Times of India: Nainital: Friday, August 04, 2017.
The
Uttarakhand high court, on Tuesday, remarked that disaster management in the
region, which is highly prone to natural calamity due to its fragile mountains,
tectonic activity and climatic events, was a matter of public welfare. The HC
had last month rapped the Centre for its “casual approach” to disaster
management and asked it to reply within three weeks on what steps were being
taken to monitor Himalayan glaciers and prevent related calamities.
The court was
hearing a PIL filed by Ajay Gautam, a resident of Delhi, which sought regular
monitoring and mapping of glaciers, glacial lakes and landslide-prone areas in
the Himalayas. In the course of the argument, the petitioner produced a list of
melting glaciers and said that only Gomukh was being monitored out of the 1,100
glaciers in Uttarakhand. The next hearing of the case is scheduled on August
14.
The petition,
filed in 2014, stated that regular monitoring of Himalayan glaciers is required
to examine effects of climate change. “Widespread glacial retreat in the
Himalayas has resulted in the formation of many glacial lakes. Glacier retreat
and shrinking could form dangerous moraines whose breaching may generate
floods,” said the petition.
“Even after
spending Rs 3.9 crore, no equipment has been purchased till date by the state
which can detect a live person trapped under debris and boulders. The Centre,
in its counter affidavit, had claimed that funds were released to the state
from time to time. Both the state and central governments were just playing
blame game with each other,” said Gautam, who had also filed a PIL related to
cremation of those who had lost their lives in the Kedarnath tragedy.
In a PIL
filed in June, Gautam alleged that techniques, instruments and response system
used during the Kedarnath tragedy were “antiquated and not efficient enough to
handle disasters of such big magnitude”. Gautam had filed an RTI application in
September 2014 which revealed that the tools and equipment used to rescue
people during the Kedarnath tragedy were items like generator, video camera,
spray machine, water proof bag, gloves, flashlight etc.
The June
petition alleged that in 2012 the state allotted Rs 3.9 crore for purchase of
equipment to deal with disasters but no equipment was bought. The petition also
said that Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports have found financial
and operational mismanagement in disaster management. The CAG further pointed
out that the state disaster management authority was virtually non-functional
since its inception in October 2011.
“The
Kedarnath tragedy of 2013 shook the whole nation and brought to the notice of
the entire country that disaster management techniques are not even up to mark
to handle calamities. As stated herein, Uttaranchal is one of most vulnerable
states with respect to possible natural disasters. However, despite the said
fact and repeated warnings from different independent and government agencies,
the state government drastically failed to take required steps to prevent any
further tragedy of the nature that happened at Kedarnath in 2013,” stated the
petition.
.JPG)
.JPG)
