Uttarakhand the challenge ahead
The Tribune series on what needs to be done to rebuild state
Use eco-friendly material for building roads: CRRI chief
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Roorkee, July 19
With flash floods, landslides and soil erosion causing havoc in Uttarakhand, the lifeline of the hills, roads, are the ones that have suffered the most. This, in fact, has disconnected the affected areas from rest of the country and has also affected the rescue, relief and rehabilitation process, as roads are the only medium of transport in hill districts.

Despite the Border Roads Organisation maintaining the border area roads in Uttarakhand, due to the hilly terrain, adverse climate and sensitive mountains, it is imperative that roads be constructed in a technical and environmentally sensitive manner.

Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) Director S Gangopadhyaya suggests comprehensive and latest technologies in building the roads in Uttarakhand.

With most damage occurring in the monsoon season in the hill state, Gangopadhyaya points out that monsoons have been hostile to roads, be it hills or plains. Rains create woes for Indian road users. They grapple with water-logging on the one hand, their torture is aggravated by innumerable potholes that dot their paths on the other.

“To overcome this challenge, our roads’ agencies need a major shift in the road carpeting strategy. These agencies should start using alternative materials, which ensure faster repairs.

“The monsoon aggravates the problems of potholes and it is essential that we shift the paradigm and look at alternative materials, including cold mix, warm mix and fly ash, that can be used for construction and repair work, in smarter and cost-effective ways,” stated Gangopadhyaya.

Traditionally, Indian agencies have been using hot mix for repair work, which does not work in wet conditions, causing inordinate delays in potholes’ repair.

Citing the latest trend in European countries in recent years, he points out that innovative bitumen-based emulsion technologies have demonstrated their ability in meeting the challenges of carbon credit, economy and environmental concerns. Besides, consequently various standards and specifications have also been brought out on those aspects. There is a clear benefit in the use of emulsion-based cold mix and half warm technologies which can bring about durable as well as sustainable development of roads in Uttarakhand.

Referring to this technology, he says Mumbai has been using cold mix successfully and now it is being modelled in Delhi, too. The same can work wonders in Uttarakhand. Fly ash is another input, which Gangopadhyaya believes has the potential to transform roads' structure in hill belts.

Like, for example, CRRI has used fly ash for Nizamuddin Bridge embankment and the results have been positive. He accepts that the roads in Uttarakhand need to be made under apt guidance from geologists and environmentalists.

Crucial parameters like geological safety factor, slopes and the characteristics of rocks should be considered before making a road in the Himalayan terrain, adds Gangopahdyaya.

According to World Bank, India loses a whopping Rs 30,000 crore due to poor roads. On the Global Competitive Index (2010), India ranks 90, which is well below China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There is a clear need to improve road sector, which is under severe stress also owing to dramatic increase in the number of vehicles.

The road pressure in Uttarakhand is also increasing in recent years with the rise in the number of vehicles.

Uttarakhand State Transport Department figures state that in 2005-06, 83,000-odd vehicles were registered in the state. The figure rose to nearly 1, 80, 000 in 2012-13. Out of this, the proportion of cars, jeeps and taxis, which are the most preferred means of transport for pilgrims and tourists landing in the state, increased the most.

In 2005-06, 4,000 such vehicles were registered, which jumped to 40,000 in the previous financial year, 2012-13.

“As an apex organisation, CRRI has always remained in the forefront by exploring new frontal and emerging areas and providing guidance to user departments and agencies in solving complex civil engineering technological problems,” added Gangopadhyay, highlighting the need to resort to latest technologies while laying roads.

Himalayan TSUNAMI
SC notice on PIL to prevent outbreak of epidemics
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 19
The Supreme Court today issued notices to Uttarakhand and the Centre on a PIL seeking directions to prevent the outbreak of epidemics in flood-hit areas, particularly Badrinath, Kedarnath, Rudraprayag, Pauri, Gauri Kund, Hemkunt Sahib, Haridwar and Rishikesh, in the wake of heavy rains, floods and landslides in Uttarakhand.

A Bench headed by Justice AK Patnaik also sought responses from the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh Government on a petition filed by Swami Achyutanand Tirth and three others through their counsel Anurag Tomar.

“The situation is likely to worsen in the coming days as more than 10 million Kanwariayas from Haryana, Western UP and Delhi will throng Haridwar, Rishikesh and Gaumukh for the Kanwar Yatra,” the petition said.

In the absence of public convenience facilities en route and at their destinations, the Kanwariayas would urinate and defecate in the open posing a serious threat to public health which was already in jeopardy due to bodies floating in the Ganga and other rivers, the petitioner said.

