The successful rescue after a 17-day effort of all 41 workers trapped in the collapsed tunnel that they were constructing in Silkyara in Uttarakhand is being celebrated by all Indians. Beyond the celebration, the incident has prompted question over the environmental challenges that the Char Dham project is posing to a fragile section of the Himalaya, and the manner in which the project ducked the requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment.

As the rescue operation was underway, Adil Akhzer of Awaaz South Asia spoke to Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change and an avid mountaineer, on the frequent disasters happening in the Himalayan region and what can be done to prevent the next occurrence.

Excerpts from the interview:

How fragile is the Himalayan region? Why has the Uttarkashi tunnel collapsed?

The whole Himalayan region is a very fragile ecological zone. Geologically it is also a very young terrain. It is still in the midst of being formed. Moreover, it is a shifting terrain. This means that you have to be extra careful when you undertake any construction project, because construction disturbs the terrain around it.

Also, if you have projects of the kind that we have here in Uttarkashi that is a tunnel project, several things are required. First, very large-scale tunnelling needs very large machines. Second, blasting the mountainside is necessary, which completely disturbs the terrain over a large area. So, if you construct a highway or a railway, the danger of disturbing the terrain and causing landslides or avalanches always exists.

Why are landslides & other environmental disasters frequently happening in Himalayan region?

One of the problems is debris control. When the digging of tunnels or dams takes place, a huge amount of earth is removed. The rules say the contractor must remove the debris from the site, but the fact of the matter is that most of the debris is just thrown on the hillside and, in some cases, even thrown into the river. This raises the bottom of the river, which means that when the river is in spate it causes more frequent flooding. If you throw the debris on the side, the natural drainage in many of these areas gets blocked, leading to water-logging in the upper reaches and often a large-scale shortage of water in the lower reaches. We see this in many places in the Himalayas.

What precautions should be taken when undertaking development in the Himalayas?

In the Himalayas, you need to be extra careful before undertaking a project. You need to look at the terrain, at the soil condition, to see whether this is a fragile area or not. This is something which we have not really paid much attention to. This Uttarkashi tunnel collapse is not the first time such a disaster has happened. There are several incidents that have taken place in the recent past.

The other aspect is the Char Dham highway. A highway means a huge amount of traffic is now traversing these areas. It also means many more tourists, more guest houses and hotels. On the other side, there is no proper control over or management of waste. We will find that large amounts of waste are thrown on the hillside in many of these areas. There’s no control, no waste management systems and no punishment for violations.

The question to be asked is, do we really need to make these kinds of highways for pilgrims which are not tourist spots?

The Himalayas are synonymous with pilgrimages but now they are turning into all-weather tourist spots. They do not have the carrying capacity for so many people. The Char Dham highway will be followed by a railway from Rishikesh to Karnaprayag. Another 27 or 28 tunnels will be built along the way. The whole Alaknanda valley is being completely ruined. Why do you need a railway in addition to a 4-6 lane highway?

There are several defence-linked developmental projects taking place in the Himalayas…

It has been argued that the requirements of defence and national security may require loosening of environmental rules. But if our border infrastructure is frequently disrupted as a result of frequent avalanches and landslides, how does that improve defence? Again, my argument is that good defence demands paying close and careful attention to the environment. They are not antithetical.

Meanwhile, huge losses are taking place in the wake of the disasters…

 The mistake is to put the environment versus development, as if there is a trade-off between them or a contradiction between the two. That you must sacrifice one, in order to have the other. But that's a false choice.  Look at the amount of money that will be spent for frequent repairs to bring (projects like dams etc) back on stream after repeated avalanches, landslides or tunnel collapses.

Today, we are only looking at project cost and claim that tourism will bring livelihood to the people, but that is a short-term kind of gain. In the long-term, if the area around the development starts collapsing, you know people's lives will be affected. That will bring even greater economic loss. I think we have now reached a stage where preserving the environment is becoming the condition for sustainable development.

What is the need of the hour?

The point I want to make is that in this very sensitive and very fragile ecological zone we must be very careful about what kind of projects we undertake. There are many other areas in the country where developmental projects can be undertaken, rather than in areas such as these which are so fragile and where the ecological impact will be far worse in the future.

Why do you need five-lane roads to pilgrimage sites? The whole idea of a pilgrimage was to travel to a remote place so that you had time to commune with yourself. But now you have thousands of people visiting the Himalayas every day. I think when so many people visit, the place loses its character as a pilgrimage.

Is climate change a major factor?

Climate change is certainly taking place, but climate change is also exacerbated by what human beings are doing in these ecologically sensitive zones. You cannot blame the collapse of the tunnel in Uttarkashi on climate change. It is fairly well established that there is a feedback loop between large developmental projects and climate change. Moreover, large crowds raise the temperature of a place which, in turn, has its own ecological impact. The factors causing climate change are all linked.