By Hugh & Colleen Gantzer
Dear Mr Dhami:
You are an Uttarakhandi. Moreover, you are the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. In other words, you have been elected by the people of Uttarakhand to solve their problems. These problems are so different from the problems of the plains that the people of the highlands revolted against the rule by lowlanders. That is the reason why some Uttarakhandis lost their lives before the Government of India granted us the right to attend to our own unique problems. If you would care to visit Mussoorie you could see the place where Uttarakhandis were shot before we became a separate state. Yes, Mr Dhami, our state was born in blood. We would like to remind you that 86% of Uttarakhand is mountainous. These mountains rose out of the ancient Tethys Sea. The sea was drained because the geological plate on which India stands is pushing up the Eurasian plate as it has been doing for millions of years and will continue to do for millions of years more.
This is the reality of Uttarakhand. This is why we broke away from UP. This is also why we cannot understand your apparent fascination with the double engine metaphor. By what logic do you prefer taking instructions from the plains-based senior engine rather than seeking solutions based on our highland reality? We are glad that you revoked the proposal to widen the road leading to your residence in Dehradun. It is time, however, to apply the same logic to our state in general.
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation, many districts in our state are prone to landslides. The areas listed by ISRO as being particularly sensitive are the districts of Rudraprayag and Tehri Garhwal. The others are Chamoli and Joshimath. The highest number of 96 landslide danger zones are in Tehri district, followed by 95 in Almora, 33 in Rudraprayag, 27 in Chamoli, 22 in Puri. 15 in Nainital, 14 in Bageshwar, 14 in Dehradun, 7 in Uttarkashi, 4 in Pithoragarh, 3 in Champawat and Haridwar. Can you give an assurance to the people of Uttarkhand that none of these districts will be endangered by hydro-electric projects? Such projects call for excavating large amounts of earth and thereby further weakening the internal support structures. We understand that, as of November 2022, the region had 81 large hydropower projects and 26 under construction.
Can the people of Uttarakhand have your assurance that none of these hydro-electric projects will endanger their lives while enriching contractors who have been awarded these projects? If our State wishes to save the money paid for electricity from out-of-state sources, have we also factored in the possible loss of lives which such hydro-electric projects will cause if environmental structures change? Hydro-electric schemes depend on accurate forecast of the flow of water into these projects. As we write this, large areas of our national capital are under water. If we cannot save the great movers and shakers of our nation from being engulfed in water, what hope is there for the people who live in the little villages of Uttarakhand?
BUT DOES THE HUFFING, PUFFING, BULLYING BIG ENGINE CARE? AND IF IT DOES NOT, THEN SURELY YOU SHOULD CARE?
Hydel projects are not the only dangers to our mountains. Indiscriminate road building can also bring devastation in its wake. It is common knowledge that a certain senior minister in your Cabinet deliberately broke up a road project into tiny segments only to avoid an environmental assessment. This is a prime example of the evil described as the fence eating the crop. Concrete roads stop the rainwater from soaking into the ground and re-charging the aquifers which supply our springs. Many springs in Uttarakhand are drying up. A 2018 NITI Aayog Report has stated that nearly half of the perennial springs in the region have either dried up or become seasonal. A 2019 Jal Sansthan Report found that 10% of the 4,626 natural water sources analysed had dried up, at least 10% between 2018 and 2019.
Finally, every one of the schemes recommended by you to the Prime Minister would involve the large scale felling of trees. This will hasten the arrival of climate change already stalking Uttarakhand.
STAND UP AND PROTECT UTTARAKHAND, MR DHAMI, AS YOU WERE ELECTED TO DO.
(Hugh & Colleen Gantzer hold the National Lifetime Achievement Award for Tourism among other National and International awards. Their credits include over 52 halfhour documentaries on national TV under their joint names, 26 published books in 6 genres, and over 1,500 first-person articles, about every Indian state, UT and 34 other countries. Hugh was a Commander in the Indian Navy and the Judge Advocate, Southern Naval Command. Colleen is the only travel writer who was a member of the Travel Agents Association of India.) (The opinions and thoughts expressed here reflect only the authors’ views!).
