'To be or not to be' may well be the new mantra for people undertaking the Himalayan Char Dham pilgrimage this year. The Char Dham, which is a pilgrimage to four venerated temples in Uttarakhand -- Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath -- is undertaken by lakhs of pilgrims annually (about six lakhs in 2013). Recently, it has been in the news yet again for recurring floods and landslides en route. While this year's floods pale in light of the tragedy of 2013 that killed about 5,700 people, what we must know is that the flood of 2013 was not an isolated incident. The same happened in 2010 , 2012 and 2014.
The Char Dham yatra began with fanfare in May this year amid reassurances by the Chief Minister. The next month onwards, it has been in trouble with repeated disruption of the roads, bridges being washed away and several blockages, suspensions, resumptions, and evacuations. "The yatra is not suspended", said CM Harish Rawat even as 9000 pilgrims were stranded on the hills.
If 80% of our monsoons in the last five years have been destructive, floods are not an aberration -- they are the new normal.
Large parts of the Char Dham yatra route fall in earthquake zone 5, and 46 of the 65 earthquakes recorded in Uttarakhand since 1803 have been in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, and along the border. Residents of Uttarakhand factor this into their plans and restrict travel during these months. Since the Char Dham peaks during the monsoon, the large mass of people who travel when the roads are most vulnerable are unfamiliar tourists.
The state continues to focus on infrastructure-heavy development of the already fragile Char Dham route, and soon also plans to conduct a Winter Char Dham. This, despite repeated warnings against heavy construction in the area and the state being unequipped to deal with heavy snowfall.
How can we mitigate the chaos that is Char Dham?
Ganesh Singh Martolia was until recently the Deputy Inspector General of the Uttarakhad State Disaster Response Force. Now posted as DIG Ardh Kumbh, he was the person who worked hard in the Kedarnath valley immediately after the disaster in 2013. Drawing on his experiences, he pointed out two key strategies that Uttarakhand needs to implement in order to mitigate the chaos that is Char Dham.
The Char Dham pilgrimage is currently a massive exercise involving many state departments. As Martolia suggests, a great deal of the chaos can be avoided by pilgrims adopting the Uttarakhandi native's mindset of planning according to the situation and not despite it. With increasing urbanisation and mobility, Uttarakhand too is in danger of becoming alienated from nature and losing its skill at working with the environment. The crises that occur regularly with the monsoon will hopefully remind the state to hold on to its traditional wisdom.