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.