Glacier burst or an avalanche? Experts debate

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 8

The Uttarakhand tragedy has put a question mark on what actually led to the disaster. While some environmentalists are questioning claims of “a glacier burst”, others are pointing to long-standing struggle of locals against massive construction activities, including highways and hydropower projects such as Rishi Ganga, in eco-sensitive zones “without proper clearance”.

“Was it a glacial burst or an avalanche?” questioned Himanshu Thakkar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People amid the revival of debate around infrastructure projects by those upset with the Centre and state clearances for massive infrastructure activities in fragile, eco-sensitive regions of the Himalayas.

A former member of the Narendra Modi Cabinet, Uma Bharti adds it’s something she had warned against as a minister and that the tragedy is both a matter of concern and warning. “When I was the minister, my ministry, in its affidavit about dams in Uttarakhand, had requested that it is a sensitive region. Therefore, power projects should not be built on the Ganga and its main tributaries,” she said. While Bharti said electricity shortfall could have been met by the national grid, Thakkar added that wind and solar were better ways to generate power in mountains.

There are around 98 dams in Uttarakhand. Besides, rapid infrastructure development of roads, highways, hotels is taking place in the state, leading to “virtual shake-up” of the “young” mountains. Activists have been cautioning about “weakening” of “young mountains” due to dynamite blasts and “manmade fires”.