How did they go so wrong on Kalka-Shimla highway?

H Kishie Singh

Years ago I was on an expedition to climb Bhagirathi Peaks Two and Three. The Himalayas are the youngest range of mountains in the world. They are still growing. We got proof of this on Day One, while walking from Gangotri to Nandanvan, the base camp.

We had to traverse the glacier roped together, keeping to the centre of the glacier, which had crevices and ice blocks as big as SUVs as obstacles. The wisdom of such a foolhardy move was explained to us.

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If we walked on the sides of the glacier, next to the mountain there was a steady shower of stones. There was movement on the rock face! This is what is happening on the Kalka-Shimla highway.

Part of the reason is that as the sun came up and warmed the rock, expanding it, rock-bits flew off. The main reason was that the mountain is growing and not stable!

For the final assault on the summit, the climbers wore hard hats to protect their heads. All the peaks are over 6,500 metres above sea level and thanks to the rarefied atmosphere, the pebbles, having no wind resistance, pick up speed and become deadly missiles. This simple fact of the Himalayas being the youngest mountains and still growing was unknown to one and all who decided to widen the Kalka-Shimla road from Parwanoo to Dharampur. They have been at it for a couple of years and there seems to be no end in sight.

Landslides are the major problem. Why? The mountain has been cut vertically. Any observant eye would see what is wrong. Compare it with the Himalayan Expressway. Cut at an angle, a steel mesh has been laid across the face of the mountain to hold back the rocks. No landslides.

The current contractor did not learn a thing from the Himalayan Expressway which is right next to it. It could be due to cost-cutting measures.

There is some modern machinery but pick axe, shovels, a hand-held chisel and hammer can be seen in use. These are the same tools that were used to widen the road for tongas to go up to Simla (its original name) a couple of hundred years ago.

Another very serious problem, the entire mountainside has been denuded. Not a tree, not a shrub, not a blade of grass to provide some cohesion to the soil. Even if some fast-growing trees and shrubs are planted, it will take 15 to 20 years to provide some strength to the soil.

Another disaster, man-made again

When the mountain crumbles, falls on to the road and blocks it, help comes in the way of a bulldozer.

The dozer then pushes the boulders, the mud and the debris over the side, down the khud. Road clear!

Years ago I interviewed Sunderlal ‘Chipko’ Bahuguna. This is the essence of his views: the malba and debris must be trucked away, not pushed over into the khud where it covers and destroys small bushes, grass and weeds. That is what holds the soil together. They get covered by the debris, which is a combination of stone and mud. The rains come and wash away the mud, leaving the boulders, stones and bajri behind. Nothing will grow on this.

The Chipko man was right about a lot of things. One can only hope he is wrong. So far there has been no indication of this.

— The writer is a motoring expert