Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: At what point will we wake up to the Himalayan disasters?

Pilgrimage, incidentally, particularly to Char Dhams, that includes the origin of or banks of holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Alaknanda and Mandakini, is traditionally connected with walking and hardships

The frequency, intensity and spread of the Himalayan disasters are increasing. As the nation awaits the rescue of 41 people trapped in the Uttarkashi Tunnel on Gangotri-Yamunotri Char Dham Highway Project, we cannot miss that we have faced numerous such disasters in the last decade since the June 2013 Uttarakhand flood disaster.

The series of such disasters include the Kashmir floods in 2014, the Chamoli disaster in February 2021, Joshimath sinking earlier this year, the Himachal Floods in monsoon 2023, the Sikkim glacial lake outburst flood and Lower Subansiri hydel project (HEP) landslide in October 2023 and the Parbati HEP disaster in November 2023. In each of them, man-made causes have played the role of force multiplier.

But such disasters are not limited to the Himalayas. The Sardar Sarovar floods in September 2023, the Medigadda dam sinking in October 2023, the Kaddam dam overflow earlier this monsoon, the Kerala floods in August 2018 and August 2019 are some other such disasters where man-made causes played a role, the list can be much longer.

No Assessment, Learnings, Accountability

Some things are common among all these disasters. Firstly, we have failed to do any credible pre-project or pre-disaster studies or assessments and have failed to take possible disaster avoiding or minimising steps in each of these events. We have also failed to have any independent assessments of any of these disasters.

In the absence of such assessments, we also fail to learn any lessons from these disasters. In fact, we have no institutional governance in place to enable us to learn lessons from these disasters, the independent review reports mentioned above are possibly the first missing step in achieving that goal.

Lastly, no one ever is held accountable. In fact, our governance seems to almost completely avoid accountability. Accountability is not only individual or institutional, but it can also help correct the governance to avoid or minimise such disasters in future. Our governance also seems to see environment concerns, due diligence, safety measures, conflict of interest and independent scrutiny as avoidable hindrances.

A Disaster Foretold

In the case of the Char Dham Highway project, even environmental impact assessment was avoided by breaking the 900-kilometre long highway into some 53 smaller projects. In case of the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel, it is not even clear if the geological alignment assessments included the existence of the Main Central Thrust close to the tunnel site, with seismic and shear zone implications.

It is also not clear whether credible precautionary steps were taken post-falling of debris that started before the landslide on November 12 in the early morning hours. Why was the escape tunnel, which is mandatory and was part of the design, never built?

Why did no credible rescue plan exist and the authorities seem to be meandering from one knee-jerk option to another? Why did the company developing the tunnel and the one constructing it have for long no clue as to how many workers were trapped and if any had died inside the debris?

Whither Prudent Governance?

These are straightforward questions and issues that are implied by the need for prudent governance and decision making, leaving aside the broader questions of a development model for the mountains. If we cannot find ways to answer the former, what is the hope for the broader questions?

Unfortunately, it shows the failure of our judiciary too, considering that the Char Dham Project related petition has been extensively heard by the apex court, but showing no impact on the project. Even the Himachal Pradesh High Court has repeatedly held the National Highways Authority of India responsible for dumping muck into the rivers which has many and multiple impacts, and is completely illegal, but that practice has still not stopped.

On a related note, pilgrimage, incidentally, particularly to Char Dhams, that includes the origin of or banks of holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Alaknanda and Mandakini, is traditionally connected with walking and hardships. One expected the religion to raise this issue when the Char Dham Project was announced. Unfortunately, religion has rarely, if ever stood up for the cause of even the holiest of Rivers, Ganga. It seems the narrow minded quest for GDP growth has silenced even them.

Himanshu Thakkar is coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) ht.sandrp@gmail.com https://sandrp.in/  Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.