Environment-development conundrum in the Himalayas

In the past decade, the intensity of disasters has increased rapidly, leaving a trail of death and destruction in the Himalayas.

Every year, the monsoon usually arrives in Uttarakhand by the end of June. But in 2013, the Kedarnath deluge struck on June 16 and 17 when there was no prediction of the monsoon advancing a fortnight early. On February 7, 2021 when there was no rain in the entire country, the Rishiganga floods ravaged parts of Chamoli district. And now, a new deluge has walloped the Teesta basin in Sikkim in early October when the monsoon had almost withdrawn from the north. In all three cases, it was either a cloudburst or a glacial lake outburst that caused the flooding and damage to life and property.  Climate change is said to be the main culprit in these natural disasters.

Climate is changing and temperatures rising globally. India has not escaped these vagaries of nature. In the past decade, the intensity of these disasters has increased rapidly, leaving a trail of death and destruction in the Himalayas.

Several parts of the world have experienced catastrophic weather.  In Libya, thousands of people were killed after storm Daniel swept the eastern city of Derna in September destroying two dams and causing unprecedented floods. Floods have ravaged parts of the US and European nations in the past few years.

Demand For Infrastructure

Despite all these disasters, people and governments want development without assessing the ramifications. Uttarakhand wants trains in both Garhwal and Kumaon hills. The state government has been lobbying to restart all hydropower projects that were suspended after the Kedarnath deluge.  The contentious Chardham all-weather highway road project is in the final stages of implementation. Roads and bridges are being built rampantly. Trees are being felled in lakhs. But a question remains unanswered: Is there any balance between the environment and development? Achieving a balance between the environment and development has remained a tricky question, especially in the highly fragile Himalayan belt.

In the case of Sikkim, a glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF) caused the calamitous inundation in the Teesta basin. A GLOF happens when large lakes formed from the melting glaciers suddenly break free of their dams formed from moraine debris and other rocks. A Central Water Commission (CWC) had warned the Sikkim government that hydropower projects are highly vulnerable to such GLOF-type disasters. On October 4, the outburst occurred in Lhonak lake which took the shape of a deluge in the Teesta river, causing enormous damage to a series of hydropower projects downstream and heavy loss of life and property in Sikkim.

The Centre has said that it will assess the extent of the damage caused by the floods. It has asked NHPC to restart power generation from all those hydropower projects that were damaged or shut down due to the accumulation of heavy silt. Beyond that, the Centre has not given any assurance to take a relook into the construction of hydropower projects in the earthquake-prone Himalayan belt. Some Indian and Dutch scientists have raised concerns of a devastating earthquake with a magnitude measuring more than 7-8 on the Richter scale occurring in the near future. Afghanistan experienced a deadly earthquake on October 7 that left over 2,000 people dead. In recent days, the entire Himalayan belt has been shaken repeatedly.

Disaster-prone Region

Be it earthquakes or other forms of natural disasters like floods and landslides, the Himalayan region is under tremendous stress and that’s adversely affecting the people residing in those areas. While tremors have not caused any major damage in Uttarakhand since the 1999 Chamoli earthquake, landslides and floods are causing heavy casualties in the hill state.

After the suspension of the NTPC’s 520 MW Tapovan Vishnugaad hydel project following the land subsidence in Joshimath in early January, eight technical institutions were asked to find the causes and submit their reports. None of these reports, made public recently, touched on the issue of the Tapovan Vishnugaad which was at the centre of controversy after the land subsidence was noticed in Joshimath. The Tapovan Vishnugaad project site is eight km away from Joshimath. NTPC had repeatedly stated that the underground head race tunnel of the project which is at least one km away from the sinking town’s boundary is not responsible for the land subsidence.

After the 2013 Kedarnath catastrophic floods, the Supreme Court suspended 24 hydel projects in the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda valleys. But since then, the Centre has not given permission to more projects in these areas. Even projects being constructed in Pithoragarh district which is some distance away are struck for want of environmental and other permissions from the Centre.

Is there a way to balance development needs and environmental concerns? While there are no simple and straightforward answers, there is a need for a multi-disciplinary expert committee to review all projects before the implementation stage. The attempt should be to minimise damage to life and property.

Shishir Prashant is a senior journalist based in Dehradun. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.