Dehradun, and Uttarakhand, have reached the limits of the present model of development. This becomes amply clear from the damage caused by rain, cloudbursts and flash floods this monsoon season. The ‘above normal’ precipitation has exposed the shortcomings in infrastructure development and overall planning, which seem to have been based on the overall decline in rainfall over the years. Otherwise, why would people have built hotels, restaurants and housing on dried-up riverbeds in places like Dharali and Maldevta?
This rainy season has provided valuable lessons, which the government and the development agencies will hopefully learn and act upon. One clear message is that encroachment and construction in the rivers’ terrain should be entirely prohibited. Even those who feel compelled to make a living by overstepping boundaries of various kinds should understand that such an approach can have serious consequences.
At the same time, for a number of reasons, the basic care required of the state’s rivers has been ignored – such as ‘river training’. This may possibly have to do with the political repercussions of seeming to promote mining, which is generally considered unacceptable in popular perception, despite the fact that people have no objection to large scale construction activities.
River training involves ‘civil engineering methods to control and guide river flow’, a general practice that seems to have been abandoned in the state by the departments involved. The purpose is to ‘stabilise the river channel along a specific alignment’. This ‘prevents bank erosion, controls flooding, protects structures like bridges and manages sediment load’. It is a major engineering discipline that involves many ways to control floods and increase the river’s discharge capacity.
Dehradun’s residents may have noticed that some sections of the rivers that caused havoc on 15-16 September did not overflow because of well-constructed and high embankments. At most places, however, the rocks and boulders that normally come down the rivers have piled up to an extent that even the mildest rise in water levels leads to overflow. Since most roads and other related construction are along these rivers, they suffer damage. If properly planned excavation of the riverbeds is done to increase depth and channelise flow, it would prevent such incidents and also provide revenue to the government. It must be examined why this is not being done. Also, there is the problem of dumping construction and other waste in the rivers, all over the state. There are many such issues that need to be addressed if Uttarakhand is to rise to the next level of development.
