...............................

Tourism tramples Manali environment

By Rakesh Lohumi

A RUPTURED concrete structure amidst the gushing waters of the Beas at Bahang village stands witness to the "man-made" tragedy which occurred in the valley of gods three years ago.

Like the Apna Ghar tourist resort, many other constructions were also swallowed by the river which has become a victim of human greed and exploitation. The sacred river and lifeline of the valley, which bore the brunt of unprecedented and unregulated construction activity in the wake of tourism boom, is now wrecking vengeance on the ungrateful man.

The failure of the government to ensure planned expansion of the tourism industry and enforce building laws has taken a heavy toll of the environment in this ecologically fragile valley. If the recurring flash floods, frequent landslides and the increasingly erratic behaviour of the river and its numerous tributaries is any indication, the valley is already on the brink of an ecological disaster.

The picturesque valley came on the tourism map after Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Manali in 1958. Gradually, it became the second most important tourist destination of the state after Shimla. However, tourism got a major boost only after the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir. As the troubled state was out of bounds for the tourists, they made a beeline for the valley.

The tourism industry witnessed a phenomenal growth over the past decade. But in the absence of any effective regulatory measures, the inherently eco-friendly industry became a serious threat to the environment.

The mushrooming of hotels not only marred the scenic beauty of the valley but also destroyed the predominantly bucolic setting which lent a distinct charm to key resorts like Manali.

Although the hotel industry is mainly concentrated in and around the main towns of Kulu and Manali, the adverse impact of rapid urbanisation along the banks of the river can be felt right through the narrow elongated valley from Kothi to Bhuntar. Unbridled construction activity, indiscriminate felling of trees and large-scale illegal mining from the river bed has rendered the valley prone to natural hazards like flash floods and landslides.

The turbulent Beas and its tributaries have been frequently changing course, causing widespread destruction along the banks. The river is increasingly cutting into its banks and has developed a braided pattern of drainage because of deposition of debris in midstream. The large-scale quarrying of boulders and sand has, at many places, substantially raised the central bed of the river in comparison to the general level. This is one of the main reasons for the frequent change of course and excessive erosion along the banks.

The destructive potential of the river has increased manifold due to the callous attitude of the government which allowed big hotel complexes to come up right in the river bed. Further, the national highway (NH-21), which runs parallel to the river almost at the flood-level elevation, is subjected to repeated landslides and erosion.

Apart from causing obstruction to the free flow of traffic, this also adds to the problem of boulder deposits in the river bed and diversion of channel.

The tourism industry has been virtually eating into the vitals of forestry. The mushrooming of concrete structures has not only gobbled up green areas but also encouraged illicit felling and misuse of trees allotted to villagers under the TD (timber distribution) rules. The trees, which were provided to right holders for bona fide requirements, like building a house or cowshed, became a source of easy money.

The villagers, who were allotted a tree worth more than Rs 1 lakh for just Rs 2, found it lucrative to sell it. The trees were ultimately used for building hotels. On an average, every year 4000 to 5000 trees were allotted under T.D. rules. Now that the Forest Department is trying to curtail the T.D. allotments, the government has decided to give two trees for the construction of houses to the poor under the Gandhi Kuteer Yojna. Every year about 700 houses are built under the scheme.

But greater damage is being done by the furious Beas, which is cutting deeper and deeper into the forests, along the banks with each passing year. Thousands of trees are swallowed by the river every year. This phenomenon is more pronounced in and around Manali where some of the best deodar forests have been exposed to the fury of the river. The Forest Department is able to retrieve only a small fraction of the timber washed away by the river. In 1997-98 it handed over 13,513 cubic metre standing volume of trees to the forest corporation under salvage markings. The actual number of trees destroyed was many times more.

Environmentalists and local people squarely blame the government for the present woes of the valley. They say that while builders were working overtime to raise big constructions, the government remained in deep slumber. It felt no urgency to enforce the Town and Country Planning Act despite the spurt in construction activity. The first notification to bring the Kulu valley under the Act was issued in 1981 but it could never be enforced. Three years later another notification to bring the key tourist resorts of Kulu and Manali under the Act was issued. Accordingly, the land use was frozen and development plan prepared. The entire exercise took four years. However, when all formalities to implement the plan in the field were completed, the government decided to set up a Kulu Valley Development Authority in 1990. The earlier notification was once again superseded and all the work done by the Town and Country Planning Department came to a naught.

The government then decided to bring the entire 72- km stretch of the Beas valley from Kothi to Mohal under the Act. A fresh exercise was undertaken to prepare the base land use map and the future development plan. This led to a spurt in construction activity in the entire valley as the builders wanted to raise their structures before the Act could be enforced. This decision also turned out to be an ad hoc one and in 1994 the government dissolved the Kulu Development Authority and decided to set up the State Urban Development Authority to regulate the growth of all major towns in the state, including Kulu and Manali. Big hotels which were confined to Manali, sprung up all over the valley and the construction activity also extended to the left bank. Most of the hotels in Manali came up in villages outside the municipal limits.

There are about 500 hotels in the valley out which over 400 are in the Manali area. Land use was frozen in July, 1995. At the same time, the High Court also intervened and banned construction up to 500 metres on the Beas banks.

As there were no laws to regulate constructions in the Panachayat areas, many of the hotels came up on the river bed. A few of them have already been washed away in floods. But repeated pleas for extending the municipal limits of Manali to cover the peripheral villages and the left bank areas have evoked little response from the government.

Meanwhile, the Town and Country Planning Department has once again prepared the base land use map for the valley. The environmentalists, however, point out that enforcing the Act now would be like the proverbial locking of the stable door after the horse has bolted.

The Town and Country Planning Department has submitted a comprehensive plan to effectively tackle all environmental problems and ensure planned development of the valley in future. Under the plan, based on the report of the expert committee set up by the High Court, the valley from Kothi, upstream Manali, to the Pandoh reservoir in Mandi has been divided into 12 sectors. A detailed land use map has been prepared for urban and rural settlements, area for mining and extraction of sand and boulders, garbage disposal sites, road pattern, landslide- prone stretches, tourist spots and protection works.

The plan envisages development of green belt of 25 metres beyond the high-flood level in all the zones. The gaps created by flash floods and landslides on the banks should be filled by planting soil binders. The multiplicity of agencies for carrying soil conservation works should be done away with and entrusted to one department.