Governments never cease to surprise me, but they occasionally intrigue me, as in the two recent announcements by the Himachal govt. The first, in the middle of the devastating fury of the ongoing rains which has already claimed more than a hundred lives and inflicted damage worth more than 2000 crore rupees, stated that a Central team would be arriving soon to assess the causes for such disasters every year. The second was the revelation that the World Bank has approved a Rs. 2000 crore project to study the environmental impacts of hydel projects, particularly in the Beas river basin, and to suggest mitigating measures.
This is not just an example of shutting the stable doors after the horses have bolted, this amounts to opening the spillway after the dam has burst, to use a phrase appropriate to what is happening to the hydel projects in the state. For the fact is that the devastation, ruin and deaths that are occurring with frightening regularity every year now are something that experts and environmentalists have been warning about for more than a decade, but successive governments have refused to heed.
It is no coincidence that the so-called "cloudbursts" always occur in areas where there is, or has been, extensive and unscientific cutting of hills, deforestation, ramming through of roads, unregulated building activity, and construction of hydel projects. The most egregious and destructive has been the epidemic of four-lane highways- a goldmine, no doubt, for the NHAI, contractors and general officialdom, but highways to hell for the residents of the state. The millions of cubic meters of excavated earth and debris inevitably find their way to the rivers and water courses, constrict their flow and carrying capacity, and result in flooding and the misnomer "cloudburst". Continuous subsidence, erosion, landslides, building collapses follow in its wake. These activities, along with denudation of the green cover, have robbed the mountains of their capacity to absorb and hold the rainfall, which thunders down the slopes as run-off, with horrific consequences.
We don't need expert committees, hosted at the expense of a bankrupt state, to identify what is going wrong with the environment: the reasons are there in plain sight, carved on the denuded, crumbling mountain sides- stop the rape of the rivers, give up this maniacal fascination for more and more roads, cancel all four-lane projects, protect the green belts and forests, regulate construction with an iron hand (and Yogi's bulldozers, where required). Pay attention to the fact that GSI has identified 17000 landslide-prone zones in the state. Recognize that climate change is now a reality which has arrived, it will exacerbate rainfall patterns, there will be more EWEs (Extreme Weather Events). Concentrate on sustainable planning and not reckless development at all costs. Send back the central expert committee, Mr. Chief Minister- the answers don't lie with it, they lie in your office, in your files. Listen to the local citizens- those who have been opposing needless road construction, airports, hydel projects and multi-storeyed commercial projects, denotification of green belts, those whose lands and houses are getting washed away by your obstinacy, those whose family members are entombed in mud in the middle of the night. Trust them, not your mercantile advisors..
The second announcement about environmental impacts of hydel projects in the Beas basin is even more mystifying. Firstly, such a study should have been carried out BEFORE, and not AFTER, allotting the 359 hydel projects (operational and planned) on the Beas and its tributaries. Secondly, the environmental impacts of such projects are already known, and have been for the last 15 years. In 2010 the then Addl. Chief Secretary(Forests), on the directions of the High Court, had submitted a detailed report, listing out the deleterious and damaging impacts being witnessed today: muck dumping, unscientific cutting and blasting, weakening of the mountain strata, deforestation, reduction in carrying capacity of rivers, the need to restrict the number of hydel projects on a particular river, the necessity of cumulative impact assessments for the whole river basins instead of for just individual projects, declaration of no-go areas for hydel projects. The report was accepted by the High Court but was fiercely opposed by the state govt. and was quietly buried. Thirdly, no further study is required to identify these environmental impacts- they have been happening with frightening regularity every year- the whole stretch of the river from Manali to Mandi has been devastated and looks like Gaza- and are self evident. There is little point reinventing the wheel at a cost of Rs.2000 crore- exhume the 2010 report, get additional inputs from geologists and hydrologists, and implement the recommendations. The World Bank study appears to me to be just a smokescreen for avoiding any substantive action, and is simply kicking the can further down the river.
Neither of the two studies or inquiries is needed, and the state govt. certainly doesn't have the money to pay for them. Instead, the govt. should commission studies on factors which have grave portents for the future of the state: the changing precipitation patterns, changed hydrology of the rivers, melting of glaciers, formation of glacial lakes which pose a danger to downstream areas, carrying capacity of major tourist destinations, a Cumulative EIA of the Chandrabhaga basin before proceeding to sanction another 4000 MW worth of projects on it. These studies will reveal how our geology and environment are being altered, and are necessary for all future planning. It should also heed the dire warning issued by the Supreme Court last week on a PIL, having ignored everyone, including its own citizens for decades: "Entire Himachal Pradesh may vanish soon; Revenue Earning can't be at the cost of the Environment."
Translated into simple English, that means that the time for post mortems is over, what is needed now is immediate and decisive action.
