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Divine Disaster-I: ‘Char Dham Project an Ecological Mess for Uttarakhand’
Dr Shiwani Pandey, a researcher and scholar on environmental politics, says the establishment has learned no lessons from the sinking of Joshimath. Her views:
In January last year when sinking of Joshimath appeared on the media, we as Himalayan environmentalists were all shocked by this Uttarakhand calamity which had been caused by religious tourism and unbridled, unchecked commercial construction of real estate, hotels, etc in the region. Several reports were written by experts, the entire issue was documented painstakingly. The media highlighted the issue in January 2023 but the residents had been protesting over the cracks since 2022. In fact, they had opposed the hydro power project ever since its was launched in 2004.
However, it took us great effort to make these authoritative reports public. The government tried its best to skirt the issue with fake explanations, and suppress the reports. The destruction is widespread and all-round. The railway project underway will further add to the serious ecological crisis. The hill state is sitting on a minefield.
Consider the fact that the small hill state of Uttarakhand supplies water to the cities in the entire northern plains. Yet, the people of this state, especially those in far-flung rural areas in the mountains, have been suffering with acute scarcity of water. People have to trek long distances in many places in search of water. Now, compare this to the current situation: in just about ten days of rain, look at the flooding, the landslides and the destruction around the hill districts.
It is not difficult to search for the reasons behind this disaster. The government is encouraging commercial and religious tourism, ignoring blocked roads, heavy traffic, multiple-jams which continue for days, with thousands stranded on small, mountain roads.
The policy-makers in the state and central government are obsessed with the Char Dham project, a pet venture of the prime minister. Thousands of trees have been cut, leading to widespread destruction of precious forests. The tunnel crisis near Uttarkashi in which miners were trapped was part of this project.
Mind you, these dhams in the hills cannot be compared with the Tirupati dham where lakhs may visit routinely. These four religious venues are precariously situated at high altitude in a hill state where the Himalayas are fragile and vulnerable to mindless human or mechanical onslaught. Yet, the government is obsessed with the project.
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Clearly, they want to showcase Char Dham as the pinnacle of religious tourism. This is a misnomer, because, before this project, the whole country knew about Char Dham, and this yatra was always important for Hindu worshippers. But now, helicopters are flying to the religious sites at high altitude from early morning, till late night. How is this going to help?
Take for example, Badrinath where a reckless establishment is trying to make a replica of Ayodhya, with a grotesque concrete jungle in the lap of a pristine Himalaya! If we had learnt from the experience of Joshimath, we would have preferred to make more sustainable and eco-sensitive development models that would protect our forests and rivers. Nothing of that sort is happening.
The Char Dham project comprises a 900 km long, undulating distance in the mountains from Rishikesh till Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. There are 52 projects contained within this huge project. Ideally, they should have done an environmental assessment of this ecologically vulnerable region. They chose to bypass all that. Lakhs of trees have cut brutally due to the project. They have dynamited and ravaged the hills. Dumping of concrete has added to the crisis.
The summer heat is now intense and scorching in the hills, similar to the concrete city of Delhi. This has led to a major crisis, including death of the tourists. Rishikesh is in the plains. With the building of the roads up in the hills, the tourists can reach the high altitude religious sites much faster than before. If they are using helicopters, they can reach much faster but without acclimatization. Kedarnath is situated at 10,000 ft, or more. The body temperature at Rishikesh is distinctly different then Kedarnath. Result of Heli lift: at least 100 people have died of heart attack this season.
Indeed, a serious tragedy is unfolding behind this fancy project of Char Dham Yatra Project. And this project has spelled nothing but brutal destruction of Himalayan ecology and its organic habitat.
(This is the first section of a two-part series on the Himalayan disaster in the making. To be continued…)
As told to Amit Sengupta
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This piece highly reflects the environmental damage happening due to the so called “char dham project”,which they initiated from an religious agenda to win elections,but sadly their so called agenda,and political mobilization on religious lines is not working at all.Now,the people have realised and taking action.But around all this we can’t ignore this whole scenario that,this is causing so much ecological damage, creating water crisis,and still they are ignoring all the warnings,which at the end could affect the people living there.So this project should be needed to be stopped and expelled as soon as possible.
In my view, the Char Dham Project was started mainly for religious and political reasons, but it’s now causing serious damage to the environment. The government’s goal was to gain support from religious groups, but it’s clear that this approach isn’t solving the real issues. People are waking up to the problems caused by this project. It’s harming the environment and leading to water shortages, which are crucial for the people living there. Despite warnings from experts, the government continues to ignore these issues. I strongly believe we should stop and cancel the Char Dham Project immediately. It’s clear that continuing with it will only make things worse for both the environment and the local communities.
Indeed, the Char Dham project is causing severe environmental damage in the name of development. The rapid development of infrastructure in such a delicate ecosystem as the Himalayas is concerning. This has the potential to disrupt ecological balances and increase the risk of natural disasters like landslides and floods. The project has also raised questions about it’s impact on local communities. It is crucial to involve local communities in the planning and implementation stages of the project. Their knowledge of the local environment and their livelihoods can be invaluable in finding sustainable solutions. The Char Dham project highlights the need for responsible decision-making to protect the environment and ensure the safety of people in the region.
Only on the name of relgion, the politics disturb the nature. Not only uttrakhand there are many examples where they did nefarious activities, live example ayodhya(Ram mandir). Here, their so called project “char dham project” which aim to improving the connectivity, comfortable journey for the million of pilgrims. Is they did? Also, If they did devlopement so, that devlopement must be balance with responsible stewardship of our natural resources. At the end, all of this affect our enviroment too much. The lanslides, flooding, water scarcity,destruction of pericious forest is not normal. People who live there, had a powerful emotions towards their nature.