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April 19, 2024 4:50 PM

India

Massive tree cuttings and unscientific n unfriendly development leads to fatalities in Uttarakhand

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20180829 205548
Read Time: 4 minutes

The unscientific development, regular construction activities, particularly hotels, multistorey commercial buildings to mint attractive profits and regular monthly income in the hill stations of Uttarakhand on roadsides, on the banks of various rivers and in the valleys extremely prone to massive landslides particularly during the rainy seasons have resulted in tremendous risk factors in whole of Uttarakhand where the mountains are considered to be on the growing stage and also made hollow and fragile from inside due to the increasing dynamite explosions to blast rocky mountains to make way for the roads and other construction activities.

Unfortunately, the increasing unscientific and environmentally unfriendly constructions n so called infrastructure development and buliding of huge dams leading to infinite dynamite explosions, deforestations, construction of hundreds of kilometres of tunnels making the hills hollow and weak and blocking the smooth natural flow of rivers by dumping hundreds of thousands of tons of silt and muck in the rivers, not feasible and environmentally unapplicable for the safety and security of the inhabitants of the himalayan states have led to damaging and destroying the otherwise healthy environment of the hills putting adverse ecological impact on the Himalayan state and its people.

The BJP led government’s most over ambitious  all weather roads’ project resulting in a widespread deforestation has also raised the eye brows of the environmentalists and geo scientists who foresee tremendous disasters in the offing.

The regular unfortunate incidents of cloud bursts, deluges, excessive rains and the subsequent massive consequences in the shape of washing of villages, destruction of houses and buildings, heavy and controllable landslides, caving of roads and killings of several human lives have finally compelled us to believe that the inhabitants of Uttarakhand are not safe and secured and the natural calamities which have become the order of the day due to the aforesaid shortcomings would leave its people of nowhere if the necessary preventive steps are not taken on war footings right from now.

What is most worrisome is the fact that the builders and the businessmen in the hills are creating havoc to the fragile environment of UK by constructing multi storeyed hotels and business establishments throwing to winds the environmental norms in league with those responsible to apply regulations.

Just see for yourself the massive landslide above somewhere in Garhwal , Uttarakhand happened in the past. The work on one of multistoreyed resorts’ seemed to be in progress in the valley downstream the high altitude mountains.

We should also not forget that entire Uttarakhand is an earthquake prone Zone, hence exercising every possible caution is the best remedy to get rid of them.

Just yesterday a family of seven got buried alive under the huge debris of their own house in Budhaakedar in Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand after the landslide due to excessive and constant torrential rainfall apart from several casualties in Chamoli district and Kotdwar etc during the recent rains.

It seems that the government of the Centre and Uttarakhand are least worried or not interested to learn lessons from the  massive ecological tragedy of 2013 which claimed thousands of lives and colossal loss to the state’s economy displacing lakhs of villagers and making hundreds of women widows, children orphan, people unemployed and bankrupt.

The construction activities inside the hills at the cost of environmental protection and large felling of trees have been the basic reasons for the incessant degradation of the environment of the himalayan state.

The increase in tourist activity, excessive use of plastics and other kind of rubbish have made Uttarakhand a plastic dumping ground followed by constructions on the river sides thus openly violating the directives of Court’s to give up building activities near rivers to avoid destruction during natural calamities like deluges etc.

In the picture above villagers trying to retrieve bodies of a family in Budhakedar after they were buried alive in the debris after the calamity.

Sunil Negi hails from Uttarakhand and is a veteran journalist and author. He is a prolific writer and has carved a name for himself in the media world. He received the 'Golden Achiever Award' in the '90th AIAC Excellence Awards 2019' for his book ''Havoc in Heaven'' based on the tragedy that struck Uttarakhand in which thousands of people lost their lives. He is also the President of Uttarakhand Journalists Forum and majorly writes on Politics, Current Affairs, and Social Issues.

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