When will we stop Himalayan blunders?

We had suggested to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have a regulatory control on the so-called infrastructure development so as to check the recurring Himalayan disasters. The PMO referred the issue to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) which closed the matter saying there was no specific grievance though we raised concerns over a series of hill disasters

Remember Prince, the 6-year-old boy who was rescued from a borewell in which he fell into a 60-feet borewell? The incident happened at Haldheri village in Haryana in July 2006. The national media has covered the 50-hour long rescue operation by the Army with almost minute-by-minute updates.

Despite this and many more similar accidents that claimed many lives, the issue of uncovered borewells continues to daunt the nation as the authorities turning a Nelson Eye. Cut to November 12, 2023. A tunnel under construction at Sylkyara-Barkot in Uttarakhand collapsed trapping 41 workers. On day 10, at the time writing this piece, there was a glimmer of hope that the workers could be saved. It will obviously be a huge relief to all – their families, the NHAI and of course the nation as a whole – when the workers come out, hale and hearty.

One shudders with the very thought of the trapped workers’ condition with little food, water, light and total suffocation. What about toilets? Where would they answer their nature’s call and how would they clean themselves?

Roads and highways minister Nitin Gadkari says the tunnel has open space for the workers to move around. But that’s not the only issue. What about the escape tunnel which is mandatory as experts say?

Leave that part aside. The tunnel and the entire Chardham Highway project raise many questions. Why is it being implemented in such a mighty hurry despite several safety and environmental concerns? We talk of sustainable development on global forums but when it comes to implementation we do not care for the much-talked about fragile ecology.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the construction of 4.531 km long 2-Lane Bi-Directional Silkyara Bend - Barkot Tunnel with escape passage including approaches on Dharasu -Yamunotri section between Chainage 25.4 Km. and Chainage 51 Km in Uttarakhand.

Did the committee take into consideration any environmental impact assessment studies while giving the approval for the Rs. 1119.69 crore project? The government’s argument is that the construction of this tunnel will provide all weather connectivity to Yamunotri, one of the four dhams on Chardham Yatra, encouraging regional socio-economic development, trade and tourism within the country. It will reduce the travel distance from Dharasu to Yamunotri by about 20 km and travel time by about an hour.

The proposed tunnel will save a number of trees that would have been required to be removed in the road improvement of 25.6 km, had the original alignment been followed.

All these sound fine on paper or as a PR exercise. But none takes into consideration the ecologically fragile nature of the hilly terrain. The rescue teams are scared of drilling at Sylkyara due to the loose soil and falling debris. Has this aspect not been considered when the project proponents conducted soil testing? Was any such test done beforehand?

Now, we have another revelation that we do not have any hill development regulatory authority. We had suggested to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have a regulatory control on the so-called infrastructure development so as to check the recurring Himalayan disasters. The PMO referred the issue to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) which closed the matter saying there was no specific grievance though we raised concerns over a series of hill disasters.

Then we filed an application via the RTI route seeking information on the hill development regulatory mechanism. “No information regarding any regulation titled ‘Hill Areas Development Regulations’ or any authority named ‘Hill Areas Development Regulation Authority’ is available with this CPIO”, said the email response from Dr. Susan George K, Scientist ‘E’ from the Mountain Division of the MOEFCC.

This is a typical response given by the authorities to RTI queries when they have no information and this shows clearly there is no regulatory body to govern the hill development. Our primary concern is that there is no check and control on the mindless development of the so-called infrastructure in the hills which is nothing but an invitation to disaster which has been proved time and again from Kerala to the Himalayas and Maharashtra to the North-East.

Adding to this crisis is the massive quarrying that has been allowed legally and ignored illegally around Mumbai and in many places across the country. Different departments such as forest or the environment come into the picture but there is no authority with proper rules and regulations to govern the development of the hills, he said.

The Various Hill development Councils appear to be more political than regulatory bodies. Fellow environmentalist Nandakumar Pawar of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan rightly contends that the hills are public properties and they should not be touched under the guise of development or any other pretext.

Basic infrastructure for the people such as tribals and Adivasis settled in the hills may be fine but not the kind of highway, tunnel and dams development which is absolutely criminal, Pawar said.

The governments, centre in particular, appear to have developed a thick-skin attitude when it comes to taking the local people into confidence before taking up any development in the ecologically sensitive areas, he regrets. These are the issues that the mainline media and particularly the electronic media ought to be discussing day in and day out. It is in this context that I began this column discussing the Prince story. One was very happy in July 2006 that the entire media took up the issue very passionately. Yes, the year 2006 was before 2014 after which everything seems to have changed. Critical issues are no more critically examined, particularly the topics that can embarrass the BJP governments either at the Centre or the States.

The Sylkyara case is one such case as the coverage would lead to several uncomfortable questions. We do not care for the hills, the seas and the forests and we speak about conserving the environment. Cities such as Mumbai do not have the mandatory green coverage. To top it, the city is increasingly being constructed into the Arabian Sea at a time when the world is grappling with the rising sea levels. Instead of worrying about disaster management, we are inviting disasters.

We shall keep raising questions till we get answers and till the environment is made an election issue.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)