Monday, Aug 11, 2025 23:15 [IST]

Last Update: Sunday, Aug 10, 2025 17:42 [IST]

A Man-Made Calamity

The devastating floods in Uttarkashi district last week, which claimed at least five lives and left over a hundred missing, are yet another grim reminder of the fragile and increasingly perilous state of the Himalayas. The torrents that ripped through Dharali town, sweeping away homes, hotels, and lives, were not just the work of nature’s fury — they were the result of years of policy neglect, ecological disregard, and short-sighted development.

While officials rushed to label the event a “cloudburst”, the absence of adequate weather radars and precise data raises doubts over this hasty classification. Such knee-jerk terminology serves an unfortunate purpose: it allows authorities to dismiss the disaster as a freak occurrence, absolving them of responsibility and reducing their role to perfunctory condolences and token compensation. In reality, the continuous heavy rainfall, unstable slopes, accumulated silt, and indiscriminate construction were all co-conspirators in this tragedy.

The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ), notified in 2012 to protect the stretch between Gangotri and Uttarkashi, was meant to be a bulwark against such devastation. Yet, its purpose has been systematically undermined. River floodplains have been encroached upon, rocks blasted to widen roads, and tourism projects sanctioned without adequate environmental assessments. The vulnerabilities flagged repeatedly by experts have been ignored in the race to “develop” the region, with little regard for the long-term consequences.

Climate change is amplifying these risks. The Himalayas are witnessing more extreme rainfall events, faster glacial melt, and more frequent flash floods. In this context, every hydropower tunnel, every ill-planned road expansion, and every hotel built on riverbanks acts like a latent time bomb, waiting for the trigger of a heavy downpour.

It has been over a decade since the 2013 Kedarnath floods sounded a wake-up call, but disaster preparedness in the region remains woefully inadequate. Early warning systems are patchy, weather monitoring infrastructure is sparse, and post-disaster responses are still slow and disorganised. Policymakers have failed to connect the dots between climate change, ecological fragility, and the human cost of reckless development.

The Uttarkashi floods are not an isolated incident — they are part of a pattern that will only worsen if business-as-usual continues. Relief and rescue are urgent, but equally urgent is a structural rethink. The state and the Centre must enforce ESZ norms, invest in weather stations and satellite monitoring, and halt construction on floodplains. Climate resilience in the Himalayas can no longer be treated as an environmentalist’s demand; it is now a matter of survival.

If the lesson from Uttarkashi is not heeded, the next disaster will not be a question of “if”, but “when” — and the cost will be even higher.

 

Sikkim at a Glance

  • Area: 7096 Sq Kms
  • Capital: Gangtok
  • Altitude: 5,840 ft
  • Population: 6.10 Lakhs
  • Topography: Hilly terrain elevation from 600 to over 28,509 ft above sea level
  • Climate:
  • Summer: Min- 13°C - Max 21°C
  • Winter: Min- 0.48°C - Max 13°C
  • Rainfall: 325 cms per annum
  • Language Spoken: Nepali, Bhutia, Lepcha, Tibetan, English, Hindi