📍Uttarakhand at 26

📍Uttarakhand at 26

Another anniversary of Uttarakhand’s Foundation Day has come around today on 9 November. Let’s look at our report card, how we have done. Uttarakhand now counts along with Punjab, Haryana, and Western UP as a significant contributor to Delhi’s horrific air pollution. You heard that right. Farmers are burning crop residues and creating a pall of smoke in the mountain villages and the breeze is blowing it to Delhi. 

Trees are being cut at unprecedented rates and citizens have to resort to the old Chipko strategy to try and stop the chainsaws. Some bunch of airheads decided to make a Mandir Mala Mission to connect temples in a ring route. This by the way, also entailed the slashing of trees to make roads so that the “bhakts” could race around in their BMWs or Mercs or whatever, in a giddy round of “religious tourism”. Fodder for the chatterati at the next cocktail party.

Above Mission also entailed the chopping down of deodar trees at the sacred 2500 year old Jageshwar dham. These trees which are between 500 to 1000 years old are held as sacred manifestations of the Divine and are venerated along with the deity at the Jageshwar dham temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Entertainment programs like Bhajan Clubbing are organized at the Sri Kedarnath Jyotirlinga temple. Such events are a mix of high-decibel, contemporary electronic beats, rap, and rock-infused devotional music with traditional Shiva chants. This, in an ecologically sensitive zone imbued with the stillness of reverence. 

Joshimath along with other villages is sinking because of the land subsidence in the region caused largely by highly damaging mindless construction and mega projects. Chief among these is the blasting and unscientific slope-cutting for the Char Dham highway which weakened the structural base of the slope. This results in large chunks of the highway coming down every monsoon. 

The tragedy of the Joshimath region was foreseen long ago. In 1976 the Mishra Committee had warned that given the fragile nature of the region, heavy construction, digging, or blasting should be entirely banned to prevent a disaster. 

Rampant construction and senseless road cutting are taking a big toll on the stability of the mountains. Large and small landslides are increasing in frequency every year. 

Monumental incompetence and mindboggling corruption are dragging Uttarakhand down, a State that began with so much promise of becoming a haven in the hills amidst beautiful surroundings.