Uttarakhand has sustained severe damage due to cloudburst on June 16-17 and former Chief Minister Maj Gen (retd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, who along with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi made aerial survey to assess the damage, shared his views with Sunil Kumar. Though he was not allowed to land at Kedarnath, the loss he saw and learnt from interacting with rescued persons was insurmountable.
How do you see this disaster and why did it happenIJ
A natural calamity is an act of god. But how we react to it and reduce the scope of disaster depends very much upon us. The death and destruction wreaked upon Uttarakhand by heavy rains, cloudburst, flash floods and landslides is proof of our weak governance, sluggish system and our inability to develop a coherent balance between environment protection and development.
For the first time in history cloudburst caused floods in three rivers, including Alaknanda in Joshimath, Mandakini in Kedarnath and Bhagirathi in Uttarkashi, at one time. In 1997, Joshimath had witnessed cloudburst which had caused havoc upto Rishikesh. Earlier, a cloudburst in Belakuchi, Chamoli district caused a 10-15 metre water wall which had engulfed everything, including roads, bridges and more than 25 buses along with passengers. In a nut shell, you can say that frequent cloudbursts; excessive rain and earthquake are common features of Himalayan States, including Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and north eastern States. Now, the time has come to have intensive study to ascertain its cause. For this, we have to have study three aspects.
First we have to know about the exact cause of cloudburst and excessive rains. Is it related to receding glacier or depleting forestsIJ We need to adopt a scientific technique so that we can puncture the cloud before it reaches the stage of cloudburst.
Second, we have to take preemptive measures by strengthening the early warning system, which should be reliable. If we have such systems, we would be able to mitigate disasters the way the United States of America does, where calamity is a regular phenomena. In Bangladesh, cyclone comes but to mitigate disasters, they have developed an early warning system. If they had started evacuating the people, then human loss might have been much less than now.
lastly, we need to conduct a study of ecology and forests as well. Do you think the disaster happened due to development, which has more or less damaged our environmentIJ
There is need to establish coordination between environment and development. Currently, environmentalists do not bother about development and pro-development lobby does not bother about environment. Which is why both are running after each other and ultimately the State has to witness such catastrophe. It is also true that for development, you have to cut trees, but you should also plant trees to protect environment. You go ahead with development, but at the cost of less damage to the environment.
Do you think that there is lack of coordination between themIJ How we can tackle both judiciouslyIJ
In Gangotri, Uttarkashi there is a report that development happened at the cost of environment; so we have to go establish balance between two. For this, we have to put both ministries under one hand. Sometime it happens that the environment ministry makes stringent laws to protect the environment, but the pro-development lobby is least bothered about environment; so clash happens and the project gets delayed and cost of construction gets inflated too. All this happens at the cost of public money.
For this, there is a need to provide Huk-hukook (traditional forest rights) rights to the local inhabitants. For instance, whenever forest fire occured in the past, people ran along with their belongings to douse the fire, but now they don't bother. For instance, in 1995 forest fire took place and I appealed to the people to do something to douse the fire; they refused by saying that the forests belong to the Government; so they are least bothered. Even in the British era, local inhabitants enjoyed their hak-hukook on the forests.
Do you think that the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will be able to resume connectivity which was washed away on June 16-17 due to cloudburst, in the next two to three yearsIJ
The BRO is doing good work for the country. They are in the mould of semi-army. During emergency, we call the BRO; even in Agastyamuni, several times the BRO was called to restore connectivity. They did it in the interest of the country. In between Karnprayag and Gwaldam, the BRO does restoration work quite often. Having an army background, I know how they are accustomed to work in inimical conditions. Being a chief minister of Uttarakhand in 2009, I had created the post of an additional chief engineer in Rishikesh, Garhwal and another such positions in Pithoragarh, Kumaon region. Earlier, one chief engineer stationed in Shimla was looking after both Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, including Garhwal and Kumaon divisions.
You will be surprised that in later years, the BRO in this region has suffered from radically decreased central support, with whispers that private contractors (who have no competence in this area) are trying to get a foot in the door. They are facing paucity of funds for maintenance and repair of these roads. In the current financial year 2013-14, no money was given to Chief Engineer, Rishikesh, who is supposed to take care of three national highways. In 2012-13, they got mere Rs 20 crore out of Rs 250-260 crore annual budget. In 2011-12, they got Rs 100 crore against the demand of Rs 400 crore. Earlier , roads were damaged by 20-50 percent but now 100 percent roads are washed away. Somebody at the centre must answer why the maintenance funds for those essential roads were never given to the BRO. interestingly these roads were strategically important for nation security. Had the road building and maintenance work been done in an efficient and timely manner, so much of the road infrastructure may still have been in place. And so many lives and much property could have been saved.
Can we believe that the BRO will manage to resume road connectivity in next couple of yearsIJ
They can, but there has to be balance between environment and development. At present, there is an urgent need to do assessment of loss and then make a plan to rebuild the massive infrastructure.
Don't you think the State has failed to mitigate the casualtyIJ
Yes it was complete chaos because they did not bother to check the flow of pilgrims even after the calamity on June16-17. Despite the catastrophe, pilgrims were consistently on the Char Dham Yatra routes. According to media reports, the metereological department had forecast very heavy rains and bad weather. If such a forecast had been made, what was the response of the State GovernmentIJ Why weren't pilgrims warned and why wasn't traffic halted at locations such as Rishikesh, Haridwar and SrinagarIJ By doing this, they could have mitigated the casualty.
Have you been to the disaster-affected areasIJ
Yes, first I along with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had made aerial survey, but we were not allowed to land at Kedarnath. Even alone, I tried to visit by air, but permission was denied. Thereafter, I visited Rudraprayag by road. Initially, I could not interact with people even on mobile because of poor connectivity.
Do you think that this calamity will increase migrationIJ
Definitely, it will increase the pace of migration because currently we were focusing on pilgrims, which was around 20 per cent affected people, now 80 per cent affected people are local residents. I came to know that road leading to Kalimath has also washed away. It has affected several villages, but we would come to know once road resumed. For this, there is an immediate need to sensitise Government machinery because if they fail to tackle the situation amicably, people will not stay in their villages and rush to metros for better opportunity. Although being a chief minister of Uttarakhand, he had introduced separate industrial policy for hills.
Do you have any suggestions for the Congress-led State Government about how to cope with the situationIJ Don't you think the Opposition is politicising the issueIJ
It is true that it was a catastrophe; so we have to deal this with full honesty and dedication. Politics is part and parcel of this. Unless and until we find out solution, politics will go on. For this, we will have to take care of basic things.
Politics happens on every issue. For instance, when I restricted Kanwaria's movement at Gaumukh, people had started doing politics on it, but I stuck to my decision. later, everybody appreciated it; so there is no short cut except work, work and work with full devotion.