Unbridled construction of dams, roads, tunnels, houses and massive deforestation is widely believed to have exacerbated the mayhem caused by monsoon flooding. Bahar Dutt made an extensive tour of these places just a year back and warned of such possibilities. CNN-IBN's environment editor Bahar Dutt joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue.
Q. Ma'am, what mentality do you reckon would pilgrimage show next year for yatra to Uttarakhand? Asked by: Pallavi s
A. Hi Pallavi, I think the Chardham has been suspended for a year. But I think pilgrims will still come back once the temple has been rebuilt.
Q. Dont't you think cloudburst, earthquake etc are natural phenomenon and human must not be blamed for it. Asked by: Ashutosh Tripathi
A. hi Ashutosh good question! yes cloudbursts and earthquakes are natural phenomenon, but in this case the damage was exacerbated by bad planning, ignorance of environmental norms and construction close to the river bed.
Q. What remedial steps for future non-occurrence of such mayhem? Asked by: Birabrata
A. hi Birabrata, the remedial steps which should be taken is to not allow any construction on the river bed, to do a cost benefit analysis of the bumper to bumper dams coming up on the Ganga, through a cumulative impact assessment and to ensure a policy of development in tune with the fragile ecology of the Himalayas
Q. Did taking nature for granted cost Uttarakhand this monsoon mayhem? Asked by: Rohit
A. hi Rohit, yes thanks for turning the question around! I think we did take nature for granted and her fury. the CM of Uttarakhand has still not learnt anything , he is still giving statements that the hill state needs development in the form of dams and what was caused was just a freak nature's accident.
Q. While it is true that ecosystem is disturbed all over, what was the quantum of rainfall which was responsible for this disaster. Was it not an unusual one not recorded in six decades? Why only blame game? Asked by: sundar1950in
A. hi Sundar, as i have said the quantum of rainfall may have been great , but the unplanned and haphazard model of development for the hills has made this situation worse.
Q. Do we have any evidences which suggest that this caused due to broken Glacier as some people suggest? What is your thought? Asked by: Sharath
A. hi Sharath, no I haven't heard anything about a broken glacier, to the best of my knowledge the glaciers are further up and it wouldn't have caused this kind of damage to all the four dhams or religious spots as they are spread over different locations. The problem yes was excess rainfall, not paying heed to any warnings, and a form of development that hasn't kept in mind the ecology of the hills.
Q. One of the pilgrimage person said on the news channel that she will never travel to any sacred place henceforth. How do you foresee this..ending of trust for god? ending of tourism? or something else. Asked by: Nikhil Sakhare
A. hi Nikhil, the hill economy depends on tourism for sure. But i am an optimist and i do hope that this devastation will get us all to sit up and revisit the kind of tourism that was going on. I think we need to pursue a more responsible form of tourism, resorts need to be away from the river, just like we do for coastal areas, we also need to check the no of pilgrims who visit the chardhams - for instance at the Gangotri glacier there is a restriction on how many tourists visit in one day. I think these are some ways we can move forward.
Q. Is there any other state in India which is well prepared to take such cloudbursts? Can Uttarkhand learn from any other Indian state or other countries? Asked by: Sharath
A. hi Sharath , I think you are right many states are lagging behind in their response to disaster management. I am not sure about information about cloudbursts. What I can tell you is that there is a clear protocol in place, for being prepared for disasters for instance the Central Water Commission and the Met department is supposed to inform the state govt on potential flood situations. What we should check is if these protocols were followed.
Q. Western Ghat is going to be the next in row? Asked by: Rahul G Krishnan (Kochi)
A. hi Rahul, I hope not but you are right, western ghats faces the same issued, a slew of power and mining projects and of course dams. I hope at least now we will learn our lessons well.
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