The Ruin of Uttarakhand

WILL THERE BE A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IN UTTARAKHAND?

While the most degenerating thing about time is its capacity to destroy the moment, yet its most profound quality is to recreate the past. It was during the hill people’s agitation to demand statehood for itself, from the administratively unmanageable and geographically abundant Uttar Pradesh, that the then Chief of Army Staff, late Gen Bipin Chandra Joshi had brought the matter about the atrocities committed by the State administration upon the agitationists, to the notice of the Raksha Mantri. The reason for doing so was to urge the Minister to intervene and persuade the UP Chief Minister to allay the fears and foreboding in the minds of the vast numbers of soldiers who hail from the region, about the safety and security of their kith, kin and brethren, who live in the villages of the hill districts of Garhwal and Kumaon, to which they belong. It was the Chief’s view that, should the situation not be handled in a politically correct and compassionate manner, there was a very likely possibility of the troops from the hill districts deserting their posts and units en masse, to be with their people in their time of distress and need. While that did not happen and political sagacity prevailed in the Centre and the State governments respectively, Uttarakhand was carved out from the eight districts of Garhwal and Kumaon region of Uttar Pradesh and Nitya Nand Swami became its first Chief Minister. There was a sense of great joy and celebration among the people, who thought this to be the first step towards the alleviation of their woes and miseries. The political decision which was forced upon the people of the hills by making it a part of the State of Uttar Pradesh had to an extent been redressed. There was new hope for these people, which was rooted in their belief that the political leadership which now emerged to fill the void, would be driven by a sense of service and empathy towards those causes, which  midwifed  the birth of Uttarakhand. But that was not to be, as politics in India is driven more by double speak, hypocrisy, corruption and a vote bank strategy, which subsumes and destroys all ideology and waters down party manifestos. The politics which emerged in Uttarakhand was no different and expediency rather than rectitude and probity took centre stage, to further exacerbate the pitiful condition, which continues to abound in the villages in the higher reaches of the State. Poor infrastructure, scarcity of water and power, paucity of worthwhile schools and colleges, absence of quality hospitals and medical facilities, a committed bureaucracy, continuous migration of the youth from the villages in search of employment, want of vision in the local civil authorities to regulate wanton construction activity under the garb of development and failure on the part of the government to promote sustainable growth and capitalise on the intrinsic potential of the region for pilgrim, adventure, cultural and eco tourism,  have been the  bane of  Uttarakhand

It was social activism, which saved the forest cover of the State that stands at 65% of the total land mass and gave to the country its environment and ecology driven revolution, under the name of ‘Chipko Andolan’ . In the ecologically sensitive and fragile Himalayan Region, deforestation can bring about disaster of mammoth proportions. Had the ‘Chipko Andolan’ not happened, one can well imagine the gravity of destruction that would have visited the regions, which have been badly affected in the recent deluge. It is an interesting observation, which one can make in Uttarakhand that in those areas of economic/commercial activity where the government has no business to be in, it is and where it should be effective and exercise regulation, it is absent. The Garhwal and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigams are a testimony to this and have bulwarked quality development of tourism, in its many ramifications. There is no regulatory authority in the State which oversees land use and construction activity, which is the biggest money earner for the politicians and the bureaucracy. The pressure of construction activity in the ecologically fragile region of the hills has made these areas extremely vulnerable to any weather or else seismic occurrences and the government is party to this chaos which is unfolding itself in Uttarakhand. The politicians as also the bureaucracy of the State are in cahoots to siphon as much money as they can from the various mafias, who have transferred their many illicit operations from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh into Uttarakhand. The bureaucracy, which is largely imported from the parent State and is neither competent or else passionate about the well being of Uttarakhand, is comfortable and secure with the thought of making hay while the sun shines and then reverting back to their places of domicile, on superannuation on retirement.  

I can only think of the state of mind of the soldiers who hail from the hill districts of Garhwal and Kumaon,in the wake of the disaster that has visited Uttarakhand. Would it be any different from what General Joshi had thought it to be then? The only difference being that it was Mulayam Singh Yadav who was Chief Minister then and now it is Vijay Bahuguna, a son of the soil and son of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna. This is the Uttarakhand, which the people thought then would be a panacea for most of their problems, but instead has been worse than what it was. Will we see a light at the end of the tunnel in Uttarakhand? I doubt.

Brigadier S D Dangwal

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