The crass race for ill-planned development has been the bane of every State. The Himalayas have been destroyed across their range. Have we forgotten the devastation of Sikkim's earthquake in 2011, perhaps induced and accentuated by the slew of dams across the TeestaIJ
Thousands have died in Uttarakhand’s floods, many more are missing and millions of lives have been shattered as people have lost their homes, their livelihood and their way of life. The devastation continues to unfold and the impacts will be borne by the locals for years to come. The scale of tragedy is humongous, and has been reported widely. Part of the dialogue has also been the fact that while the deluge was natural, the human and infrastructural cost of the tragedy was man-made.
The worst-affected districts of Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi are those which have seen maximum deforestation, and where maximum forestland has been diverted for development activities such as roads, hydel projects, transmission lines etc. The Himalayas are the youngest mountain range in the world, and hence are very erosion-prone and susceptible to floods and landslides. This fragility of the region — and the consequences — were ignored, thus increasing the risk manifold; as was the fact that the Himalayas are the water tower-birthing and nourishing rivers that feed millions in the plains below. Environmental regulations were inconvenient: We blasted the mountains; damned, tunneled, mined the rivers; constructed multistory buildings over hills and slopes, on river beds and flood plains.
There are about 75 dams planned bumper-to-bumper on the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda and Mandakini, and many more on other rivers of the State, with little thought to the ecological or cumulative impacts. Massive swathes of hills have been deforested. Roads have been built and widened — many a time entrusted to private contractors who may know nothing of the geology of the region but are well-versed in the art of greasing palms. The pressure of pilgrim traffic is another factor. The idea of a pilgrimage is the effort it takes to pay obeisance to gods, one was fortunate to do the Char Dham or seek the blessings of Hemkund Saab, once in their lifetime. Now, a visit to the Gods is, usually, an annual excursion done with the extended family in an SUV, with other holiday itineraries thrown in.
To cater to this immense traffic (over 12 lakh this year in Kedarnath and Badrinath), roads were constructed and widened (green considerations rarely hold their own in matters of religion), fancy hotels and budget lodges mushroomed, bazaars and eateries sprouted. Dev bhoomi now resembled a Ghaziabad; the Ganga, a gutter; and her abode, a garbage dump. This is not meant to be disrespectful to any religion. But if the gods are sacred, then the rivers and forests that surround the shrine are scared too. Their sanctity demands respect.
let’s look back on other calamities, deemed ‘natural’. Uttarkashi saw a similar tragedy in August 2012, which left about 30 dead and hundreds missing. Television channels ran footage familiar — of buildings collapsing like packs of cards.
And why just Uttarakhand; the crass race for ill-planned development has been the bane of each State. The Himalayas have been devastated across their range. Have we forgotten the devastation of Sikkim’s earthquake in 2011, induced and accentuated, according to some experts, by the multitude of dams across the TeestaIJ
We have also erased from memory the horror of the 2005 tsunami, and the havoc it wreaked along the eastern coast. We have conveniently disregarded the fact that where mangroves gave shield, loss to human life and damage was minimal. In Arunachal Pradesh, more than 200 dams are proposed — and this in the eastern Himalayas, which is located in Seismic Zone V. In Goa, beaches are being landscaped and taken over by resorts, shacks, bazaars and other tourism paraphernalia; in Gujarat, the seaside is being shaved of its mangroves to give way to Special Economic Zones; in Odisha — which bears the brunt of repeated cyclones —ports have been planned all along the coast. Maharashtra plans a port every 13km, the national average being one every 28km. Compare that to Singapore, which has only one, and the US, with about 30. Have we questioned why this irrational, suicidal race to ‘development’, or cared about its devastating consequences, or questioned this myopic visionIJ
We skirt environmental regulations and additional costs that go to make our infrastructure safer, only so that people pay with their lives. And what about the huge financial costs such disasters, and the consequent rehabilitation, carryIJ Another point: Much is being said about Uttarakhand’s failure to accept the 4,000 sq km odd Eco-Sensitive Zone of the Bhagirathi. Without going into its politics or the rationality of the decision, or into its opposition, it must be said that there is no basis to pin this disaster down to the State’s stance on refuting this particular ESZ — which was proposed very recently. It is the cumulative impact of faulty or unplanned development and the blatant mockery of environmental norms over the years that has taken its toll.
As the disaster unfolds, India is undergoing the exercise to notify Eco-Sensitive Zones, envisaged to provide a buffer to Protected Areas, and regulate activities in these demarked eco- fragile zones. For example, in an ESZ, activities such as mining, hydel projects and heavily-polluting industries are banned; while others like tourism, cutting of trees, power lines, drastic change of agricultural practices etc are regulated.Take tourism, which if done in a sustained manner (we only have to look at our neighbour Bhutan to learn a few lessons on low-foot print tourism, and even construction on fragile landscapes) can be a ‘green’ industry, providing for local livelihoods, preserving cultures and creating ambassadors for nature.
The tourism business model we have now is a catastrophe — turning our hill stations and pristine wilderness into an urban scape with multi-storey buildings, malls, traffic jams et al. The creation of an ESZ, and proper implementation of its management plan through its monitoring committee, would ensure tourism in a planned and regulated manner, by not killing the very product it markets.
This was an opportunity to plan land-use and growth in the notified zones, so that the plan protects environment and eco-systems, ensures livelihoods and takes into account development concerns. All of this was to be done in a planned manner, and with the concerted effort of all departments concerned. ESZs were envisaged in 2002. Over a decade, few States responded with notifying a handful of ESZs, till they were rapped by the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which has currently given a deadline till July 31 to formulate the ESZs.
Yet, most States have viewed the ESZ as a curse, as ‘impeding growth’ — as was seen by the universal rejection of the Gadgil Committee report which ordained 60 per cent of the Western Ghats as the highest-priority ESZ. A majority of ESZs coming in now, with some worthy exceptions, are mere eyewash, failing to take their import on board. Many have tried to reduce the buffer to a minimal, even nil, and most have bypassed ‘developed’ and populated areas into its ambit, thereby defeating the very purpose of the ESZ. As the current tragedy has shown, it is such areas which need planned development Will Uttarakhand’s tragedy teach us and our policy makers any lessonIJ
Will Uttarakhand, or any other State, or for that matter the Centre, introspectIJ Should it not at least now re-look their development agenda to factor in ecological concerns which ensure the safety of our peopleIJ
(The writer is senior consultant, WCS India, and founder-director of ‘Bagh’. She is also member of National Board for Wildlife)