Rampant housing construction using the pillar & beam system like the shops has ruined the hills. Drilling 10 to 20 feet deep to stick in imported concrete & steel at several places has weakened the fragile hill side. Imagine the imported weight that gets added to a loose hill. Add to that massive tree cutting and breaking rock. It's destroyed for ever.
ReplyDeleteThe non-pahadiyas do not have any attachment with the hills. You need to love the land and belong to it to reap it's benifits.
That is missing.
At least the tribals in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand have been physically opposing large plants and mines of various MNCs like Tata, Vedanta, and Adani. They're sacrificing their lives for this cause, but haven't yet stopped. They're receiving some support, albeit limited, from educated people in towns. Unless local people of Himalaya region take to the streets to oppose such devastating projects, things won't change. I believe 'firm action' means 'fearless nonviolent resistance' to those devastating actions.
ReplyDeleteFurther I find that these disasters do not get adequate time and analyses on our totally compromised TV channels. Even stray dogs got more attention. Some of the detailed coverage and analyses I saw were on foreign channels.
ReplyDeleteHow many climate triggered disasters must a person see before they annihilate us... The answer my friends is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind... As rightly warned by the author stringent action is needed NOW or never will Himachal be the same again... If even the underscored threat to its existence cannot mobilise corrective action then GOD HELP US! Local solutions building like a pyramid into a state climate resilient plans need to be curated widely across the state as suited to its varied topography and the extent of damage already inflicted.... Each person's active participation is vital for the formulation and success of such a plan... To measure the relevant of the plan mitigation indicators for evaluating it during implementation are urgently needed. These should align to global indicators and adopted after contextualising them... When feedback on the impact analysis is shared it will definitely but in more positive participation.
ReplyDeleteBut who will bell this cat??
Some weeks back Mr. Shukla had written on over-tourism and its debilitating effect upon the fragile ecology of the hill states of India. I had chided him then that retired officers had not done enough during their professional careers to steer their political masters onto the right path. That their quiescence during professional tenure was one of many reasons for the current state of ecological chaos witnessed now.
ReplyDeleteI must, on this same platform, extend my full and unrestricted apology to Mr. Shukla for having done him grave injustice on that occasion.
I was fixated on the concept of ropeways as a means of transportation in the mountains and researched his contribution to the same, towards which nothing substantial was thrown up, save for an insipid mention and that did not link him directly. It emboldened me to lament what I surmised was a passive stance while in career.
I was as far from the truth as a trekker lost in the high reaches of the Dhauladhar upon having misread their compass. For, a deep search has revealed that Avay Shukla’s professional and personal contribution to the environment has been exemplary, in effort and effect.
He was commissioned by the HP High Court to prepare a detailed report on the environmental impact of major hydel and hydropower projects (above 100 MW), in 2010. This seminal work, called the Shukla Committee Report of 2010, is referenced even now by different bodies and ecological groups. It has earned high praise from the Himachal Pradesh High Court, stating, “The Court places on record its appreciation for the in-depth study done by Sh. Avay Shukla and the great effort he has put in to prepare this extremely fine report.” It was cited in 2022 by The Times of India, and in 2023 by the Indian Express, as the first serious effort critiquing dams in mountainous regions. Even now in 2025, it found mention in an article of a Berkeley Public Policy Journal, for enduring relevance while underscoring non-compliances in the execution of projects. Within the State government though, this watershed report lies buried in the stygian depths of paperwork, to dilute its recommendations at the altar of developmental priority. So self-effacing is he that in this latest blog, he has referred to that report by the “then" Additional Chief Secretary, Forests, in the third person!
He has provided oversight to the Upper Spiti Landscape Management Plan, for conservation of high altitude ecosystems involving the rare Snow Leopard and the tiny communities there. His efforts have been lauded by the plan’s authors, saying that “Shri Avay Shukla, Chief Secretary, Forests, Government of Himachal Pradesh, reposed tremendous faith in us for this task.” This plan has been implemented post his retirement and has continued its strategy of wildlife conservation along with community-based habitat restoration.
Mr. Shukla has championed the cause and concept of eco-tourism throughout Himachal. He wrote to the Director General, Forests, back in 2010 to review the ban on eco-tourism. Post retirement, he is well entitled to a deep satisfaction at the expanded efforts applied on eco-tourism in Himachal.
There is more to his body of work that will mortify me further for my precipitous beration of him in that comment of the past. But the arrow has left the quiver and cannot return. I hope he is magnanimous enough to pardon my indiscretion and consider this comment as a sincere effort to restore his name which I had unintentionally tarnished. Such is the dignity of the man that he did not charge back at me then, or block me from his blog. All that he did was write a personal mail to me informing me of how I was being less than fair to him. That he saw no need to clarify anything to me, because I had simply not researched well enough before putting pen to paper. I agree with him entirely, being corrected by more comprehensive research now.
My engaging with Mr. Shukla will continue hereafter — salubriously as well as spiritedly. But for now, I am sincerely sorry.