There is no serious talk on huge constructions

A WALK IN THE WOODS

- NEHA SINHA

Cracked towns, a giant safari, a "tamed" beast: Recent environmental headlines range e from shocking to misleading, and the issues require a re-look.

The holy town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand, beset by large structures and shouldering the huge under-construction Vishnugad Pipalkoti dam, has been cracking and sinking. Karnaprayag, another pilgrim spot in the same state, has also reported cracks in buildings. In 2013, Uttarakhand witnessed a flood which killed thousands of people and swept away buildings (and parts of dams). Since then, there have been declarations of safety audits but no real progress. Last year, the World Bank, which is funding the Vishnugad Pipalkoti dam, agreed to look at the environmental damage caused by the hydroelectric project following complaints by residents of Chamoli-dam construction was depositing muck by the truckfuls in the area, including near the old and revered Laxmi Narayan temple. And almost 50 years ago, an expert committee had warned that Joshimath is built on a landslide zone, and major construction should be avoided.

Despite the death of our fellow citizens, the obvious destabilisation of land on mountains, and climate change, there is no serious conversation on stopping huge constructions that change the area further.

This leads us to an understanding of the other environmental headlines: We excel at false equivalence, deeming anti-environment decisions as the "natural" course of things. In the Great Nicobar island in the Indian Ocean, over 130 sq. km of India's best forests-primary rainforest, something out of James Cameron's Pandora-are going to be cut. This is to make an airport, a port and a transshipment project, a township. Tribals are likely to be displaced. But this is coated in a sheen of virtuosity: As compensation for this forest loss, trees will be planted and a safari will be created in the Aravallis in Haryana.