Dr John Mohan Razu
The images we see on TV screens and social media have been horrifying and chilling. The rage of nature and the power of gushing water is a reminder to us that before the forces of nature we are nothing given an option that with all progress and development let us not keep tampering with the laws of nature. What had happened a few days ago in Wayanad vividly brings images before us that the buildings and concrete constructions such as roads and bridges were crumbling by gushing water and amidst we hear the desperate cries of humans. Even if this had happened during day time hardly anything could be done because of the severity and ferocity of nature. Periodically nature keep sending us warnings, but we seem to be taking those for granted.
Western Ghats known for thick forests and green covers was ravaged during British colonialism—converting it as tea plantations and in the post-independent India those moneyed class converted the remaining area for tourism by constructing huge concrete buildings and luxurious resorts that would fetch more and more earnings. Even after 24-hours, rescue workers could not save many lives in Wayanad as the rage of water continued. Wayanad is one of the most landslide-prone areas of the Western Ghats. With Tuesday’s (30th July, 24) landslide that devoured hundreds of lives lost, the governments (state and centre) failures to mitigate its well-known ecological vulnerabilities resulting in catastrophe being brought to the fore in lucid ways.
It should be borne in mind that unregulated and unprecedented growth, expansion and boom of all sorts for human consumption play the most important role in the ghatastrophe. In the name of ‘development’ and ‘tourism’, the most vulnerable and sensitive spots that are ecologically sensitive are now being converted as tourist spots. This is the key and central lesson that Wayanad teaches us. Many homes and resorts located right on river banks ‘without providing any room for the river’ were washed out. It is once again reminiscent of how buildings constructed in floodplains got swept away during the 2013 Kedarnath floods. Uttarakhand, has hardly learnt any lesson and corrected our course of action since then. Money, money, money is the sole criterion that dominates. Tourism bucks and real estate loots are still the guideposts.
Despite all kinds of visitation be it spiritual or recreational, those who go tend to become part of the same traffic jams and garbage pile-ups and the problem itself. Take for example Ooty, Bengaluru, Darjling, Kashmir, and many other places have now become water-scarcity prone and increasingly becoming hot places. This is a painful irony. In the name of ‘vacationing’ and ‘relaxing’ running from one place to another is creating all kinds of problems especially to environment and ecology. It is a Janus-faced challenge. We will have to strive to transforming cities as ‘livable habitats’ and ‘conserve’ our vacationing stations. There should be a radical reversal making Bengaluru with its lakes breathing, not frothing; Mumbai, with its green lungs safer and stronger, and Delhi with Yamuna raising our spirits, not struggling to breathing.
Mudakkai in Wayanad a week ago flourished from a sleepy village to a touristy town over the past two decades, enjoying the tourist boom. New houses and real-estate sprang up and more and more concrete structures emerged not knowing or anticipating a wall of water and mud which would totally wipe everything. In fact, a State Disaster management Authority report had warned four years ago of an impending tragedy and advised relocating 4,000 families from landslide-prone areas in Wayanad, especially those on the eastern slope of the Western Ghats. The entire area is landslide-prone and not conducive for human habitation. Rampant and haphazard real estate development has worsened the situation. The administration as usual went overboard.
Megaprojects did hit the very foundations of Western Ghats could no longer feed the greed and adhere to the avarice of humans and thus eventually caved in. Hundreds and thousands of people are getting killed due to natural catastrophes for which the responsibility and onus lies with the politicians and bureaucrats. Nonetheless, we cannot expect any immediate change. Human lives in India hardly matters because these things keep recurring periodically. So, there should be a heavy increase in public pressure. Governments, both the Centre and states will have to be pushed to change their priorities and ought to respect Mother Nature and eco-systems.
Years of inaction on the Western Ghats and what happened subsequently is a classic example of how other interests’ prevail and dominate over the environment. The apathy and duplicity should change. ‘Take for granted’ norm should change. While centering profits before the people, reckless development takes precedence over the environment should change. It took millennia for these to emerge, to support human lives so that we can exist, but we in the name of ‘development’, ‘progress’, and ‘modernization’ ravaged our Mother Earth recklessly and we should know that we can never bring back. Western Ghats especially the terrains that covers Wayanad should be left by not allowing human habitation and activities. At this juncture, let me invoke Aldous Huxley who said: “Maybe this world is another planet’s hell.”
