Paritosh Kimothi
The surge in political drama, announcements and actions ahead of the Assembly elections is nothing new. As usual, politicians are targeting their rivals, claiming credit and making promises to woo the voters. With all this expected to rise in intensity in the coming days, the focus of the general public is expected to be diverted to issues raised by politicians. Seasoned politicians have a peculiar skill of turning real problems into ‘issues’ which are talked about more than acted upon. As a result, apart from those who have either lost faith in the system or are busy tackling the problems in hand, for the others, the issues raised by the politicians will take up considerable space and time on all forms of media which the people consume. At times, what this does is that the really important issues which we ignore at our own peril get sidelined.
Earlier, while inaugurating various works in Kedarnath during November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the number of people who will visit Uttarakhand in this decade will be more than the number of arrivals in the past 100 years. More recently this month, he launched a number of other major infrastructural projects which will drastically enhance access to and travelling in Uttarakhand. People do desire development and these projects will generate employment for many and raise the incomes of many. However, for a state appearing to put most of its eggs in the tourism basket, it appears illogical that the carrying capacity of the state has not yet been ascertained properly. The establishment will probably do that after scores of hotels, home stays and other enterprises catering to tourists and pilgrims are constructed in the coming years. At a time when tourists thronging hill stations via cities in the plains during holidays cause traffic jams and other problems in both the hill stations and the cities in the plains, can one imagine the scenario when it takes less than three hours to travel by road from Delhi to Dehradun and the Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail starts operating in a few years? It might become difficult to find a peaceful and garbage free spot in the mountains which are so far known for tranquility and natural beauty. This might be the case especially since the government has so far failed to put in place a proper garbage disposal and regulatory system to minimise the negative impacts of human activities. The environment has already suffered damage and will suffer more damage in the coming years. One may think that a few trees have to be cut and some damage has to be caused to build infrastructure but the damage in Uttarakhand appears indiscriminate and continues even after the projects are completed. For example, the dumping of muck generated in roadworks is often improperly dumped in various locations. The damage which continues after completion of the projects is all too visible in Dehradun also because of the skewed vision of the planners and policy makers. In the past decade alone, various developments in the provisional state capital have been accompanied by consistent deterioration in its environment and life of the citizens who now waste considerably more time trying to navigate roads congested by toxic belching vehicles- many of which should not even be operating on the roads. The negative side-effects of such ‘development’ are more serious than traffic congestion.
One recalls that political parties had included the environment as one of the aspects of their election manifesto but the party in power and its main rival cannot be expected to really do the needful. This is tragic because Uttarakhand can actually set an example in environmental conservation and sustainable development not only for other Indian states but also for the global community. We have examples like the Baranaja mixed cropping system of Garhwal and Chipko movement which are only two of the aspects which are acknowledged globally but appear to be ignored in Uttarakhand.
So, as the politicians once again gain the attention of the public with their sly political drama, it is vital for us to understand that the line between prosperity and perdition is thin.
