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News Topical, Digital Desk : The cloudburst incident in Dharali village of Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand on Tuesday has caused massive destruction. The cloudburst incident caused such a huge surge in the drain there that the drain water carried away a large amount of debris towards the lower area,
Due to which many houses, shops, roads and bridges were damaged. There was a huge loss of life and property in this accident and 50 people were injured and 4 were confirmed dead due to being buried under the debris. What happened in Dharali has once again raised the question that why such incidents are occurring in the valleys of Uttarakhand for the last few years?
Such incidents are happening again and again
Is this the result of interference with nature or are such incidents happening repeatedly because it is a hilly area, and what concrete steps is the government taking to deal with all this. To know the answers to all these questions, the ABP Live team had a special conversation with environmental expert Himanshu Thakkar.
Environmental expert Himanshu Thakkar said that there are two-three reasons for the accident that happened in Dharali. The first reason is that glaciers are melting due to rising temperatures, due to which the water level of the pond increased and its wall broke. And when the water started coming down, a lot of debris (mud, stones) also came along with it.
The same situation occurred in the year 2013 as well
Thakkar said that while coming down, the water above was moving at a very high speed due to the steep slope. Two streams of the Kheerganga river below joined it, which caused the destruction of the entire area. Thakkar also said that the rampant construction work in the mountains is a major reason for this incident. He said that we do not have any policy regarding this.
He said that the same situation had occurred in Kheergarh in the year 2013. If people had been alert at that time and there was no encroachment by the government and people, then perhaps such a big accident would not have happened. He said that there are 5-6 such streams coming from above, which need to be constantly monitored.
Everything was destroyed in less than 1 minute
Thakkar said that when these streams come towards the surface below, it is necessary to give them space too. The government and the people together built concrete walls on both sides of the channel, thinking that the river will remain confined within these walls. Now this Kheerganga, which is a Himalayan river, will not remain between these cement-concrete walls.
He said that it comes with so much power, with such huge stones that not only these walls, it will destroy the entire village in a minute and the same thing happened in Dharali. Everything was destroyed in less than 1 minute. Environmental experts say that rivers need space to flow, their flood plains cannot be encroached upon.
Such places should be constantly monitored
If there had not been much encroachment here, it is possible that there would not have been much loss of life and property. Secondly, since this is a dangerous area, the government should keep a constant watch on such places. Like the area of South Lhonak Lake in Sikkim, the government is saying that early warning systems are being installed and everyone is doing it.
But in reality all this has not been done, whereas the government should have done all these things. He said that when the accident happened in Chamboli in February 2021, the government said the same thing. Earlier in 2013 also these things were said, but till now nothing has been done.
There is a need to put pressure on the government regarding this - Himanshu Thakkar
Thakkar said that earlier such accidents were very rare, but now incidents of cloudburst and mountain collapse are coming to the fore every day. He said that the danger is increasing manifold due to the blind race for development and economy. The public should put pressure on the government and its representatives so that they can be stopped from doing wrong.
In the end, he said that climate change will happen and floods will also occur, glaciers will also flow. But when floods occur, there is a need to think about minimising the damage caused by them and there is a need to put pressure on the government so that such incidents do not take place.
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