Rampant construction, including several hydropower projects, in the sensitive western Himalayan terrain will disturb the ecological balance of the fragile highlands, environmentalist Ravi Chopra, former chairman of the high-powered committee appointed by the Supreme Court, said on Sunday.
There were six hydropower projects within the 50km length of the Dhauliganga river alone, Chopra pointed out. The same area saw devastating floods in 2021 when an ice avalanche caused the Dhauliganga and Rishiganga rivers to overflow their banks, which left over 200 killed or missing. Most of them were workers at the Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project being built by NTPC, a state-owned utility, on the Dhauliganga river.
“And now, Joshimath land subsidence has also taken place, but the government is shying away from accepting the real reason behind these natural disasters,” Chopra said at the Matri Sadan ashram in Haridwar during the inauguration of a three-day national convention on environment that will focus on protecting the Himalayas and the headwaters of the Ganga river.
The convention was attended by environmentalists, Hindu ascetics, politicians, Ganga activists and academicians. Most speakers stressed the need of the government and people being more sensitive towards the conservation of the environment. Experts from varied fields expressed concern over pollution in the Ganga and the dangers to the local ecology in the name of development in the fragile Himalayan valleys.
In the aftermath of the Chamoli tragedy in 2021, Chopra had written to the Supreme Court, saying that after the 2013 Kedarnath floods, an expert body had recommended in 2014 that hydropower projects should not be built in disaster-prone Himalayan valleys. But those recommendations were not adopted, Chopra said.
“Vulnerability and disaster proneness of this region is bound to increase with extensive disturbances like deforestation, slope cutting, blasting, tunneling, damming of rivers, excessive tourism, etc. The cumulative impact of such activities on the nearby glaciers cannot be ignored,” Chopra had said in his letter to the top court.
The authorities are solely to blame for the land subsidence crisis in Chamoli district’s Joshimath town that left hundreds homeless, according to Atul Sati, convener of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a civil society collective.
“During the statehood movement, local people had thought development of Joshimath will be focused on local agricultural produce also. But government’s objective has been to gain more profit and benefits from natural resources, which has led Joshimath crisis,” Sati said. “Now the government has again failed in redressing the issues being faced by the affected people and coming up with a proper rehabilitation plan.”
On November 17 last year when the first cracks were reported in Joshimath, local residents had alerted the authorities but the state government ignored the issue, Sati said. “And now, they have woken up when it is too late,” he added.
It is high time that public awareness is generated on the severe impact on local ecology of the high Himalayas due to development and anthropogenic activities, said Swami Shivanand Saraswati, spiritual guru and founder of Matri Sadan.
“The Joshimath disaster is a human crime, which has almost led to omitting the ancient town from the geographical map. Respective governments are to be blamed for ignoring the suggestions and reports by scientists and environmentalists,” Saraswati said. “The government is still going ahead with large-scale construction activities in the Joshimath region.”
The Hindu ascetic demanded all ongoing hydropower projects in the state be abandoned if the state and the central governments are serious about saving the “land of the gods”.
“In name of development, nature is being ruined, which has led to a rise in natural disasters, whether it is landslides, land subsidence, cloud bursts or floods,” he said. “We have to save Uttarakhand by listening to those who matter, like scientists and environmentalists, and not those who just want to make profits from natural resources.”
Former chief minister Harish Rawat of the Congress party questioned the delay by the state government in recognising the dangers of land subsidence in Joshimath.