Rebuilding Uttarakhand

There goes an adage that says ‘Rome was not built in a day’ similarly rebuilding of Uttarakhand is going to take a very long time. One cannot imagine a devastation of this nature. While many have been rendered homeless in the affected districts such as Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, TehriGrhwal and Chamoli, a whole lot have lost their livelihood and unemployment stares at them and how.I would like to give you an idea of the place Uttarkashi where I had stationed myself for relief operations.
Uttarkashi situated at an altitude of 1352 meters is one of the worst affected districts. 40 kms away from Yamnotri and 100 kms away from Gangotri both part of the pilgrimage tour- ‘Chardham Yatra’ has been thriving due to tourism.
Uttarkashi, meaning Kashi of the North itself is considered abode of gods due to the presence of so many temples and ashrams in that one small town. Similar to Varanasi, Uttarkashi is also situated on the Ganges, lies next to a hill named Varun Parvat where there is a confluence of two rivers Varun Ganga and Asi Ganga and has a ghat called Manikarna Ghat. It also has the famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple dedicated to lord Shiva right in the centre of town. Apart for this there is the Kandar Devta Mandir (temple) and Ganga Mandir. Uttarkashi is also famous for the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM). 
There were several places within the Uttarkashi town that were affected. But, Joshiyara, which adjoins the Uttarkashi town and is situated alongside the Bhagirathi river was worst affected. There are close to 300 households I was told in this small place. It also has the famous temple, Kaleshwar Mandir, dedicated to Lord Shiva. This small village was one of the affected during the recent floods. Several new construction buildings that came along the banks fell like a pack of cards.
Last month many watched helplessly as their homes got washed away. Preetam Gumber, a resident of Uttarkahi town who owns a grocery shop in the market and also runs a hotel Radhika Palace nearby watched helplessly as part of his house situated just on the banks of the river next to the Ganga Mandir (temple) got washed away. He and his family shifted into their hotel which was empty as most who had booked rooms until September had cancelled their trips to Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand.
Similarly, one another gentleman from Joshiyara who had lost everything was seen sitting on the streets staring at his broken home. As I approached him and asked him If I could help in any way, the old fragile and wrinkled gentleman turned around and looked at me and said , “Beta ab main kya chahu. Kuch nahi chaiye mujhe . Joh bhi tha sab chala gaya’. (What can I wish for now. All that I had is washed away). He further added that whether I get ration or anything that is being given as relief does not make a difference to him as he had lost his several years savings and the house he had built. ‘Kahan se shuruaat Karun. Pata Nahi’ (where do I begin all over again I do not understand) he said.  
This is the question being asked by one and all in this Uttarkashi district. Be it a man who lost is home in the town area or Joshiyara or the man who lost his house in the upper reaches of Uttarkashi, both have seen their houses and livelihood disappear in front of their eyes in the floods.
Gopal Thapliyal, project manager at Sri Bhuvaneshwari Mahila Ashram (SBMA), an NGO that has been operating in Uttarkashi for the last 3 decades and has its office in Joshiyara says: “This tragedy has affected the locals a lot. The locals were dependent on Tousirm. Thousands here work as porters, drivers, guides and waiters. But due to lack of business they have been rendered jobless. In most areas affected by the floods, their entire economy is based on tourism. Adventure tour companies that have been helping the locals as well as helped in rescue operations of the pilgrims are left with no work currently. All of them have lost business for this year. For some their losses run into lakhs.
Tourism provides employment, directly or indirectly, to a significant number of the people residing in villages near the tourist spots in Uttarakhand. One is not sure as to whether people will now be willing to come to Uttarakhand at all. 
However, what surprised me is that most are positive in their outlook for future. While they are very clear that they will not move out of Uttarkashi and Uttrakhand they will find means to be able to rebuild their lives.
The task now is how does one rebuild this state?. It’s a mammoth task at hand. 

Uttarkhand Relief Operations

Everest conquerors to the rescue!

