The trolley is stuck mid-way in the water, and to release it, someone has to pull on the rope from the opposite side. But instead of calling for help from his village Syaba, Singh patiently awaits another wayfarer who needs to cross over from the opposite side. "Who will walk for three hours just to pull the rope?" asks Singh, who is nearing 60.
It has been almost five months since torrential rains wrecked the state, but the nearly three lakh inhabitants of Uttarkashi, in the northwest corner of Uttarakhand, have been unable to get their lives back on track. Data compiled by Shri Bhuvneshwari Mahila Ashram, an Uttarkashi-based NGO, states that of the roughly 100 villages along the 100km Gangotri highway in Uttarkashi's Bhatwari block, about 20 were badly affected and nearly 50 suffered partial damage.
Locals claim the recent floods, dubbed the 'Himalayan Tsunami', washed away at least seven suspension bridges in Bhatwari block alone. The recent tragedy, coupled with earlier flooding, has damaged nearly all link roads which connect the villages, located on mountain tops to the national highway. Earlier these roads, some paved, others pucca, were navigated by villagers on foot, mules and even small cars. After these roads were washed away, villagers have had to manoeuvre the rough terrain instead.
The state government recently released advertisements announcing the Gangotri national highway has reopened, but a visit to the region proves normalcy is far from restored. Children, who earlier used bridges to cross over to schools, are walking extra kilometers while farmers are finding it difficult to transport cash crops to the market. Surendra Singh of Kujjan village, roughly 30km north of Uttarkashi, says, "I don't know how to carry my potato harvest to the highway as the mule trails have been destroyed."
Even access to medical treatment in villages like Pilang and Jadau, among the remotest in the Himalayan district, is challenging. Vikram Singh Rana of Jadau says that two women, Balma Devi and Pata Devi, from his village are due to deliver babies soon, and their relatives are contemplating a home delivery over the risk of carrying them on a chair or stretcher to Bhatwari primary healthcare centre (PHC) — approximately 18km away — given the roads have been washed away.
The child birth statistics available at Bhatwari PHC and Uttarkashi district headquarters reveal that 564 deliveries took place between June and September 2013, and given that most of these women are from hill towns, they would have been carried to the hospital.
The June floods have made the terrain treacherous, but the locals of Bhatwari have been waiting for over three years for the government to either improve infrastructure or relocate their village. The impending winters are worrisome as by November end, roughly 20 villages beyond Bhatwari market will be covered by snow, hampering restoration work.
Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna admits it is a challenging task. "The condition of hills is different from plains. At many places the road alignment has changed and hence construction of new roads will require fresh land acquisition and forest clearance," he told TOI, adding that apple and potato farmers who suffered losses would get relief money in a few days.
The work, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Border Road Organization (BRO), has reportedly been delayed because of lack of funds and incessant rains. B C Khandhuri, former Uttarakhand chief minister and India's road and surface transport minister during the NDA regime, claims that in the last financial year, the BRO was given a paltry sum of Rs 20 crore against their estimated expenditure of 270 crore by the central government. "Till June 2013, the central government had not allocated a single penny to BRO in the Garhwal region," he claims.
The public works department (PWD) is yet to float tenders to rebuild village link roads, suspension bridges and protection walls.
No progress, no pilgrims to Gangotri
In October, the Uttarakhand state government announced the reopening of the Gangotri national highway and Chardham Yatra. However, infrastructure in Uttarkashi has barely been restored. Public transport has not been re-started and the roads are in such bad condition that local taxi drivers ask as much as are asking Rs 4,000 to travel to Gangotri temple, a journey that normally costs Rs 250.
A majority of the shops in town are still closed, as owners are trying to determine how to dispose of their expired goods. Overall the tourist numbers on the Chardham Yatra are dismal. According to the pilgrim inflow data of available with the Uttarakhand government, between October 11 and 21 this year 3,098 tourists went on the yatra — roughly 4% of the number who visited in within this period last year (71,852).
The Gangotri temple committee blames the state of affairs on the present condition of roads. However In such a scenario, R Meenakshi Sundaram, DG information, Uttarakhandgovernment, defends the advertisements promoting tourism, "Tourism is the backbone of our economy and we have to spend the budget allocation on advertisements otherwise we have to return the money."
0 comments:
Post a Comment