narayan Datt Tiwari. The State Government has big visions of making it an Urja Pradesh but has so far done nothing that shows concern for the people and livelihoods in areas near mountain streams, rivers and glaciers. The Central Government had prepared the water policy in 2002 which has been implemented with stress on privatisation and globalisation. The States were also meant to make their water policies after the Centre. The Uttarakhand Government had prepared a draft of the water policy in September 2003. According to this draft, water was slated to be viewed not as a natural resource but as a Government ‘property’ which elicited strong protest from the people who had submitted their own people’s water policy. The State had even considered this with a cabinet level sub committee being formed under the chairmanship of the then Agriculture and Watershed Minister Mahendra Singh Mahra. Even after this, the State’s water policy was thwarted on the direction of the private companies,” he alleged.
It is worth mentioning here that ealier this year in November, Rs 70.22 crore financial assistance from the national disaster relief fund had been approved by the Central Government for the drought affected Uttarakhand State. The decision had been taken at the meeting of a high level committee headed by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to deliberate on the subject of the Central Assistance to Uttarakhand affected by drought.
It is pertinent to mention here that the rainy season in Uttarakhand during the past few years has been marked by increase in incidence of extreme weather events like cloudburst and resulting floods among others. Observers state that factors like the impact of climate change being exacerbated by environmental damage caused by indiscriminate human activities has resulted in a drastic change in the winter snow and rainfall patterns apart from the changes seen in the rainfall pattern during the monsoon season in Uttarakhand. There are places in the State which used to experience snowfall during the winter every year, which have now been without any snowfall for up to five years now in some cases.