Rain fury leaves trail of destruction, losses worth crores

The rain fury which wreaked havoc, leaving 318 persons dead and devastated private and public property worth crores of rupees has put a question mark on the development strategy and the urgent need to address the issue of climate change, which is beginning to manifest itself in the form of such freak weather.

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The unexceptionally heavy rains and untimely snow when the monsoon was receding has left behind a trail of destruction, claiming many lives this monsoon from July 1 onwards. The rain at some places was almost 2,500 per cent more than normal at this time of the year. On the contrary, districts like Lahaul Spiti, which had deficient rains, ended up having maximum cloud bursts, leaving even experts baffled. The worst affected districts have been Chamba and Shimla where 43 and 46 people died followed by Mandi and Kullu where 42 and 34 people died, respectively. 

Most experts term this unusual weather as a result of deforestation, loss of top soil cover, constructions along river beds and unregulated development activities like road construction. “It is such events which indicate towards the growing impact of climate change to which we have to adapt and adjust, so as to minimise damage,” asserts DC Rana, Special Secretary, Revenue and Environment, who has been closely monitoring the situation on a day-to-day basis. 

“Such irregular weather and heavy rains are a result of unusual disturbances, which cannot be directly linked to climate change for which long-time data is required,” opined SS Randhawa, senior scientist, Council for Science, Technology and Environment. 

Unfortunately, neither the people nor the government seem to have learnt any lessons after the 2001 and 2005 floods in the Satluj, which almost threatened the existence of Rampur town and other habitations close to the turbulent river. Despite tall claims by various agencies that no construction will be allowed to come up close to the river, there is practically no check on it by the district administration. 

Restoring the badly damaged roads and bridges is the biggest challenge for the cash-strapped state, which has little sources of revenue generation. With October-November being one of the favoured Pooja holiday season especially for Bengali, Maharashtrian and Gujarati tourists, and the tourism sector is bound to take a beating. “As such, we have had a very bad season because of water scarcity that plagued Shimla. Now the doom spelt by the rains has created a panic situation where tourists want to avoid Himachal,” says a worried MK Seth of the Tourism Industry Stakeholders Association. 

The local Meteorological Centre had issued an alert much in advance and the government, too, had issued an avalanche warning and advisory, especially for people living downstream of rivers and dams. However, the ferocity of the rains was so severe that there was little anybody could have done, especially in the case of unexpected snow. 

With Rohtang Pass and Lahaul Spiti experiencing over four feet of snow in September after almost 25 years, everyone was caught unawares. Rescuing the tourists and labourers stranded on the Gramphu-Kaza and Leh-Koksar-Manali road was a big challenge for the district administration as well as for the Border Road Organisation, with the majority being airlifted. 

As a cash-strapped Himachal played host to the Finance Commission team here, the losses on account of the rains have been pegged at over Rs 3,000 crore. The worst hit are the roads and bridges with the Public Works Department alone suffering a damage of Rs 887.90 crore, followed by the Irrigation and Public Health Department, which suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 391.91 crore because hundreds of drinking water and irrigation schemes have been hit. The damage to agriculture, especially kharif crops, has been pegged at Rs 79.55 crore while the horticulture sector has suffered a damage of Rs 9.26 crore since July 1, 2018. The power sector has suffered a damage of Rs 24.50 crore. “The total losses suffered by the government in various sectors this monsoon have been assessed at Rs 1,443.92  crore, with the figure likely to shoot up as information about damages is still pouring in, say officials.  

Scientists admit that steps will have to be taken to ensure that there is no loss of tree and green cover because the top soil is being eroded, triggering landslides, damaging roads and causing floods. “The area around Tabo monastery in Spiti where it was too cold to grow apples, the area being a cold desert, has now become warm enough to plant apple orchards and many progressive farmers are growing apples in Hamirpur and Bilaspur, a clear indication of global warming and the changing agro-climatic zoning,” says Bidhi Chand, a farmer from Bilaspur.  

The din to impose a complete moratorium on new hydro-power projects till the process of preparing the action plan and holding Cumulative Environment Impact Assessment (CEIA) studies for all river basins is complete is becoming shriller with the local communities having to live with the fallout of the indiscriminate and unregulated harnessing of hydel power.