Dams paving way for more calamities: Sunderlal Bahuguna

DEHRADUN: Renowned environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna expressed concern that lakhs of trees will be cut down to make way for the construction of the Pancheshwar dam and the all-weather Char Dham road.
The expert who turned 91 on Tuesday, spearheaded the Chipko movement in 1980 and was part of the protest against Tehri Dam in 2004. Born on January 9, 1927 in Maroda village in Tehri, Bahuguna was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2009 for his contributions in the field of environment.
Sitting with his wife, Vimla, Bahuguna said, “Trees are our natural dam and they conserve the soil and recharge our water sources and ground water. Dams give us temporary solution and in turn they take away our fertile land and cut people off from their roots.”
By axing trees and blasting mountains to build dams and roads, the mountains are being weakened, he said. “This in turn is paving the way for natural calamities and compelling the people to run for shelter. By tampering with the fragile ecology of the Himalayan state, we are inviting large scale destruction like the Kedarnath flash flood disaster in 2013.”
He added that instead of roads, the government should opt for ropeways as they are a pragmatic solution for transportation in hills. “This would save people from problems like road blockage due to frequent landslides in monsoon, and would also save trees from being axed,” he said, adding that no matter how tall are the claims made by the Centre and the state government to plant saplings to make up for the loss of mature trees, the new saplings can never render the eco-services which were being provided by old trees.