Wealth Lure Kills 10000
By Shivaji Sarkar
The pursuit of wealth, a better lifestyle, and ambitious tourism projects are driving India towards reckless development in fragile regions, from Wayanad in Kerala to the hilly states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. This unchecked expansion has resulted in devastating loss of lives and environmental destruction. Tourism exerts tremendous pressure on local land use, causing soil erosion and habitat degradation, which in turn threatens the sustainability of tourism itself.
The devastation in Joshimath, a small town in Uttarakhand, and now Wayanad serve as stark reminders that local authorities are compromising the environment with excessive tunnel and road constructions.
India accounts for 10,000 deaths during 2019-2023 due to weather-related disasters, representing a majority of the 11,995 deaths in South Asia and a little more than two-fifth of the total 23,525 deaths recorded in the Asia Pacific region, according to Asian Development Bank. The World Risk Index Data 2023 reports Philippines (WRI rank 46.86), Indonesia (WRI 43.50) and India (WRI 41.52) having the highest overall disaster risk among the 193 countries.
India suffered damages of over $56 billion due to weather-related disasters, some now call man-made calamities, in the five years between 2019 and 2023, accounting for the bulk of damages suffered by South Asia and a fourth of the $230 billion hit to countries in the Asia-Pacific region, ADB says. It mentions that 54 million people or two-thirds of the 82.1 million people in the South Asia region affected were from India. Within the Asia-Pacific region, India accounts for 21 per cent of the 256 million persons affected during the period. The ADB and World Bank also mention that India’s is less prepared to meet disasters.
Wayanad could have been avoided if warnings were taken seriously. A small village morphed into tourist destination with constructions on fragile slopes. The civil rights network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), has regretted that the warning of landslides in the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats in Wayanad by the high-level committee constituted by the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) was ignored, so was its recommendation that 4,000 families be immediately shifted. This, NAPM says, paved the way for the recent tragedy. It believes, “The proposed construction of a 2,000-crore mega tunnel project, barely 2 kms away from the current landslide in Mundakkai is likely to cause more such mishaps.”
Indian Space Research Organisation satellite images show the widespread damage and devastation caused by landslides in Wayanad. So far 308 people have died and over 200 injured even as the rescue works are on. The before and after images show that about 86,000 square meters of land slipped and the debris flowed for about 8 kilometers along the Iruvaiphuzha river. The ISRO report also presents evidence of an old landslide at the same location, suggesting its vulnerability was documented.
The country does not learn from the past. In 2019, Kerala was severely affected reeling under a rainfall deficit of 27 till August 7. The next day the state received 368 per cent more rainfall than average, triggering widespread floods and displacing close to two million people. By August 13, incessant downpours sliced entire state, which suffered as dams overflowed devastating a large tract. Then it was reported that the encroachment of river catchment areas also added to the disasters. It took years for the state to recover.
The same month in 2019, saw two weeks of heavy rainfall flooding Pune, Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli in Maharashtra killing 50 and displacing half a million. In Karnataka, 12 districts, including the world heritage site, Hampi, was flooded by Tungabhadra.
Cloudbursts, tunnel and road collapses in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have become regular affair. The roads to the Char Dhaam Himalayan shrines are having landslides, leading to a precarious state.
It was not only in 2013, 2019 or later but even now the Joshimath, Kedarnath, Badarinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri roads are having landslides. Many newly built roads in Himachal and Uttarakhand are closed. This is happening since the inauguration of a 900 km long, 2-lane (12 metre wide) highway project called the ‘Char Dham Mahamarg’ Project, with the motive of boosting religious tourism in 2016. This Rs 12,000 crore project has been opposed by the citizens and environmental organisations for its detrimental nature. Tapovan and other tunnels had dangerous mishaps.
The projects were divided into 50 plus smaller projects to bypass environmental clearance and impact assessment reports. According to the law, a highway project less than 100 km does not require environment clearance. These “smaller projects” were worked on parallelly, and it was even pointed out by the petitioners that the roads were longer than 100 km in some stretches, according to the 2 October 2020 reports.
During the legal proceedings at the National Green Tribunal, the petitioners alleged the project to be in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 and were of the opinion that the cutting of over 25,000 trees (total trees felled are several times more) and dumping of construction debris causing severe ecological damage.
A 2006 study led by B.N. Goswami of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology suggested assessment of proper weather trends. The frequency of very heavy rainfall events and risk of floods is likely to increase over India, said a 2008 study led by M. Rajeevan of the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory. In 2011, P. Guhathakurta, O.P. Sreejith and P.A. Menon of the India Meteorological Department investigated the occurrence of exceptionally heavy rainfall events and associated flash floods in many areas. They found that extreme rainfall and flood risks are increasing significantly.
According to the World Bank, 22 of India’s 31 states are regarded as particularly prone to natural disasters: 55 per cent of its land is vulnerable to earthquake, 8 per cent to cyclone, and 5 per cent to floods. It stressed on preventive measures. As per the World Risk Report 2020, India was ‘poorly prepared’ to deal with ‘climate reality’.
If preventive steps and ecology are taken care of, India could save huge sums on post-disaster relief and rehabilitation. The 15th Finance Commission allocated Rs 54,770 crore under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and Rs. 13,693 crore under the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) for 2021-22 to 2025-26, a major burden.
Although for some two decades the scientific evidence has been pointing to more such calamities occurring more frequently, such scenarios were mostly ignored by policymakers. Political motives and various other pressures have made disaster prevention less effective. — INFA