Monday, 18 March 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Experts discussed climate change, disasters and environmental concerns in Uttarakhand at the release of the book ‘Making Molehills of Mountains: Demystifying Disasters in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand’ on Sunday. The release of the book published by Dehradun-based environmental action and advocacy group SDC Foundation, was released at Doon Library and Research Centre in the presence of climate and environment writers and thinkers, who spoke on Uttarakhand’s environmental concerns, climate change, sustainable development and government policies related to development and environment.
Geologist YP Sundriyal called the book an important document because the data published in the book can play an important role not only in planning but also in research. Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) executive director Piyoosh Rautela talked about how people never built houses in agricultural land and were constructed at a height. “Later, as the population increased, people started settling in places sensitive to landslides,” he said. Citing the example of Joshimath, he said the biggest problem is drainage. If proper drainage arrangements are not made, Joshimath-like conditions may arise in many other places in the future.
Geologist SP Sati questioned the development model for Uttarakhand. Citing various research papers, he said that instead of taking such research into account while formulating plans, policy makers look down upon such research. Referring to unprecedented weather-related events in recent years, he said that earlier where there was less rain, it is now getting more torrential. He stressed the need to keep these aspects in mind while making plans.
Advocates Snigdha Tiwari and Abhijay Negi, who represent various environmental issues including the Joshimath subsidence in the Uttarakhand High Court, said that the governments need to pay heed to the reports of experts. Instead, efforts are being made to keep them away from the common people. Referring to the reports related to the investigation of the Joshimath land subsidence, Negi said that they had to resort to the court even to make these reports public.
Anoop Nautiyal of SDC Foundation said that this book has been dedicated to the 29 young mountaineers who died in the Draupadi Ka Danda II mountaineering expedition in 2022. He said that since this incident, SDC Foundation started the process of preparing monthly reports on major disasters and accidents. So far, the foundation has released 16 such reports.
The book has 14 authors writing articles on several challenges being faced in Uttarakhand. The articles include those by State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) commandant Manikant Mishra, USDMA executive director Piyoosh Rautela, environmental law consultant and advocate Archana Vaidya and lawyer Vikram Hegde, surgeon and professor of trauma surgery and critical care at AIIMS Rishikesh Dr Madhur Uniyal, environmental science professor SP Sati, author, activist and anthropologist Lokesh Ohri, advocate-activist Abhijay Negi, green climate and human rights activist Snigdha Tiwari, climate and land reporter Vaishnavi Rathore, founder member of Ganga Ahvaan Priyadarshini Patel, former director of CSIR-IIP Anjan Ray and PhD scholar Ramesh Goswami. The book also has four human stories of Jyoti Semwal, a Kedarnath widow; Anita Kanwal, a woman living in a village near the Sitlakhet forest, and who along with several people has vowed to protect the forest from fires and people; Gabbar Singh, the foreman who was trapped with 40 other men in the Silkyara tunnel mishap and SDRF inspector Pramod Singh Rawat.
