By Raj Lakshmi Dube
Recently there has been a lot of media coverage of landslides and crumbling mountains causing widespread damage to natural resources and loss of lives. In the name of tourism, we have ill-treated nature and literally devastated the mountains. Drilled tunnels for road development and creating shortcuts without thoroughly testing the strength of the underlying mountains and rocks.
Let us talk about the development of tourism to increase livelihood of the local villagers. The hills are bearing the weight of innumerable hotels to cater to the needs of the tourists. As soon as there is a long weekend, the roads are choked with all kinds of vehicles rushing towards the cooler climate for holidays. It is beyond reason as to why hordes of people are allowed to visit without checking their proof of boarding and lodging. There is a barrier midway to Mussoorie where every vehicle is supposed to pay tax, at the same juncture their IDs and hotel bookings can be checked so as not to overburden the hill station. If they will be boarding with relatives a letter from the hosts with their address should be produced. I am sure every state can have the same system. This summer we saw traffic jams of 4 to 12 hours enroute to the hills with serpentine lines of vehicles on way to the hill states of Himachal and Uttarakhand. More tourists need more infrastructure so burden on the mountains enhances considerably. Even international destinations are limiting visitors. Last week, Venice has also started restricting the number of tourists visiting the city. Tour groups of 25 persons are allowed and tour guides are banned from using megaphones
In Uttarakhand, a new trend of Char Dham Yatra has emerged. If you have the means, you can complete the yatra in a day. No more tough trekking. The helipads to all these religious destinations have become like auto rickshaw stands as a number of private helicopters are parked there that are frequently landing and taking off. There is no check on the number of passengers they are carrying. Last month, 7 passengers were saved by a whisker when their helicopter had to land on the grass field at Kedarnath Dham. The permission was to carry only 5 passengers, but who is checking. Had an accident occurred we can imagine the ruckus and the uproar of the politicians. Not only this, every landing and taking off would be causing vibrations resulting in some crumbling of the mountain, which would definitely increase with time. A few years ago I had visited Bhutan. There, my family wanted to visit the “Tiger’s Nest”. It is a cave on the sheer slope of a mountain reachable by a tough trek. I, being a senior citizen, could not make it and had to stop midway. On enquiring from the guide as to why the trek could not be developed and made easier, he replied that ‘we do not want to make easy it because we don’t want a large number of tourists reaching the very sacred place’. More the tourists, more will be the trash they leave behind as is happening to our Char Dham. A fortnight ago there was news of four young men travelling in an all-terrain vehicle to Kedarnath, who were consuming alcohol drinks sitting atop the vehicle near the temple. Where is the faith and the sanctity of the temple? Let it be a tough trek for the pious and the believers. These are not places for entertainment.
To make the Char Dham Yatra easier by road a tunnel was being dug at Silkyara in Uttarkashi. During the construction, a part of the tunnel collapsed and 41 workers were trapped, who could be rescued after 17 days only after a gigantic effort of a trained workforce. The tunnel was being constructed on an extremely weak rock mass, as per the survey of Border Roads Organisation. Can we not have more extensive studies carried out by authorised personnel before we start drilling and constructing?
Let us see what we have done to nature. Mindless cutting of trees in our desire for money and more money has changed the climate and the face of Dehradun. The politicians want more development and so do the developers and government agencies. The attitude is, if they can do it so can we. The city of Doon of green hedges and grey hair has become a city of hooligans and traffic jams. Where are the green hedges and calm and dignified grey hair? The skyline of the city has become full of multistoried apartments and bungalows converted to commercial malls. Trees are being cut for road widening but have the roads really widened? The so-called wide roads do not have any parking space in front of the shops, as a result the vehicles are parked on the road in front of the shop the buyers wish to visit. This has happened on both sides of the road. Result is, the same width of road as was earlier. So where have the trees gone?
The latest tragedy that has occurred is that of Wayanad. Climate change, fragile terrain and loss of forest cover created the perfect recipe for landslides. The tree roots which hold the soil are no more because they have perished to the greed of the humans and so during the monsoons the overflowing rivers swept away villages in their way. With no tree roots acting as barriers, unhindered they went sweeping all in. Loss of lives and dwellings are yet to be calculated with many still missing. The forest cover has decreased by 62% since 1950.
When will this mindless so called development stop? Human greed has devoured most of the bounty of nature. It is time we put a complete ban on cutting trees or replace what we have already devoured by planting more trees. Or else there will be nothing left for the coming generations. This should be a wakeup call.
