Unscientific Road Widening the Root Cause of landslides in Himachal

Himachal, the abode of pristine beauty and natural scenic magnificence that can match any other part of the world, is losing its sheen, thanks to the unscientific development path undertaken by successive state governments. It's losing its reputation of a destination with uncertainty, because people, mainly tourists, get trapped in of flash floods or massive landslides. And it’s a huge loss of revenue for those who are engaged in such activities. The number is not in hundreds but thousands who sustain on tourism. Apart from tourism, the developmental growth trajectory is severely detrimental to the native residents as well.

Loss of lives is a common phenomenon during the rainy season.The two major disasters that struck recently, had people trapped and washed away by massive landslides in Kullu and Mandi districts. A cloud burst is usually believed to be one of the major reasons for these kinds of accidents and nothing much can be done to reduce such a disaster risk.

But the recent ones, that I am talking about, did not happen because of cloud bursts; It apparently happens to be the unbridled and unscientific road widening taking place throughout the state -- from single lane to two lanes and from two lanes to four.

On the intervening night of August 13, two buses were washed away in a massive landslide while they were passing through a gorge. The buses, one going from Manali to Katra and another one from Chamba to Manali, were on the Mandi -Pathankot highway when the incident occurred. More than 50 people died. And this is just one the many similar incidents that are happening in almost all parts of the state.

Much of this widening work is under the patronage of the World Bank and the state road project {SRP}. There is definitely a connection in between this funding and the work carried out in the Himalayan state about which I have already written in a letter to the then World Bank country head in India. I do not want to dwell on that issue here. But the reasons remain valid. Here I want to rather focus on the manner and method in which this widening is taking place.

I completely oppose this process and instead advocate for increasing the mobility of the people through an alternate mode of transport, other than just cars. Cable cars and rail network should be preferably developed within the state and the present method of widening can be more adapted to the ecological conditions, with close and scientific monitoring.

The unscientific and disastrous form of development.

The Himalayan ecology is extremely fragile due to many reasons, one amongst them being, that it is the youngest range of mountains in the world. Hence, meddling with the mountains in this region must be done with utter care, so that the damage is minimal.

Parwanoo -- the Shimla four lane work, is a very good example, that shows contempt to the Himalayan ecology and its geology. More than 26 thousand trees have already been cut. Not to mention that the cutting of the mountain has been done vertically with a 90-degrees slope, whereas it should not have been more than 45 degrees and that too in , to hold the mountains intact.

Another feature of the areas happens to be the major fault line that exists in the Parwanoo region, because of which the area becomes more prone to landslides and hence, greater caution is to be adopted. Movements and cutting along such fault lines must be guarded, else there will be larger landslides, which we are witnessing quite glaringly.

Secondly, cutting of mountains for the widening of roads in any area will definitely increase the slope, be it in Mandi or Solan, which further triggers landslides. This work should be done under the adept guidance of a geologist and a proper geological study of the area must be done to ensure minimum damage. The cutting should be done in steps and not vertically, as witnessed in almost all the road constructions that are being widened in the state. Loose rocks in the outer dip of the mountain and at times even mud stones, while widening, might trigger landslides, which must be closely monitored by a Geologist.

It is believed that the widening of the roads in the mountains needs to carried out akin to the mining work in the mountains. This practice is hardly being adopted and the World Bank, that has been majorly funding these road widening projects, is oblivious about such important parameters and scientific interventions which are required.

There must be a complete synergy and integration between the different departments, so that the Public works department, which is mainly instrumental in carrying out the road construction work, gets the data feedback from the science and technology department, especially the Geology wing.

It is difficult to comprehend that, one one hand, elements like Uranium are being traced remote sensing, but on the other, data accumulation for rivers, and forests are completely being ignored. These departments have to converge together and continuously monitor the developments and the changes taking places in the shift and change of rivers, rivulets, slanting of trees, etc. so that the same data can be used by the different executing departments. This will further help in the disaster risk reduction (DRR) and many more lives and property of the people will be saved. Widening of the roads, with the help of geologists, should be considered of utmost importance, so that the vulnerability is reduced and minimum damage is done to the ecological environment.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick.