Environment becomes poll mantra

KULLU: Last August when the entire Ghanvi village was destroyed in a cloudburst killing more than 53 persons and wiping out about a dozen houses, it sent shock waves across the state. Environmental degradation became a serious topic of discussion in official and academic circles.

The issue was not discussed in isolation. The Rs 2500-crore ski village project proposed to be set up close to Manali, a popular tourist resort, and number of hydel power projects that have come up lately in the sensitive region of Kinnaur also came into focus.

Large scale landslides in upper reaches of the state, where wide network of roads has come up lately, has been yet another cause of worry in the state.

And cashing in on people’s concern almost all parties have made protection of environment as an election issue this time. Besides the clichéd issues related to development and corruption, political parties are promising to work on the environment if voted to power.

While the BJP has promised to check environmental degradation which has resulted in drinking water crisis in many parts of the state, besides causing melting of glaciers and pollution of rivers like Sutlej and Beas, the Congress, in its manifesto, touched on the need to protect the forests and strike a balance between development work and destruction of natural habitats.

As a large chunk of the state fall in highly sensitive seismic zone and have been experiencing natural calamities like cloudbursts and landslides causing massive loss to life and property, political leaders have been stressing on the need to save the nature in Himachal Pradesh which at one stage had 80 per cent forest cover.

The newly-constituted Himalayan Abhiyan Samiti last month took out a “rath yatra” from Kullu, where the proposed ski village is set to come up after destroying forest cover on more than 250 acres, to Shimla. Kulbhushan Abhimanyu, convener of the samiti, said the yatra was aimed at awakening  people and politicians alike to the grave threat to environment. 

He said the entire Ghanvi village, which was struck by the cloudburst, has decided to boycott the election to demonstrate its resentment against the apathy of political leaders to safeguard nature.

He regretted that in the election campaign no political leaders visited the calamity-struck village to reassure the villagers their help in future. He, however, expressed satisfaction that the political parties had woken up to the urgency of protecting environment in the hill state.