Declare the Himalayas an Eco-Sensitive Zone: Swadeshi Jagran Manch
New Delhi: Uncontrolled construction and linked activities that “tamper with nature” in the name of development – including the Char Dham highway project – along with inadequate sanitation, are the main reasons why the Hindu pilgrim town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand is sinking, according to the Swadeshi Jagran Manch.
The SJM, an organisation understood to be affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, said this in a resolution it passed on January 28 after a roundtable discussion on land displacement in Joshimath that experts, including environmental and social researchers, took part in.
The resolution also called on the government to declare the Himalayan mountain range, in which Joshimath is located, an eco-sensitive zone. It also requested that the state government take long-term measures to curb construction and address the sinking of Joshimath.
Round table for a sinking town
Joshimath, a hill town in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, has been witnessing land displacement or the sinking of land that is causing buildings, roads and fields to develop cracks. The situation aggravated over the last month, and more than 150 families have been relocated to safer ground. The SJM’s round table discussion on January 28 revolved around these issues that Joshimath and its people are currently living through.
Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convener of SJM, headed the roundtable, The Hindu reported. Environmentalist and director of People’s Science Institute, Ravi Chopra, and social expert Hemant Dhyani also participated in the discussion.
The SJM’s resolution noted that several reports, including the Mishra Commission report in 1976 had highlighted the need to regulate construction activities in the fragile Joshimath area. However, excessive construction still continues and along with deforestation, is aggravating the effect of disasters. This is not the first time that similar “tragedies” have occurred in the Himalaya, the SJM noted, referring to the floods in Chamoli in February 2021 that killed 200 people including workers of the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydropower project.
“There has been an evident increase in the number of such disasters in the Himalayan region in recent years. These natural calamities cannot be taken lightly,” it said.
“Uncontrolled construction work in such fragile terrain is the reason for the collapse of Joshimath and recent disasters,” it said.
Moreover, several actions such as the way the mountain was cut at the foothills of Joshimath for the construction of Char Dham highway project, and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) digging a tunnel in “the middle of the mountain for its hydro project” (the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydro project) without a proper hydrogeological study, have destroyed this “fragile mountain”, the resolution said. It also noted that due to unplanned construction of high-rise hotels and buildings, sanitation had taken a beating, making Joshimath more “unstable and burdened”.
Tampering with nature
“In the name of development, construction work and tampering with nature is going on continuously all over Uttarakhand,” the SJM resolution noted. “Due to the massive deforestation, there is hardly any greenery left on the mountains; and due to this, landslides have become a common feature in these youngest fold mountains. In view of this type of rapid destruction in the past, it has become necessary to consider that the so-called development driven by human greed cannot be allowed to continue.”
However, it also noted that governments of different parties had been in power at the Union and state and therefore no one political party could be blamed for such disasters.
The crisis can be avoided only by curbing “indiscriminate construction” and a legislation was the need of the hour to enable this, the resolution said. The state government should also take up suitable long-term measures to address this, it read.
The resolution also demanded that the road widening as part of the Char Dham project must be regulated, with the road width being set to “intermediate standard to minimise the damage to the terrain”.
It also noted that the Char Dham rail line was “an over ambitious project that will cause much devastation and will further overburden the tourist centric state of Uttarakhand”.
“This project should be reassessed and re-looked at,” it said. “A detailed carrying capacity assessment of [the] state of Uttarakhand should be done to ensure the number of tourists to these places is accounted for and doesn’t cause environmental over burdening.”
Of the 125-km long Char Dham railway line connecting Rishikesh and Karnprayag on the Char Dham pilgrimage route, 105 km will be through tunnels. Experts fear that the blasting for the tunnels could weaken existing rock formations and cause more landslides in the already fragile landscape.
The impacts of ongoing global warming that is melting on glaciers across the world as well as in the Himalaya, means that such measures would be required for not just the people in the Himalaya, but also people living in the Ganga basin downstream.
“It has to be understood that [the] present generation and the government has the responsibility of not only the protection of the Himalayan region, but also the future of all the people living on this land, who are dependent on the rivers coming out of this region,” the resolution noted. “The present governments, both at centre and the state, will have to demonstrate utmost sensitivity, otherwise the future generations will never forgive us.”
This article went live on January twenty-ninth, two thousand twenty three, at thirty-one minutes past six in the evening.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
