From Tapovan To Silkyara: Why Tinkering With The Himalayas Is Probably A Bad Idea

Rescue teams are racing against time, and "operations are underway on a war footing" to reach the 40 workers who have been trapped inside an under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, since Sunday morning.

The tunnel, located on the Yamunotri National Highway near Silkyara and part of the Chardham Highway Project, collapsed in the early hours of November 12.

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What is Char Dham Road Project?

The Silkyara Tunnel is 4531 meters long and is being constructed at a cost of Rs 853.79 crore.

Once completed, the all-weather Char Dham Road Project aims to reduce the journey from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri Dham by 26 kilometres.

In July, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had told the Parliament that about 601 km on the 825-km 'Char Dham Yatra All Weather Road' has been completed.

How Char Dham Road Project became controversial

But the highly ambitious project, cutting through the fragile Himalayas, has been controversial since the start.

While the government has argued that apart from the pilgrimage, the 'Char Dham All Weather Road is strategically important as it makes the movement of army personnel and equipment to the India-China border easier, environmentalists and NGOs have argued that the project will be an ecological disaster.

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They have pointed out that the large-scale deforestation and blasting and drilling along the slopes will make the hills more vulnerable to disasters like landslides.

Activists have argued that the government overlooked the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and went ahead with the project.

Why HPC chairman Ravi Chopra resigned

In December 2021, the Supreme Court had allowed the double-lane widening of three strategic stretches of the project and also set up an oversight committee headed by retired SC judge Justice AK Sikri to ensure the implementation of recommendations made by a High Powered Committee (HPC) on environmental concerns such as hill-cutting, muck disposal and preservation of water resources.

Following this, in January 2022, environmentalist Ravi Chopra, chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed HPC had, resigned from his post.

"They have slashed through pristine forests, wounding vulnerable Himalayan slopes to widen highways. Ever-increasing numbers of tourists speed along them, their vehicles spewing noxious gases that cover the towering peaks ahead in an unsightly haze. The engineers exult and circulate photographs proving their conquest of Nature, little realising that they too are a part of Nature and cannot survive if their own natural environment is destroyed," Chopra had written in his resignation letter.

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What Ravi Chopra said on Silkyara

Commenting on the Silkyara tunnel collapse, Chopra said that such incidents will continue to happen if ecological concerns are not addressed.

For development in the Himalayas, it is necessary to first address ecological concerns, he said, adding sustainable development demands approaches that are both geologically and ecologically sound.

"Unless this balance is achieved, such horrific incidents will continue to happen," Chopra told PTI.

Char Dham Road Project: a freeway to disaster

In 2021, CP Rajendran, an adjunct professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, had termed the Char Dham Road Project as 'a freeway to disaster'.

"Char Dham Pariyojana is a fundamental violation of all environmental norms and conservation strategies that need to be followed in the Himalayan mountain terrains for any constructional activities. From environmental impact assessment (EIA), forest clearances to circulars, concealment of documents ¨C this has turned out to be an unscientific road-widening project with catastrophic consequences," he had said.

Why construction methods are wrong

Another expert, former advisor to the State Planning Commission, Harshapati Uniyal, questioned the methods being adopted for the construction of Char Dham all-weather highways.

"These all-weather roads are a tragedy for Uttarakhand, especially because of the wrong techniques being used for their widening. The river valley alignment cannot be considered safe. If you disturb the slopes, disasters like landslides are inevitable," he said.

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How infrastructure is undoing Uttarakhand

It should be noted that Uttarakhand has seen a series of major natural disasters in recent years, including the Tapovan Vishnugad tunnel collapse to landslides in many places and the land subsidence in Joshimath, which are directly or indirectly linked to the massive infrastructure projects underway in the state.

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