A perilous highway to salvation in the Himalayas
Key Highlights
Char Dham Highway Project: A Threat to Mountain Ecology
- A scientific paper by Jürgen Mey of the Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, Germany, warns of catastrophic consequences for the Char Dham Highway Project, a 900-kilometre long road project aimed at boosting religious tourism to four shrines.
- The project, despite opposition from environmental organizations in Uttarakhand, was initiated at an outlay of ₹12,000 crore.
- The study found that road-widening had a doubling impact on road-blocking landslides, with construction being the primary cause of these landslides.
- The study also predicted an increase in summer monsoon precipitation due to elevation-dependent warming, leading to more frequent landslides and fatalities.
- The project, initiated under the ‘Char Dham Pariyojana’, is in violation of all environmental norms and conservation strategies in the Himalayas.
- The government used a technical loophole to divide the project into 50-plus smaller projects to bypass environmental clearance and impact assessment reports.
- The project was defended in the Supreme Court of India as a defense-related requirement for moving troops and armaments, ignoring the point that defense forces can airlift troops and heavy artillery during emergencies.
Concerns Over Massive Infrastructure Projects in Indian Himalayas
- Massive projects in unstable and fragile regions like the Indian Himalayas are proceeding without scientific assessment.
- The steep slopes and gradients of the Himalayas make them dynamically heterogeneous in terms of climatic variables and hydrological and tectonic processes.
- A widened road is constantly blocked by recurrent landslides, potentially delaying troop movement and requiring significant resources for clearing or reconstructing damaged road stretches.
- Land deformation in the region is recognized as a “silent disaster” due to uncontrolled anthropogenic activities, infrastructural development, and inadequate drainage systems.
- The Border Roads Organisation is seeking clearance to widen the Gangotri-Dharasu stretch in the fragile Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone.
- Local distress is a significant issue in Uttarakhand, with 1,053 villages without inhabitants and 405 with a population of less than 10 people.
- Road widening promotes increased motorized tourism, forcing local people to opt for employment in the tourism industry rather than farming.
- Environmental factors such as water resource depletion and emerging hazards may have resulted in people leaving the agriculture sectors.
- The State government is countering this trend by framing laws against selling land to outsiders, but this will not mitigate local distress caused by human-induced environmental degradation.
- The Himalayas face multifaceted environmental challenges that require well-thought-out sustainable pathways.