Lessons from Chamoli Disaster

The disaster at Chamoli in Uttarakhand has created ripples across the country.
Lessons from Chamoli Disaster

Mahmood Hassan

(The writer is Director, Char Areas Development, Assam.

He can be reached at mahmoodhassan61786@gmail.com)

The disaster at Chamoli in Uttarakhand has created ripples across the country. Large-scale infrastructural construction activities in the fragile Himalayan eco-system have led to this catastrophe. Destruction of environment in the name of development has resulted in loss of human lives and property. As the geographical and topographical background of the state resembles the hill states of the north-eastern region of India, it is necessary to study the impact for assessment as the Northeast region of India are planning to construct a large number of dams in the future. Environmentalists are cautioning about increased human intervention in the ecologically sensitive Himalayas is likely to bring similar natural disaster in the northeastern region as well.

Tracing to the origins of this disaster, the devastation was brought by the flash flood when a large chunk of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off at Joshimath in Chamoli district of the state triggering a huge avalanche. The snow fall into the Alaknanda river created the powerful deluge that washed away hydel projects on the way. The flooding of the interlinked Dhauliganga, Rishiganga and Alaknanda rivers caused widespread damage and destruction. This brought back the memories other the natural disasters that struck this region from time to time. One of the reasons for such flash floods was due to climate change and global warming and unabated depletion of ice cover. Himalayan glaciers are melting twice as fast since the start of the century. Thinning of the glaciers leads to fragmentation and sliding of large ice chunks into rivers causing deluge.

The hill state of Uttarakhand has been facing natural disasters from time to time. In 1991 Uttarkashi quake hit taking 768 human lives, in 1998 the Malpa landslide killed 221 people, the 1999 Chamoli earthquake took 103 lives whereas the Kedarnath flashfloods that came to be called "Himalayan Tsunamiin 2013 took a toll of 5700 lives. Despite such a great tragedy of 2013 the lessons were not learnt by the state for which another accident like the Uttarakhand tragedy took place in 2018 and now repeated at Chamoli. Heavy duty infrastructure developmental activities continue unabated in the fragile eco-system. All these natural disaster show that the land of Dev Bhoomi and a tourist destination is not secure and manmade activities have resulted in such large-scale devastation.

The fragility of the Himalayas is prone to erosion, landslides and earthquakes. The cumulative impact of project components like dams, tunnels, blasting, power house, mining, deforestation etc., has created adverse impact on the eco-system. The region falls in Seismic zone No. 5 which is the most risky earthquake zone in the country. Yet the government is moving ahead with the construction of more infrastructure projects, including rail project and the mega Char Dham Pariyojna, a mega project plans for road widening project connecting major pilgrimage centres and railway line network in the state with estimated cost of Rs 12,000 crore for the road project and Rs 43,000 crore for rail project. There is large-scale blasting and excavation for this project with scant respect to environmentalists. One can easily assess how many more disasters are likely to happen in future. The National Green tribunal has raised objection over implementation of such a mega project in a fragile eco-sensitive region.

Following the Kedarnath disaster, the Supreme Court directed the Union Environment Ministry to study and make recommendations of over issues leading to such natural disasters, including deforestation, tunneling, blasting, reservoir formation etc., in the state of Uttarakhand. The Ministry set-up committee led by Ravi Chopra, the founder and Director of the People's Science Institute, Dehradun to suggest measures so that projects can be executed with minimal environmental damage. The committee recommended for an overhaul in the system of environmental clearance procedure for any project. There are allegations that Rishiganga project was using explosives and blasting the mountains flouting all environmental norms. Similar is said about the Char Dham project. Further, they have recommended for a Strategic Environmental Assessment of other major River basins. A paper published in 2019 journal "Science Advances" states that "the Himalayan glacial melting has doubled since 2000 compared to a 25-year period before the turn of the century due to such activities.

The Alaknanda river flowing across Uttarakhand for 195 km has 14 dams already built or is under construction. Now more than 53 dams are planned in this river and other tributaries. The Rishiganga project is now totally destroyed after the disaster killing many of the workers who were on duty. The power-generated by these dams are supplied to the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The Uttarakhand government has already entered into a agreement with private parties for power generation and sale of power to neighbouring states without assessing the consequence and outcomes in the future without realizing the consequences that would befall on the state in future.

Similar dam constructions have been planned across the rivers in the north-eastern region without proper environment impact assessment. The 1500-MW Tipaimukh and 90-MW Loktak projects in Manipur have raised public protest in the state. Arunachal Pradesh is building a large number of dams which is likely to have a huge impact in Assam The 600-MW Kameng hydel project has been commissioned whereas the 2000-MW Lower Subansiri project is likely to be completed by 2022. It is estimated that the 2280-MW Dibang Multipurpose project has been cleared which involves cutting of more than 3.24 lakh trees. Several dams are now planned on the Siang river. All these construction activities' will severely damage the environment leading to seasonal natural disasters like those happening in Uttarakhand.

Large-scale felling of trees would cause deforestation where the rich flora and fauna in the downstream of the river are lost forever as it happened in case of the Three Gorges mega dam in China. Many river plants and weeds, animals and fishes or diversity would be lost forever. The beautiful landscapes of the northeast region of India attract tourists from all across the country. Conservation and preservation of the rich bio-diversity is the need of the hour. Loss of biodiversity may lead to water scarcity, fluctuating weather patterns. We can learn a great deal from neighbour Bhutan how it is conserving 71% of its forests and dams built in the country through sustainable development i.e. without the destruction of the environment.

Intergovernmental penal on climate change has already forecasted that in its report in 2019 that glaciers would retreat in upcoming years causing more landslides and floods. Rapid melting of glaciers and ice caps forms lakes at the mouth or snout of the glaciers. These lakes or reservoirs suddenly get breached due to pressures causing death and destruction in the river basins. Such disasters should serve as a valuable lesson for our policy makers who are going ahead with construction of mega dams in the region and trails of destruction that they leave in view of global warming and climate change. Sustainable development is the sole option for economic development of the region that is known for its rich bio-diversity with a fragile eco-system.

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