गौरव नौड़ियाल ने लंबे समय तक कई नामी मीडिया हाउसेज के लिए काम किया है। खबरों की दुनिया में गोते लगाने के बाद फिलहाल गौरव फिल्में लिख रहे हैं। गौरव अखबार, रेडियो, टीवी और न्यूज वेबसाइट्स में काम करने का लंबा अनुभव रखते हैं।  

In the past two decades, the Himalayas have been rapidly engulfed by the market’s open and gigantic jaws, at a pace and scale of construction never before experienced by these mountains. The loud explosions every ten kilometers remind us that while machines struggle to penetrate the Himalayan rocks, companies have resorted to blowing them up with explosives to increase their profits. These explosions continue throughout the central Himalayas.

The scale of disruption caused by large projects in the central Himalayas has created unprecedented crises for the local settlements. Located just 200 kilometers from Delhi, the story of this devastation seems eager to swallow the entire central Himalayas through roads and tunnels. However, despite Delhi being at the center of creating and implementing environmental regulations in the country, it remains oblivious to this destruction.

The Himalayas are the world’s youngest mountain range and are still under construction. Geologically speaking, Uttarakhand is located in a highly active seismic zone. Therefore, uncontrolled construction activities, numerous hydropower projects, the Char Dham All Weather Road, and the use of explosives for tunnel digging in the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line are worsening the already fragile situation.

I visited a village where railway expansion has left behind debris and dust clouds. Ramapur village, just 15 kilometers from Srinagar, is one such place where a small but horrifying picture of the devastation in the Himalayas is visible.

Elderly resident Satyanarayana Khanduri of Ramapur village recounts that when L&T began working on the viaducts and tunnels for the railway line, the company's employees assured the villagers that any problems would be resolved. However, now only problems and the company's arbitrary behavior are prevalent. The villagers’ water sources have dried up, and their fields have been destroyed. The issue is that despite repeatedly informing the authorities and the company about these problems, the villagers’ concerns remain unheard. Satyanarayana Khanduri says that while they expected some difficulties with such a large-scale project, when companies exacerbate these problems and fail to address them, the villagers are left with no option but to halt the work.

This is just one village's story. Satyanarayana Khanduri, representing the small village of Ramapur perched on the mountains, is highlighting the issues with the company that donated ₹85 crore to political parties via electoral bonds in 2019-20. I am referring to L&T, Larsen & Toubro, one of the most famous companies in India's engineering and construction sector.

Against the backdrop of this giant company, there are 15-20 people scattered across the Himalayas who have been left behind in the villages. The voices against these companies come from those close to the definition of poverty in India.

You might dismiss these concerns as anti-development propaganda driven by government announcements, but the reality on the ground is that these projects designed and implemented by the government are not only devastating the Himalayas' ecology but also creating crises in small, scattered villages on the hills. Experts say that tunneling in the fragile Himalayas is fraught with risks.

Another affected resident, Parmeshwari Devi, says that the blasting for tunnel construction has caused cracks in many homes in the area. When she contacted the company, their representatives came several times but only took photos and left. Parmeshwari Devi is also part of the small group that protested against the company’s issues.

Parmeshwari questions, "Why did the administration send over 40 police personnel to arrest 12-14 people? Are we terrorists or declared criminals, so the administration focuses on arresting us instead of addressing our issues?"

The Himalayas are precariously perched on heaps of explosives laid by construction companies. The new crises facing the settlements include not just the environmental dangers of drying water sources and polluted rivers but also severe issues such as the destruction of homes.

Satyanarayana Khanduri and dozens like him are part of the Himalayas that L&T is contracted to excavate, working on the viaduct near Ramapur. The problems are not limited to Ramapur. Ramapur is merely a representative example where the villagers are vocally opposing the company’s arbitrary practices and disregard for the environment.

Ramapur and five neighboring villages have formed a struggle committee under the leadership of a local youth, Sanjay Khanduri, to fight for their demands. Sanjay says that the company has dumped its debris in their streams, and the area's water sources have disappeared. He further adds that areas once abundant with wildlife now only show mounds of debris from the tunnel. The surprising fact is that wildlife in the area has vanished.

