The glacier must be punished. If someone files an FIR against this glacier, we hope that the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh will give orders to arrest this glacier immediately and get it punished. Yes, it has to be noted that there are thousands of glaciers. It is necessary to arrest the right glacier. By the way, the arrest of any one glacier will complete the task, it will set an example for the rest of the glaciers.
They have given a big push on Uttarakhand development. Any way, construction of this dam project has continued over the last 15 years. It is led to a lot of development even after being built and broken. Now it does not matter much if the workers were killed or disappeared. After all, someone has to sacrifice for the development.
Hundreds of labourers have been killed in the tunnels of every dam in the country and Uttarakhand. Nothing new has happened. It is the fault of the workers that they did not prepare for rescue. It is not the responsibility of the government or the construction company to provide employment to workers and security at the same time.
After all ,these dams are giving electricity and revenue. What are these workers paying? On the contrary, the government has to pay compensation. It is good that these contractors do not keep a firm record of all the workers. Then why to worry! Few millions of rupees should be given. Some tears shed. Big statements should be made in front of the media. What else do we want from the government?
Anyway, the government is saying that early warning systems have been put in place. Work on this is going on very fast. This early alarm system is being discovered since the great disaster of 2010, 2012 and then in 2013, we sincerely hope that it will be discovered after some more disasters.
The tunnel boring machine of Tapovan-Vishnugad Dam costs around 200 million and gets stuck, its coffer dam breaks. Has work stopped, ever?
But the construction is on, continuously. It means this project is continuously providing employment. People come, work, buy goods from the market, the government also gets revenue from this, especially by the sale of liquor.
Right now, a big project should be brought to protect the dam projects, in which a very thick and high wall of cement should be built behind all the big rivers in the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi valley, and the contract of this should be given to the J****e Company.
Their dam was not completely broken even in the disaster of 2013 and built again in a year. There was no investigation at all. They appear to have a good “setting”. Don’t confuse this wall to the wall to stop the migrants between Mexico and the US, announced by former US President “Namaste Trump” neither with the wall between the hearts, which is prevalent nowadays.
This wall is to stop water which comes suddenly from the mountains. Actually this ineffective glacier falls, sometimes clouds burst, all of these cause big loss to the dam companies. This wall should be built to stop them. So that projects can be safe.
Because the Tapovan Vishnugad project was to be built in 5 years, now 15 years passed and it is still under construction. Madhyameshwar, Kali Ganga 1 & 2, Phata-Byong and Singoli-Bhatwari on Mandakini, Vishnuprayag Dam on Alaknanda, then the coffer Dam of Srinagar dam also broken several times.
A tax should be imposed on the public for these. Such as sanitation and agriculture has been imposed. Which should be named as “Gods Act Tax”. The revenue from this should be used to compensate the dam companies at the time of disaster, so that they can get their loss repaid. This should be different from the amount you get from insurance.
Apart from compensation, it does not spend on anything else. It is not an ordinary fund like MLA or MP fund, Nirbhaya fund or afforestation fund, spend it or not or spend it according to one’s own need.
Environmentalists are making a lot of noise that trees are cut down. Mountains are falling. Good roads are a must for development. A train is also needed. There is no need of Hostels for students at block level in Uttarakhand. But having good roads and trains will increase their employment opportunities and children will be able to go out and work since their childhood, Uttarakhand will have a name in the country. There will be ease of migration, traffic will increase and the economy will also be strong.
The cutting of trees, the breaking of mountains, the falling of glaciers, the bursting of clouds all speed up development. New constructions occur. New contracts open. New jobs open up. New inaugurations occur. There is work in that too. The TRP of the leaders-ministers will increase. The opportunity for speech opens. Then all this happens and This is how the Ganges of Development flows. Seeing all this reminds me of a song, “ram teri ganga meli ho gayi”.
In the end I will say that, please control all your feelings, please do not get hurt. The author also disagrees and wants only Development! Development! Development! Ganges go to hell, environment go to hell, workers go to hell. Array, what did I say again! SORRY
*Views expressed are the author’s own.
Related:
Uttarakhand lost over 50,000 hectares of forest land since 1991: MoEF data