Himachal tragedy – uttamhindu.com

Regarding the tragedy that the people of Himachal had to face due to heavy rains during the monsoon last year, the State Disaster Management Authority has said in its report that the risk of disaster has increased due to increase in infrastructure and road network due to tourism activities in the state. Necessary guidelines are not being followed in construction. This affected the sensitivity of Himachal. The report has suggested the government to strictly enforce the rules of town and country planning and create boundaries along the banks of rivers. It has been suggested to improve the weather system and adopt the Karnataka model so that weather forecasts can reach the gram panchayats. The rain data has been studied in depth in the report. It has been clarified that nature had warned in April itself about the horrors that happened in July-August, but no one could understand this signal. Mentioning some places in the report and comparing the rainfall in April-May in the span of 8 years, it has been said that in this interval itself the rainfall had broken many previous records, which caused major devastation in the peak of monsoon season, July-August. She brought it.

The report also mentions the reasons due to which heavy rains wreaked havoc. • When the boundaries of the rivers were not fixed, people started living around them. Due to lack of boundaries of rivers, more water rained than the capacity and the flow engulfed the surrounding area. • Illegal construction took place in cities due to rules not being strictly enforced. People did not build houses as per safety. The construction is not being monitored at the government level. There is special mention of Shimla in the report, where due to high pressure, severe water shortage situation started in summer. • There was lack of weather early warning system. The incidents of cloud bursts have increased in recent years. 27 such incidents occurred in the monsoon season. There were 83 incidents of flood.

To avoid this havoc in future, the suggestions given by the authority are as follows – Karnataka model should be adopted for disaster forecasting information. There are 31 weather stations in the state. These should be taken up to the Gram Panchayat level. • The limits of rivers should be notified so that residence cannot be done within that limit. There should be mapping of rivers. Boundaries should be made along the banks of rivers. • It has been recommended to make a land slide mitigation program in the state. Geological survey can be done under this. Early warning system can be made under this program. • Research center can be built. Research and studies also continued. • Technical, legal and environmental experts can be included by forming an authority regarding disaster management.

The state suffered a total loss of Rs 23,81,91 crore due to heavy rains. To recover this, Rs 2353.65 crore is required. There is a loss of Rs 369.39 crore in the education sector and the same amount of money is required for recovery. There has been a loss of Rs 183.64 crore in the health sector. There was a loss of Rs 1432.80 crore on roads. An equal amount of money has been said to be required for compensation. Horticulture also suffered a loss of Rs 289.20 crore. This much money is needed for recovery. There has been a loss of Rs 53.40 crore in the animal husbandry sector.

It is clear from the above facts that tampering with nature in the name of development has a heavy toll. Tourism is a main industry in Himachal and there is still a huge scope for development in it, but in view of the tragedy that happened last year and the report of the State Disaster Management Authority, the Himachal government will have to make a balanced and permanent policy regarding tourism so that in future the people of the state can enjoy it. Don’t have to face such a tragedy. The people of Himachal will also have to take special care that illegal construction does not take place in the state. One of the main reasons for the previous tragedy is illegal construction. Only if society and government work together will future tragedies be avoided.