A group of ace climbers, which includes Mt Everest conquerors Bachendri Pal and Premlata Agarwal, have quietly arrived in Uttarkashi from across India ” trekking up to villages where even the Army jawans haven't reached, providing essential supplies to marooned villagers who have no food, water or power

 http://www.mid-day.com/news/2013/jun/300613-mumbai-news-everest-conquerors-to-the-rescue.htm


My interview from Ground Zero in Uttarakhand on Harman Radio 
http://harmanradio.com:4444/player/jplayer/tr691889

Climbers on a mission to Uttarakhand

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/climbers-on-a-mission-to-uttarakhand/article4883034.ece

Even though media attention has shifted from Uttarakhand, the work done by local NGOs, trekking communities and good samaritans continues, as they try hard to rehabilitate the locals and rebuild their lives from their lost fortunes. We feature their work here not only to create awareness about the remarkable initiatives undertaken in disaster management but also to encourage them and to express our support and gratitude  for their efforts. - 
http://www.thebetterindia.com/7443/tbi-uttarakhand-diaries-relief-work-carries-on-even-as-media-focus-shifts/ 


TBI writer Anusha Subramanian is currently in Uttarakhand, participating in the relief operations and assisting the locals in rebuilding their lives. She reports from the scene of the devastating floods on the current situation in the affected areas, on the aid provided by the administration, and the stupendous work being carried out by trekkers, mountaineers, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), army personnel and NGOs. - 
http://www.thebetterindia.com/7406/tbi-uttarakhand-diaries-hope-floats-on-ngos-and-mountaineers/ 

Uttarakhand Diaries-Nature's Fury

After spending 22 days in Uttarkashi, on the banks of the Bhagirathi river in Uttarakhand on relief operations my observation is that while we cannot avoid nature’s fury, the destruction to human lives and property could have been avoided. It could have been avoided if there wasn’t rampant construction of dams, roads and unmindful digging and blasting of the hills. It could have been avoided if the River Regulation Zone (RRZ) would have been passed way back in 2002 and then we would not have had so many construction by the river banks. It could have been avoided if the Environment ministry had done proper cumulative Environment Impact assessments (EIAs) and not blindly given out environment clearances. Despite assessment done by the state government that 250 villages in Uttarkashi are in danger zone nothing was done to relocate them to a safer zone. All the assessments have remained on paper. Today, the situation is such that many are dead or marooned across Uttrakhand, scores of villages across the valleys including Uttarkashi are washed away or almost on the verge of being washed away when it continuously pours the next time. The devastation is unimaginable and its going to be practically impossible for the state Government to carry out rehabilitation on such a large scale.

In Uttarkashi district most roads are broken and many are cracked. One large downpour and these could further split in parts. The Borders Roads Organisation (BRO) in charge of building roads is currently filling the craters with mud to create make shift roads. These are not helping as one rain and the next minute the roads are washed away again. For many across the state this kind of devastation has never been seen before. In 2010 and 2012 floods, people did not loose their homes and lands. Though it was bad they could pull themselves back and start life afresh but this time around they have lost whatever little they had and now completely left high and dry.
Garhwal Himalayas, where the maximum devastation has happened, are unstable hills and are still in the process of growing. While trekking to the far flung villages in the Uttarkashi district we passed through several road heads such as Ganghori, Naitala, Maneri where roads are part split and part functional. A closer look at these roads I realized that its unmindful construction of roads. Further blasting them to make tunnels, dams, and other such projects has destabilized the entire mountain range. The ground has become loose over a period of time, and with the heavy downpours, the rocks an the mountains come tumbling down with a humongous amount of slush, which destroys everything in its way. Some villages such as Pilang, Jadaou have their houses in a precarious situation. The houses are in such positions that from underneath its sliding and from the top there is mountain  landslides.
The houses are almost sandwiched in between thus making it unlivable for the villagers. These villages were assessed to be in danger zone and are still awaiting resettlement forget rehabilitation. Villagers say that in 1991, when Uttarkashi, was struck by a massive earthquake, most far villages such as Syaaba, Jadao, Pilang, Loonthru, Bayana all suffered heavy damage. Even last year, a cloudburst caused massive floods in Uttarkashi district. The flood waters of the Asi Ganga river entered the village of Barsu. Sangam Chetti another area in the Uttarkashi district also saw cloudburst last year and there was widespread destruction. A dear friend who lives in Bankoli village above SangamChetti lost her house partly in the last floods and this year the destruction has been worse for her. She has lost both her house and her shop which helped them make ends meet. In another village called Siror, the villagers who had built their houses along the river banks and had also vast stretch of agricultural land have seen their houses crumbling and land getting washed away right in front of their eyes when the flash floods occurred recently. One of the houses that I visited here the river  had cut through his house and destroyed everything and also left back a huge mound of silt. The owner of the house is an old man who lives in that house with his wife and young kids. With nowhere else to go the man and his family lived in fear waiting in hope for some relief to come their way from the Government authorities. Finally when I visited him as part of TRC we handed out a tent and tarpoline along with a solar lantern and some ration so that he could relocate himself in a safer zone along with his family.
It is understood from environmentalists that cloudbursts become catastrophic in areas where where digging, blasting and tunnelling work is taking place.
Its understood from sources that in Uttarakhand 558 dams and Hydro Electric Power (HEP) projects  have been planned that will convert 1,152 km of river length into underground canals. Uttarakhand has a total installed hydro-electric power capacity of 3,426 Mw. Another 95 projects with a total capacity of 12,235 Mw are in various stages of development. Locals indicated that many of the projects around Uttarkashi town on the Bhagirathi river has been stalled for a while now. Data available with Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) CPSUs like NTPC, THDC and NHPC are developing around 25 projects with a total capacity 7,302 Mw and the private sector is working on 38 projects of 2,118 Mw capacity. Currently, as per the site 45 projects worth 3164 Mw is under operation in Uttarakhand.
The expanding population, poor land use, destruction of natural vegetaion, increasing strain of developmental projects like dams, roads, tunnels etc have bound to bring severe impact on life and property either during floods or earthquakes.

