I spent my childhood during 40's at Naini Tal, which was developed by the Britishers as a Hill Station. In the last decade of 19th century there was a big land slide in the town, in which more that 80-90 persons died. Taking a lesson from this natural calamity they developed the town with very strict building norms. In the first decade of the 20th century the town was connected by a motor road to the plains. That road was considered one of the best motorable roads of the world with special emphasis to drainage having regard to the heavy rainfall in the region. They also devised a very intricate system of drainage for Naini Tal town, remnants of which are still in existence, although neglected by the present Rulers.
One of the restriction, meticulously observed, was the restriction on the carrying weight of the vehicles plying in the roads of hills. On every vehicle it was written "Athaarah seat yaa 50 Man" i.e. the vehicles were prohibited to carry not more than 18 persons including their luggage or other goods in excess of 50 maunds, approximately equal to 45-46 quintals. This restriction was meticulously observed. No vehicles were allowed to ply in the interior of Naini Tal town.
Compare this to the situation now prevailing. There is no restriction enforced for carrying heavy loads by buses and trucks. Jeeps are found carrying more that 15 persons, So is the case with buses and, which are overloaded, in utter disregard to their load carrying capacity and the topography of the Region. The hills of Uttarakhand are very unstable.and the roads are now being built by the Administration in utter disregard of the engineering norms with shoddy workmanship using sub-standard material,, as a result of which they are not able to withstand the fury of Himalayan rainy season. When overloaded trucks, buses and jeeps ply on these roads they create strong vibrations in the roads, making them unstable and the danger is compounded by the very very heavy traffic on these roads.
Similar is the case with the construction of houses. Houses beyond 2/3 storeys was unheard of in Hills during the British rule. There were very very strict rules and bye laws for construction of houses. Now we see 5 to 8 storeyd houses and hotels allowed to be constructed just near the river banks or the flood level of rivers. Thanks to the greed of builders and corruption, the local administration kept a blind eye to all this, which is now the root cause of loss of human lives that we are now witnessing all over Uttarakhand, which is now being attributed to the fury of Nature.
No one is asking the question why lacs and lacs of people from toddlers to aged persons and thousands of vehicles were allowed to enter the higher reaches of Himalayas without any back-up plan and support system. People were left at the mercy of greedy transporters and hoteliers. A few years back I had the opportunity of visiting Sikkim, where the topography is similar to that of Uttarakhand. But there is a system of regulating the flow of tourists beyond Gangtok. No private vehicle is allowed to ply beyond Gangtok and the tourists have to travel through small jeeps, which are driven by the local youth, well aware of the topography. The entire State is divided into 4 zones and vehicle of one zone can not ply in otber zones. Tourists are permitted to go in the interior having regard to the infracture available at the places visited. Had all these measures been adopted in Uttarakhand such large scale human tragedy would not have happened.
The present calamity is a stern warning to the powers that be that they should amend their attitude in tune with the Nature, as the Britishers did when they ruled in Uttarakhand.
My deepest sympathies to the victims of this deluge. May the souls of the dead rest in peace.
May the God now give to our Rulers the wisdom not to interfere with Mother Nature in the present manner in the name of "Vikaas" steeped in all pervading corruption.
