Development at a cost in U'khand

The devastating fury unleashed in the form of heavy rains, cloudburst, land slides and flash floods in Uttarakhand have taken a heavy toll on human lives and property. Thousands have been devastated and many structures have been swept away.

Though official figures of people who died in the tragedy has been put around 3,000, the actual number may be much higher. The unprecedented tragedy has forced us to re-examine how the fragile ecology of the Himalayas has been exploited in the name of development. It is easy to pass the buck to nature but it is obvious that greed, corruption and politician-bureaucrat-builders nexus have contributed to the tragedy in a big way. The ghastly calamity was brought about because we have abused nature by indiscriminately felling trees, launching large scale construction activities, all in the name of development. But we forget that this development comes at a horrendous cost, as the devastation in Uttarakhand has shown.

The catastrophe shows how unplanned development creates unprecedented havoc. The insatiable greed for monetary gains, pressure on land due to increasing population, unplanned and haphazard constructions near the river banks and hills, widespread deforestation have disturbed patterns of weather. Besides, blasting hills to accommodate hydel projects, unscientific methods of building roads and illegal construction contributed to the enormity of the tragedy.

Lack of measures

All ecological and sustainable parameters have been breached incessantly over time. The disaster was compounded by hotels, shops and housing colonies raised near the river banks. Add to that the annual tourist figure of a whopping 3 crore. No registration of the tourists was done. Even the flow of pilgrims to these places was not regulated. The disaster management also failed to come up with pre-emptive measures to tackle such situations. Despite the fact that the weather is unpredictable in such areas and roads become the first victim of the inclement weather, no alternative modes like ropeways were provided here. It goes without saying that climate change and the way the country is dealing with natural resources and ecology are increasing disasters. Experts say that the unbridled approach to exploitation of mountain resources has contributed to the Uttarakhand disaster. “There is a connection between deforestation constructions and the property of soil to retain water.

Dams and other constructions reduce the absorbing capacity of soil,” says Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi.  In August 2012, Uttarkashi saw a similar tragedy that left 29 dead and many more missing. The Uttarakhand State Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre report of this disaster said that was highly important to strictly regulate development initiatives in close vicinity of streams and rivers.

Amid all this, political parties and their leaders, instead of sincerely joining relief and rescue efforts, have been busy making political capital of the devastating tragedy. As is will known, politicians are quick to try and draw political mileage from tragedies. Shinde observed that the work of rescue teams gets disturbed if VIPS visit. The aerial surveys conducted by them also seem a sheer waste of time and public money.

It is cheap gimmickry when the CM of a state makes inflated claims about rescuing his ‘own people” and when senior party leaders flag off trucks carrying  relief and aid. It is clear that with 2014 drawing closer, ministerial aspirants are now to trying to cash in on Uttarakhand tragedy to reap rich dividends. In stark contrast, when Japan was struck by a massive earthquake and nuclear catastrophe two years ago, its leaders apologised to the victims and promised to initiate some changes.

Political leaders should learn a lesson or two from our armed forces and voluntary organisations providing yeoman service to the victims of the tragedy. The entire nation should feel proud of our armed forces and their sacrifices. Soldiers, not politicians, are the heroes may be a paraphrase of what Union Minister P.
Chidambaram said on the rescue in Uttarakhand.

The Himalayan Tsunami has exposed the bankruptcy of our development and disaster management policies. It is time to commit ourselves to a sustainable eco friendly and integrated and developmental model we have to learn from this tragedy so that such calamities don’t wreck havoc on thousands of innocent lives once again.