I am deeply disturbed because of what happened at Uttarakhanda on 16 May. Many people are giving their views and finally come to the conclusion that the government is to be blamed for encouraging tourist traffic to boost state economy. I wanted to find out other aspects which could be responsible for that tragedy. First we shall see the geophysical aspect.

Himalaya is a mountain made of boulders stacked up to make a heap of them that means it is like a heap of gravel we see when a truck unloads them on a construction site. A small hillock is formed of the gravel. Himalaya is something like that but on a very larger scale. There boulders are weighing from half a kilo to thousand tons. The gap between these stones is filled with soil, silt and grit working like cement. Since it is a pile of these stones they have no real foundation and so any structure made on them, whatever it may be, a small house or a big dam, they are all on that unstable pile of stones. Because stones in this pile are of enormous size we feel that they are stable but actually they are not really stable. Any heavy impact such as that of cloud burst or a tremor of 4 or 5 Richter or more can make them shift their position and if they lost their balance, shall come down the way they came on 16^th of May. A heavy rain and gushing water at enormous speed can cause similar happening. All recognized experts on this subject agree on one suggestion that any massive construction on this loose structure of boulders is not recommended. This structure of loose stones is down up to Haradwar. After that they say, solid ground base is available on many sites and so big dams may be constructed at that level. This is though safe not acceptable to our planners because as height is lost less power those hydro-electric plants will give for the same quantum of water that will flow. Big dreams are shown to these politicians by culpable engineering firms to get big business of construction, what happens after that is not their concern. Just as environment experts and their sincere opinions are locked up in files never to be taken seriously only because their opinion is not suitable to the dreams of these politicians. Similarly expert opinions of geophysicists are lost in those files. Development of thick forests on them is the true solution to build stability in them; this is because root structure of big and small trees of those forests do job of griping the stones.

One politician told me, we take chances to get our targets achieved. They really do it at the cost of tax payers and victims who fall prey to such calamity. He further said many a time these chances work well and so there is nothing wrong in doing work and make plans based on such chances. We have a habit of taking geophysicists and environment experts easily; at times, we cut jokes on their suggestions and when such accidents happen we remember them and listen to their opinion but that is of no use as damage is already done.

If we have to take advise of these people we have to adjust with less power but that is a sure thing and so better than taking such costly chances. The geophysicist told me one more thing and that has appalled me. He told me big dam construction is going on at Uttarakhanda. When they will be ready to hold water that water will seep into the base ground, which is a loose stack of big boulders where the gaps in those boulders are filled with silt, soil and grit. As time will pass the percolating water will gradually replace that and that will surely cause shifting of the foundation of the dam. This may effect in dislocating the complete construction of the dam bringing that structure down the slope along with mass of water that is stored behind them. Imagine if this really happens what will be the fall out. Recent news has shown that some dams, built for hydal power projects, are filled with boulders from above and practically filled the trough that should hold water. That means, those dams have already become useless, whatever the authorities tell, to do the cover up. This gives a clear hint by nature, that no more dams on this site please!

There is a talk of remaking of char dham but he told me that it is better that we leave that site as it is for some more time and find out if any more land slides are forthcoming. Any new construction on that site is not recommended as that region has become unstable. If we begin construction on that site it shall cause vibrations and that can cause further land slides destroying whatever they have built. So far I put the point of view of geophysicist. Let us see what a sadhu wants to suggest.

He told me and to that some more of them agreed; he said, char dham is now permanently closed by God and we should not do anything further on that. He refused to blame government for what happened and said as the end of Kaliyoga comes such things are expected to happen. He advised all faithful to accept the verdict of God and abide by it. He also said that visiting char dham by prapanchi or family people was basically wrong. Those places are exclusively for sanyasins and people who have entered vanaprasthashram. For prapanchi there are many places for pilgrimage in the hinterland. They can visit Kashi, Banaras, Nasik, Trimbakeshwar and many more to show their respects to Shive; why go to the place exclusively made for sanyasins and vanaprasthashramis. Names such as Rishikesh clearly indicate that these places are for those people. He warned that similar things are expected to recur repeatedly on that site if people continue to go there and disobey the Lord. Are we going to listen to these people, the geophysicists and Sadhus?

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