Uttarakhand floods: Deconstructing a disaster

The Uttarakhand government’s failure to check indiscriminate construction in the ecologically sensitive upper Himalayas is to blame for the widespread devastation in the state, say environmentalists. And if things continue, there will be worse to come.

Over 505 dams, part of 244 hydroelectric projects, have been proposed or are being built on the Ganga and its tributaries — Mandakini, Bhagirathi and Alaknanda — in Uttarakhand. A further 45 are already running. The Char Dham area (the pilgrimage circuit of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri), that’s the most affected by the recent floods and landslides alone has around 70 dams.

“Uttarakhand gets high intensity rainfall and is prone to landslides. It also falls in a zone of high seismic activity. Against this backdrop, large hydroelectric projects increase the risk of disaster manifold as they involve the construction of dams, long tunnels, and roads, all of which require the blasting of hills,” Himanshu Thakkar, of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, told dna.

Activists say that 95 per cent of the dams were built after 2000, when Uttarakhand was formed. They rue that the state’s political leaders think that tourism and dams are the only way to development.

Untreated sewage flowing into the river is another problem. It pollutes the river, causing the riverbed to rise, leading to floods upstream and flash floods downstream.

Illegal mining of stones from the riverbed using excavators is rampant. On paper, excavators aren’t allowed. Only chugaan or manual picking is permitted. But government data itself says there are around 4,640 cases of illegal mining in the state and over Rs 100 crore has been collected in fines from illegal miners.

“This will continue if the central and state governments don’t stop the rush to clear projects,” noted environmentalist GD Agrawal told dna. Since 2008, this octogenarian has undertaken many fasts to draw attention to the plight of the Ganga. One such fast was instrumental in the scrapping of three major hydropower projects. Last week, Agarwal embarked on another indefinite fast in Hardwar to demand the scrapping of over 60 proposed and under construction hydropower projects.

“Teerthyatra has become tourism and has had a devastating effect on the ecology. Due to rapid deforestation, trees can no longer absorb rainfall,” says Rajinder Singh, well-known environmentalist and member of the Inter Ministerial Group on Upper Ganga basin hydropower projects. Construction on rivers in the area spells doom, said Singh. Last year, Uttarakhand banned Singh from entering the state after he protested against under-construction dams.

Singh alleges the central government is also to blame for its silence. In the last four years, the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), headed by the prime minister, has only met thrice. The last meeting was in April 2012.

The rapid increase in tourism, especially between April and November, is another cause for alarm (see box). The construction of lodges and other tourism infrastructure is completely unregulated. During this recent disaster many of these lodges and other buildings were heavily damaged or washed away.

Activists say despite the many floods, landslides and cloudbursts in recent years, nobody has learnt any lessons. “After the Uttarkashi flash floods of 2012, the local administration prepared a report that recommended the removal of illegally constructed structures on the riverbed and flood plains. But the report did not see the light of day,” Thakkar said.

Mallika Bhanot of Ganga Ahvaan, a local NGO, made the same point. “Rampant construction in the upper reaches of the Ganga is not in line with the topography of the region. There’ve been many instances in the past pointing to the dangers of such construction,” said Bhanot.