Indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources in the Himalayan regions is now paying the price

First the calamities of Uttarakhand and now Himachal Pradesh have raised many questions on life in the hills. Will mountain life become impossible or will we have to learn a new way of life to live safely and carefree on fragile mountains? The destruction of life and property due to heavy rains and landslides in these mountains is worrying. This is not the first time that such devastation has happened in the mountains. Even before this, such devastation has been taking place in the hilly states of the country. In these, not only a large number of people are losing their lives, but private and government properties are also getting damaged. In such a situation, the question arises that what lessons have we learned to take steps towards minimizing the devastation caused by frequent disasters?

Is it appropriate to shape development plans, roads, building construction, tunnels, industrial undertakings, tourism etc. on the mountains like normal land i.e. plain areas. It is necessary to investigate the reasons for the increasing incidents of landslides. Hydro power projects on the mountains are a major reason for frequent landslides. During the project, blasting is done to make the tunnel. The use of heavy machinery causes strong vibrations on the mountains. The ecosystem of Himachal Pradesh is still very sensitive. Due to continuous cutting of trees in these states and the age of existing mountains also decreases, the possibility of landslides increases. Apart from this, climate change can also be considered as a reason for the increasing cases of landslides. In February last year, NASA released a report. According to this, climate change can increase landslides in the Himalayan glacier lake areas from June to September. Also, it may have to face the disaster of flood. But why didn’t we learn from such predictions?

Today Himalaya has become the Himalaya of worries. Over the decades, there has been indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources in the name of development, especially in the states of the Himalayan region. Not only this, by playing with nature, such a construction is being erected against the rules, which has brought destruction with floods and landslides. The question is also that what should be the scale of development in hill states? If construction activities are necessary somewhere in the name of development, it should be capable of withstanding disasters along with planning. It is generally seen that in the name of promoting tourism in these states, such huge buildings were erected which not only proved incapable of withstanding floods and landslides, but were also harmful to the environment. In such a construction, the expectation of vigilance at the government level was ignored.

We have handed over the mountains to marketism, the kind of infrastructure from the past area to the residential area, hotels etc. have been constructed indiscriminately and have dug the mountains on one side and on the other side by making concrete construction work on them. The burden has increased, due to which the appearance of these beautiful places created by nature is changing. Recently, we had seen the condition of Joshimath, the base city of Badrinath pilgrimage, how this city has started to crack. Before that, I had also seen the destruction that took place in Shri Kedarnath Dham. All this is the result of increasing the burden on the mountains and the result of cutting and digging the mountains in an unaccountable way. If landslides happen at ten places on Kalka-Shimla highway till Solan, then we have to think where the mistake has happened. If houses start collapsing on the hills of Shimla city itself, then we have to think what are the rules for construction of buildings in such places?

The incidents in Shimla have caused more concern. Being the capital and more active, populous and tourist city, the scenes seen in Shimla were more scary, worrying and full of terror. On August 15, several houses collapsed due to a landslide in Krishna Nagar area of ​​Shimla. Neighbors could not stop their screams after seeing the houses of the people living near them collapsing for decades, after the landslide, the whole country has witnessed an outcry. But when the ground subsides and everything is destroyed before your eyes, that helplessness questions government schemes, development processes and callous thinking. Landslide took place after cloudburst in Summer Hill area of ​​Shimla itself. The Shiva temple of the area also came under the grip, where the crowd was more due to it being a Monday of Sawan. The ground sank so fast that no one got a chance to do anything. On August 14 itself, another landslide occurred at Fagli in Shimla. Five people died here. There is news of death of 7 people in Solan district also.

The manner in which the heavy rains have played a game of destruction, question marks are being put on the various activities being done for the development of the hilly areas and geologists are also giving warnings that the scale of development for the hilly areas should not be the same. Which can happen in the plains. According to the Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, according to the assessment so far, 10 thousand crore rupees and huge loss of life and property has been caused by the natural calamity. These painful and tragic incidents are the result of ignoring the harmony with nature. This is the reason, the people of both the hill states have to be prepared to avoid the rush of indiscriminate development in future. Nature is giving us the same signal and message with disasters that a lot needs to be done at different levels and continuously. It is the responsibility of the government and the people there to maintain the dignity, restraint, simplicity and purity of the delicate hill life. Everyone wants to achieve happiness and prosperity in life but there is a need to control the indiscriminate construction activities. There should be balanced development without disturbing the natural nature of the mountains.

According to environmental experts and experts, mountains are being cut from above to widen the roads of Himachal Pradesh. For this reason, the incidents of landslides are continuously increasing. Human and tourism activities are continuously increasing in hilly areas. Because of this the balance of the mountains is continuously deteriorating. In the rainy season or after the rains, the foundation of the mountains becomes weak. Because of this, mountains start falling apart. Deforestation is also a major reason for landslides. Actually the roots of the trees make a firm grip on the soil. Along with this, she also binds the stones of the mountains. This grip is loosened by cutting trees. For this reason, when it rains, big stones start falling from the mountain. This is also the reason for the accidents happening in Shimla.

Man’s greed and insensitivity has also increased to the extent of tragedy in the mountains, which has become a major cause of imbalance and destruction of mountain life with its wildlife, birds, nature and environment. India will have to prepare a development policy for its mountains. Only geologists can have a major role in this work. When Chief Minister of Himachal Sukhu is himself admitting that he himself has invited this trouble by making indiscriminate constructions on the mountains in a completely unscientific way and by cutting the mountains indiscriminately in the name of widening the roads, then the whole country should think about it. What can be the result of exploiting nature without knowing it?

-Lalit Garg

(The author is a senior journalist and columnist)