After their reorganisation into separate union territories, both Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been witnessing massive developmental push, with a number of projects underlining their journey of transformation. Be it Jammu, Kashmir, Leh or Kargil, there is new infrastructure being created everywhere, with massive construction taking the centre stage. However, there is a cost associated with development. If one needs proof, the year 2023 has plenty to offer. On January 2 this year, hundreds of people were displaced by a land subsidence event in Joshimath town in Uttarakhand and forced into relief camps. Experts as well as locals attributed the event to unscientific road construction and infrastructure projects coming up in the ecologically fragile zone.
The trouble came closer to us next month, when houses and building in Doda started developing cracks. As many as nineteen families were evacuated after their homes developed cracks at Nai Basti village in Thathri, 35 kilometres from Doda town along the Kishtwar-Batote National Highway, even as the authorities also declared unsafe a mosque and a religious school for girls at the same village. Days later, five families in Ramban were shifted to a school building after their houses developed cracks following an expansion work on a highway. Now, the National Green Tribunal panel has recommended banning civil construction in the land subsidence-hit area in Doda district and rehabilitating the affected families to a safer location, even as the experts have recommended that a detailed landslide hazard zonation of the entire town be conducted, preferably by the Geological Survey of India, in view of its similar geological and geomorphologic set-up.
Even as situation has aggravated to an extent that people have started comparing the same to that in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath — the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib — that is facing a major challenge due to land subsidence, the government is tight lipped on the reasons behind this development. At district level, authorities say that it is a problem of landslide and geologists from Chenab Valley power projects and National Highways Authority of India have already inspected the site, while Raj Bhavan has said that there was no need to create hype!
The neighbouring Ladakh has its own fears and apprehensions, one because of the massive developmental push it is witnessing, and second, because of the already fragile climate of the region. In fact, Ladakh has been dealing with numerous issues and concerns with regards to its climate and environment for long, which have only increased after the region was reorganised into a full-fledged union territory. These concerns of Ladakhis regarding their fragile climate and its protection are genuine and there is a wider consensus on that.
For Ladakh, its people and its administration, there is a lot to learn from the condition of Himalayas in Uttarakhand and the neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir. Situations like these present to all of us a question: can construction or “development” be undertaken in consonance with the natural ecology of a place, allowing nature to lead and determine such development rather than imposing human engineering on the environment? The need is to realise that the only development that is sustainable is that which respects and accommodates natural ecology – hills, forests and the sea.