Uttarakhnd Diaries: Notes from the villages

Chandra Singh Rana, a middle aged man from Jadaou village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand has trekked 18 Kms from his village to get to the road head Mala along with his fellow villagers and from the road head they have had to walk another 35 odd Kms to get to Uttarkashi town and why? To collect relief materials such as tents, torch, water purifier and solar lanterns being provided to them by Various Organisations such as Tata Relief Committee and IN ME.

Tata Relief Committee had initially adopted around 6 villages in this region namely DIdsari- ( new and Old ) , Pillang, Jadaou, Bhayana, Shyaba and Lungthru which are completely remote and cut off from road connectivity and villagers have lost their homes. With at Total of 40 families in Jadau which  amounts to a population of approximately 200 people, the village has lost all access to any kind of connectivity. The village is in a danger zone and despite repeated attempts by the village to ask the government to relocate them nothing has happened. And today the situation is such that they have all had to leave their homes and live in a tent accommodation.

Harikrishna, the village head says, :" it has been over 15 days since the tragedy has struck but no government authorities have visited us yet". Tata Relief Committe's staff  were the first to visit us son after the disaster. They even stayed with us for one night in our village and experienced our plight themselves.."

Due to the difficulty in reaching this village to distribute the relief material, the villagers of Jadau decided they will come to Uttarkashi and collect their own relief  items. Prior to getting relief from TRC, the villagers have been visiting Uttarkashi in the hope to meet the district authorities and get some help. But to no vain.

So far the villages say the government has only set up a medical camp. But more than anything right now what we need is a roof on top of our head and food to eat, they add unanimously.

Similar is the case with villages such as Pilang, Shayaba, Loonthru to name a few. In Shyaaba, the villagers have lost their one main livelihood - agriculture land. Shyaaba. was rich in vegetables. Infact, the Uttarkashi bazaar got its vegetables from Shyaaba. It's understood from the preach and of the village that the annual income of each family was close to Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000. With the road connectivity having been lost these villagers are also facing the problem of medical aid. Those ailing have not been to come to town for their regular checkups.

This is not the first time that Jadau, Pilang, Shyaaba and the nearby villages are facing this tragedy. In 2010 and 2012 floods too the villagers faced the same issue but it wasn't this worse. After an assessment by the government administration, the villagers were told that they would be relocated. "Twice an assessment of our village was done-in 20010 and in 2012. A proposal for relocation was accepted. We have all the documents but we never relocated and today we have lost everything after this disaster," says Rana from Shyaaba. Since then the assessment has remained on paper. The has been no action taken in relocating them.

The future of these remote villages and hamlets of flood ravaged Uttarakhand seems to be still bleak. No less than 96 villages in Bhatwari block alone in Uttarkashi district are devastated by natural causes in the past and were yet to be relocated. Now the scenario is such the the current devastation has made it practically impossible and crippled the government to be able to rehabilitate such large numbers of disaster hit villages.

The situation of these villages is also extremely backward. In the current scenario, all the men here are unemployed and their first priority as of now is to save themselves and their family.

The kids education levels are extremely low as the teachers don't come full time because these villages are remote. "the kids go to school 3kms away. now that has stopped too as there are no roads and the bridge that they need to cross to get to school has  also broken", says Rana. .

In the current scenario what has also become necessary in these villages is medical aid. INME , an adventure sport company is conducting medical camps in most of these villages. Their team of mountaineers are accompanied by a doctor are examining the villagers and then administrating drugs. Some of the common ailments are skin problems such as itching, stomach problems such as aches and cramps and  diarreah and acidity. Many of them who are already suffering from some ailments have been unable to come to town for treatment at the district hospital.

As of now the villagers say we have no clue what we are in for in the days to come. As of now we are taking each day as it comes, they say.