War on the Himalayas

Progress that does not respect geography and indigenous beliefs will continue to wreak havoc in Uttarakhand

- LOKESH OHRI

Anyone travelling into the hills of Uttarakhand on the char dham route would immediately realise that Indians are at war with their own sacred mountains. The gashes and scars of the all-weather road, the railway tunnels and numerous dams are proof of human aggression against nature. And the mountains are retaliating with grave consequences.

What we do not realise while undertaking construction on a large scale in the Himalayas is that we are jeopardising our own survival. These mountains, with the largest concentration of glaciers outside of the polar caps and with glacial coverage of 33,000sq.km, are aptly called water towers, as they provide around 86 million cubic metres of fresh water annually, critical to the survival of the largest population concentration anywhere in the world. We will do well to remember that without water, survival is impossible.

Uttarakhand, which hosts some of the most revered pilgrimage spots and is also the source of two major rivers of India, finds itself at the cusp of a tragedy of unprecedented proportions. In more than 600 large and small settlements, the ground is shifting beneath people's feet, forcing them to flee from their villages. A mountain of government-generated data stares us in the face, and we choose to ignore it.