Next Maha Kumbh on sand as rivers may dry up: Sonam Wangchuk in letter to PM

Fresh from his tour to the US where he carried a piece of ice from a glacier in Ladakh to flag their fast melting, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that India should take a lead in addressing the issue.

Drawing attention to the gravity of the situation in the Himalayas, Wangchuk told a press conference in the capital that if steps are not taken to restore these glaciers which are the source of perennial rivers, the next Maha Kumbh after 144 years may be held on sand as the rivers may dry up.

Wangchuk, who has been working on preserving Himalayan glaciers, travelled from Ladakh to Delhi, and then to the US with a piece of ice from a glacier in Khardung La. The ice was placed in a container wrapped in Ladakh's iconic Pashmina wool for insulation.

The ice was taken to the UN office in Delhi, before he flew to the US where it travelled along with the climate activist to the Harvard Kennedy School, MIT, at Boston and to the UN headquarters in New York, before being immersed at the confluence of Hudson River and East River in New York on February 21, a month ahead of The World Day for Glaciers which will be observed on March 21.

The United Nations (UN) has declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation.

Wangchuk, who sent out a message of reducing demands instead of finding new means of supply to manage climate change, delivered his talks with the glacial ice melting next to him, symbolising how glaciers are receding as talks go on.

Back in India, the climate activist recounted how they had to trek a few kilometres to get the ice from the glacier at Khardung La, the highest motorable pass in the world at 5,359 metres in Leh district.

Wangchuk rued that over the years, glacial ice has been receding but action remains delayed.

In his open letter to the Prime Minister, Wangchuk stressed that India should take a lead in the year of glaciers, as the Himalayas have the third largest deposit of ice and snow on Earth after the Arctic and Antarctica, fetching it the name 'Third Pole'.

"India needs to take a lead in glacier preservation as we have the Himalayas, and our sacred rivers such as the Ganga and Yamuna come out of them," Wangchuk said.

Stating that he was an admirer of the environment initiatives taken by Prime Minister Modi, especially the 'Mission LiFE' campaign, Wangchuk in his letter urged Modi to set up a commission to assess the state of Himalayan glaciers.

"As we all know, the glaciers of the Himalayas are melting very fast and if this and the accompanying deforestation continues at the current rate, in few decades our sacred rivers like Ganga, Bhramputra and Indus might become seasonal rivers. This may also mean that the next Maha Kumbh might only happen on the sandy remains of the sacred river," Wangchuk said.

There is very little awareness on the ground among the common people, he rued.

"Therefore, I believe it is time that India, under your leadership, takes the lead as the nation with the most glaciers in the Himalayas," Wangchuk said.

The climate activist suggested setting up of a commission to assess the state of the Himalayas glaciers, declaring major glaciers like Gangotri and Yamunotri as national treasures, and framing special policies that protect the Himalayas glaciers.