A company capable of donating ₹85 crore to political campaigns in a single year, how long will these displaced people be able to fight against it? The list of the company’s offenses is so long that it makes the villagers’ lives seem very small and helpless.

Another affected resident, Pitambari Devi, says her husband recently built a house with hard work, but now the house has frightening cracks. The traditional pathways for village access have been destroyed, and small bridges have disappeared, making it a new challenge to cross seasonal streams. She recounts an incident where her grandchild barely escaped being swept away by water one rainy day. This is a serious issue that the company continuously ignores. The construction company is not only ignoring the villagers but, if the damage caused by the company is properly assessed and environmental regulations are enforced, it would be blacklisted in any country.

The company has secured the contract for tunneling for the railway line between Rishikesh and Karnaprayag by paying a hefty amount. According to a Business Standard report, L&T's construction wing won the work order for Pocket 4 from the Rail Development Corporation with a bid of ₹3338 crore. The work has been divided into several phases to avoid the complex formalities of environmental assessment and clearance for the 100 km project.

The villagers became aware of the company’s power when one of its liaison officers spread false news in the local media that villagers had trapped their workers inside the tunnel. Following this incident, a large police force arrived in the village under the orders of the District Magistrate Ashish Chauhan from Pauri, though the situation on the ground did not match the claims, and the police had to return empty-handed. However, this incident ignited anger among the villagers.

Another affected resident, Sushila Khanduri, says that since the company started construction near the village, the condition of the road connecting their village to the nearest town has deteriorated. There have been several accidents on this road, but the company's arbitrary practices continue.

In the most sensitive region of the northern central Himalayas, new crises have arisen due to the sudden intensification of construction activities after the dams. While the dams had already altered the Himalayas' structure and climate, tunnels are now carving through the mountains to create paths for large crowds to enter the area.

The government has not yet addressed the crises arising from these projects, especially the water crisis. The blasting for tunnels has created water scarcity in nearly all areas through which the tunnels pass. Natural water sources have disappeared, and the water crisis has turned into a daily problem. Those who understand the Himalayas know that even with environmentally friendly technology for tunnel construction, the drainage system of the hills is impacted by the network of tunnels, leading to the drying up of water sources.

Despite the insufficient figures for house cracks in government data, every person on the ground accuses the construction companies of negligence, which remains unheard. It is not that company representatives do not come to assess the damage, but they do, and every time they make empty promises and leave. One day, these companies will move on, leaving behind a massive disaster that only the local people will have to endure.

The speed at which the Himalayas are being destroyed today was not seen even during British rule. The British exploited timber from the Himalayas but also managed to ensure its sustainability through scientific methods. Their institutions not only set rules for timber extraction but also formulated policies for new forests. However, the current government’s pace in destroying the Himalayas is unmatched in recent decades. Scientists have repeatedly warned about large projects in the Himalayas, but there has been no proper response. The precise answer to this issue is buried in the dark tunnels carved out of the fragile Himalayan rocks.

The 125 km Rishikesh-Karnaprayag broad gauge railway line involves the construction of 17 tunnels, viaducts, and 35 bridges. A significant aspect of this railway line is that approximately 84% of it, around 104 km, will pass through tunnels. Currently, there is intense work on this critical project by the Rail Ministry in the central Himalayas.

The government's intention is to connect the Char Dham in Uttarakhand with the railway network, with an estimated expenditure of around ₹246 billion. In simple terms, so much money has been poured into excavating the Himalayas that the region will bear the costs for many years to come.

The violation of regulations for tunnel construction becomes even more detrimental to the decades-old settlements here, as Uttarakhand has experienced several tunnel-related disasters. In 2007, leakage from a tunnel of the 400 MW Vishnuprayag Hydropower Project by Jaiprakash Power Ventures Limited led to the displacement of 12 families from Chai village.

Similarly, on February 7, 2021, floods in the Rishiganga and Dholiganga valleys of Uttarakhand claimed at least 204 lives, including about 37 workers in the under-construction 520 MW Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Project tunnels owned by the state-run NTPC Limited. This incident highlighted the need for better disaster preparedness, such as establishing early warning systems. Later, in November 2023, the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel collapsed, trapping 41 workers for nearly 17 days,