LUCKNOW: Water activist Rajendra Singh believes that glacier-burst in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Sunday was a man-made disaster.
Singh, popularly known as ‘Waterman’ for his indefatigable efforts for water conservation in drought prone regions of India, claimed that he and other environmentalists had been warning of such disasters in Uttarakhand region for decades but government authorities never paid heed.
Ignoring the alarms being raised by environmentalists was the reason behind five such calamities in the region since 1992, he further said.
Speaking to TOI from Gorakhpur, where he will attend the convocation of the Madan Mohan Malviya University of Technology on Tuesday as the chief guest, Singh appealed to the governments not to construct any big dams near the three Himalayan rivers.
“Since 1992, I have been continuously appealing that dams at the three Himalayan rivers — Mandakini, Alaknanda, and Bhagirathi — in Uttarakhand should not be built as the region has steep slopes, is highly fragile, and falls in a high seismic zone,” he said.
Waterman said that there are no economic, cultural or spiritual benefits in constructing anything in that region. The new construction leads to the problem of soil erosion and silting which block the riverways that eventually end up in such calamities as witnessed on Sunday, he added.
The common cause behind the 2013 floods or Sunday’s disaster was the construction done at these three rivers.
“Dam construction, hydro power on any other construction near these rivers is an invitation to natural disaster. If this advice is still not taken seriously more such glacier outbreaks or other catastrophes will occur,” Singh warned.
“I got 11,800 small dams constructed in the past 38 years and none has broken down till date. In fact, they have proved very instrumental in replenishing the environment. I am not against development but we should opt for a development route which does not lead to displacement, destruction, and disaster,” said the Waterman.
In 2018, renowned Ganga activist Prof GD Agarwal had sat on fast unto death against the construction of dams in north India and sacrificed his life after 111 days of fasting, Singh reminded.
Singh suggested that to avoid future calamities no new construction should be done and the region around three Himalayan rivers in Uttarakhand should be declared as eco-sensitive.