Farmer in hills inevitably face: God, inclement weather and natural disasters. The Monsoon fury this year is the latest one. The heavy downpour has played havoc as roads are blocked with landslides, communications are often snapped and power supply gets occasionally disrupted. The hardships of apple growers are nothing new. They keep on fighting inclement weather all through the year with bated breath. Tragically, weather has never been kind enough to farmers. Off-seasonal rain, hailstorm and dry weather have been hitting apple growers hard. The problem is that development setting of the hills are, to large extent, determined by its rough topography and the weather God. It required planning accordingly. We have faulted right from the beginning. Though roads are lifeline of hills in the absence or rail ans air transport, constructing roads by tearing the heart of the hills haven't helped the hilly people. Environmentalists feel that the roads need to be built in hills with with caution and prefect planning. The plain road building techniques aren't good enough for hills. It has brought more miseries. The wanton destruction of trees has denuded the hills of their natural cover and causing large-scale landslides. The top fertile soil of naked hills is being washed away and creating siltation problems down the streams where reservoirs have been constructed and power plants put up. Global warming has added to the crisis. The problem is further compounded by adopting the concrete-based building architect. By abandoning the earth-quake resistance local building structure, hills have positioned themselves more vulnerable to earthquakes. Both Himachal and Uttarakhand are highly seismic -prone zones. The geo-scientists have lately warned that next Himalayan earthquake is expected to hit India, particularly seismic sensitive North India. The state governments have been more casual in taking such warning and adopting development strategies. Their planning have been guided more by 'vote politics' than by the ground realities. The destruction wrought by a multi-day cloudburst in June 2013, in Uttarakhand was the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. From 14 to 17 June 2013, Uttarakhand and adjoining areas received heavy rainfall, about 375% more than the benchmark rainfall during a normal monsoon. The reason for causing the floods on such a larger scale than was because of the debris of the building of dams upstream. The debris blocked up the rivers causing major overflow. More than 5,700 pilgrims were "killed", including 934 local residents, according to figures provided by the Uttarakhand government, Of late, hills have been receiving erratic rains, sometimes much more than the normal. Environmentalists attribute the phenomenon to the destruction of green cover and consequently global warming. The apple growers are also gradually becoming victim of inclement weather. The snowline is shifting up and lower belts are out of apple cultivation.
All this calls for serious thinking. As hill states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are passing through critical phase, the big question is what should be the development strategy for these states? For one thing, roads, power projects and dams, cement factories have already done enough damage. Himachal Pradesh has gone for more and more cement plants caring little for adverse impact of these plants. We need to think and think seriously. Govt need to save people from natural disasters and erratic weather.
All this calls for serious thinking. As hill states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are passing through critical phase, the big question is what should be the development strategy for these states? For one thing, roads, power projects and dams, cement factories have already done enough damage. Himachal Pradesh has gone for more and more cement plants caring little for adverse impact of these plants. We need to think and think seriously. Govt need to save people from natural disasters and erratic weather.