Last year, nearly 20 million Kanwariayas had visited Uttarakhand, which was not prepared to keep the pilgrim spots clean this season as well, it contended.

The same SC Bench also sought the response from Uttarakhand and six other states for their alleged failure in implementing the Disaster Management Act 2005. The petitioner, advocate Gaurav Bansal, said the casualties would have been much less had the state government implemented the provisions of the law.

Even eight years after the enactment of the law by Parliament, the Centre and various state governments were ignoring it, it was alleged.

The other states are Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Guv apprises Shinde of relief work
Tribune News service

Governor Aziz Qureshi meets Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Dehradun, July 19
Governor Aziz Qureshi met Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi today and informed him about the relief work under way in the state following the natural disaster last month. After meeting Shinde, the Governor said the state government was committed to restarting the Char Dham yatra in its pristine glory.

He added the state government and all supporting organisations were doing an appreciable rehabilitation and reconstruction work.

The Governor thanked the Army, the Indian Air Force, the NDRF, the ITBP, the BRO and other organisations for the rescue and relief work done by them. He said the state government officials and the police were doing their work well. “I have suggested to the state government that a comprehensive plan be made regarding the development of the Char Dhams,” he added.

Besides separate governing bodies for the Badrinath, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Yamunotri shrines, there should be a common authority that could plan scientific development of the four shrines keeping in mind local needs and geological aspects.

It may be mentioned here that after Qureshi took charge as the Governor of the state last year, he undertook a tour to Badrinath by road to find out the problems faced by pilgrims. He went to Uttarkashi by road recently to assess the damage and destruction caused by the calamity.

State demands Rs 3,560 crore to reconstruct tourism infrastructure

Dehradun, July 19
The Uttarakhand Government has demanded Rs 3,559.81 crore for the reconstruction of tourism infrastructural facilities damaged in the floods here. State Tourism Minister Amrita Rawat put forward this request before the Central Tourism Ministry at a tourism ministers' conference held in New Delhi yesterday, according to an official statement.

The Central Government should declare a financial package of Rs 258.74 crore under a short-term plan, Rs 322.07 crore under a mid-term plan and Rs 2,981 crore under a long-term plan for the state, she said.

She also requested for an expert team to be sent to inspect the damage done to the tourism infrastructure and property here due to the natural disaster.

Eight towns are completely safe despite the calamity and tourism infrastructure in popular tourist spots, including Mussoorie, Nainital, Haridwar and Rishikesh, were intact, she said.

Amrita also requested all tourism ministers to inform the tourists planning to come to Uttarakhand about the present situation.

She also demanded to constitute institutional infrastructure for the progress of all north-western Himalayan states. — PTI

ASI: No threat to structural stability of Kedarnath

New Delhi, July 19
There has been no major harm to the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand in the recent flood fury except for the dislodging of some stones which will be replaced, an Archaeological Survey of India official today said.

"There is no threat to the structural stability of the temple. The temple is safe, although some stones have been dislodged. But these will be replaced once the restoration and conservation work, which is hampered due to bad weather, starts," Atul Bhargav, superintendent archaeologist of the Dehradun circle of the ASI, told PTI. A team of the ASI, which has been given the responsibility to restore the temple, visited the shrine last week to make a preliminary assessment.

"Dislodged stones can be reused also but that will be decided by the experts. It is premature to predict about the possible time frame for conservation work as of now," he said. — PTI

Govt failed to provide proper relief: UPP
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 19
Members of the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UPP) yesterday submitted a memorandum in the office of District Magistrate slamming the state government for mismanagement in the relief work.

Spokesperson for the party Rajiv Kothari said, “The state government has completely failed in carrying out the relief work in the regions hit by flash floods. The relief supply is not reaching the victims. People are crying for food and clothes. The presence of bureaucracy is negligible in these areas. There is no coordination among various departments engaged in the relief work.”

He said the Centre too had little faith in the capability of the state government in handling the situation. “The way the Centre has taken over the reins of the entire rehabilitation work shows that it has no faith in the state government. If the UPA government has no faith in the capability of the state government, which incidentally is run by its own party, it should remove the Chief Minister.”

MPs of other states donate Rs 32 crore
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 19
The state Rural Development Department has received Rs 32 crore under the MPLAD fund contributed by MPs of other states for carrying out rehabilitation work in the flood-affected areas of Uttarakhand.

“This is the first time that the MPLAD amount of MPs from other states will be spent for carrying out relief work in the notified areas of Uttarakhand,” said a senior official.

However, he said the works would be undertaken according to the rules for undertaking the MPLAD area works. The amount would be routed through the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.