Long term damage in the absence of Study of Carrying Capacity
Carrying Capacity identifies total number of species that can live in an ecosystem under a given condition. This along with the study of the Master Plans are cardinal features of any development process or activity under the Precautionary Principle, principle of sustainable development, polluter pays and inter-generational equity and under the Public Trust Doctrine. As a result of the non-assessment of the carrying capacities of vulnerable places in the Indian Himalayan Region, the tourism, especially the eco-tourism potential of these areas is severely undermined, affecting the livelihoods of a vast number of citizens residing therein, thereby depriving them their Fundamental Rights under Article 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India.
There is a very strong likelihood of big earthquake in the Indian Himalayan Region. The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MOEF&CC) as well as all the 13 aforementioned Himalayas states/UTs have failed to get the Carrying Capacity of all hill stations conducted as directed by the Hon’ble National Green Tribunal, vide Order, dated: 05.10.2018, in Original Application No. 218/2017, Society for Preservation of Kasauli and its Environs (SPOKE) Vs M/s Kasauli Galaxie Resorts.
In the absence of carrying capacity studies of hill stations, pilgrimage places and other tourism destinations in Himachal Pradesh, unregulated tourism and development, massive tunneling and blasting is being carried out and extensive, large-scale muck dumping is being carried out along the Beas River, from Mandi to Manali.
Writ Petition to bring the awakening
A Writ Petition is being filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India raising the issue of unregulated, unguided, unsustainable, environmentally, ecologically, geologically and hydrologically disastrous constructions inter alia of hotels, resorts, rest houses, home stays and other commercial accommodations, hydropower projects and unregulated tourism, tunneling, blasting of rocks/hills, along with the ancillary and incidental issues of massive, uncontrolled traffic volumes, air and water pollution, collapsing drainage and the waste management in the Indian Himalayan Region, spread across 13 States/UTs, namely, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, which are home to nearly 50 million people, due to the failure of the Central and state governments to assess the Carrying Capacity or Bearing Capacity of ecologically fragile areas, hill stations, hill towns, high-altitude areas and highly visited areas and the failure of the state governments in preparing and implementing the Master Plans/Tourism Plans/Lay-out/Area Development/Zonal Plans. The said Carrying or Bearing Capacity of the ecologically fragile areas, hill stations and highly visited areas in hills is necessary as the same would determine how much can a given place bear the load of human population or human intervention, given its geological/tectonic/seismic position, water resources available, food, habitat, air quality and other resources.
The Master Plans/Tourism Plans/Lay-out/Area Development Plans of the ecologically fragile areas, hill stations and highly visited areas in hills is also required so as to regulate and guide the extent, magnitude, nature and patterns of any form of development in the hilly areas. Due to non-existent Carrying/Bearing Capacity studies, grave geological hazards in the form of landslides, land subsidence, land cracking and sinking issues such as that in Joshimath are being witnessed and serious ecological and environmental depredation are taking place in the hills.
One of the primary reasons for the land sinking and subsidence, fissures and cracks in Joshimath, which have destroyed more than 800 structures and affected more than 3000 families houses therein, was uncontrolled construction and development of hydro power projects and hotels/resorts much in excess of the load that the area could bear. Had the Carrying Capacity of the area been determined earlier and adhered to by government agencies, the geological disaster of this size and magnitude could have been averted or minimized.
Apart from Joshimath, other hill stations such as Nainital, Mussoorie, Almora, Ranikhet, Mukteshwar, Auli, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Pauri, Bageshwar, Kausani, Pithoragarh, Rishikesh, Chamba, Haridwar, Shimla, Narkanda, Chamba, Khajjiar, Dalhousie, Kasauli, Dharamshala, Manali, Solang valley, Koksar, Rohtang Glacier, Srinagar and Leh are witnessing unsustainable constructions, uncontrolled, unregulated tourism, tunneling, blasting of rocks/hills, drying up and elimination of water springs and other water resources, severe water scarcity, air and water pollution deforestation, massive waste generation and the management failure thereof, as no Carrying or Bearing capacities of such areas have ever been assessed.
The Uttarakhand Tourism Policy 2018, of the Department of Tourism, State of Uttarakhand, had itself recognized identification of the permissible carrying capacities as a major challenge of the Uttarakhand Tourism. The Uttarakhand Action Plan on Climate Change 2014, had warned that Uttarakhand is most vulnerable to climate mediated risks and that climate change will have direct impacts on livelihoods of the people of the state and conducting the carrying capacity studies was a priority for the government.
Almost all hill stations, pilgrimage places and other tourism destinations spread over the Dhauladhar Circuit, Satluj Circuit, Beas Circuit and Tribal Circuit in Himachal Pradesh also remain hugely burdened and are almost on the brink of collapse with no carrying capacities assessed for any of the places in the state.
The Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Policy 2020 also mentions the assessment of the carrying capacity of all tourism destinations in the state. According to Seismic Zonation Map given by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the Indian Himalayan Region is situated in tectonically active Seismic Zones IV and V, which are highly vulnerable to earthquakes. Towns such as Almora, Nainital, Dehradun, Roorkee, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Gangtok and Shimla are situated in Seismic Zone-IV whereas Guwahati, Imphal, Jorhat, Kohima, Mandi and Srinagar fall under Seismic Zone-IV.
The existence of a Master Plan/Area Development Plan/Lay-Out/Zonal Plan/Tourism Plan is indispensable to a planned and careful development of any eco-fragile area or a hill station, as the same prescribes the standards and limits of the nature and extent of constructions or other activities in a given area.
The failure of the MOEF&CC and all the 13 aforementioned Himalayan states/UTs to get the Carrying Capacity studies conducted is the primary reason for the fast and rising ecological degradation, geological disasters and other calamities caused in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other Himalayan states/UTs.
Orders of the Supreme Court
NGT is entrusted with the wholesome power to ensure that its Orders are complied with said Supreme Court. The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, has held that NGT is entrusted with the wholesome power to ensure that its Orders are complied with. The absence of sewerage facilities is an important aspect, which would merit the exercise of powers by the Tribunal U/s 25, the Supreme Court holds while setting aside an NGT order, disallowing an Execution Application moved by Ghaziabad resident and activist Sushil Raghav, raising grievances about lack of sewerage infrastructure in Karkarmodel area in Ghaziabad, pollution therefrom, perpetually affecting more than 1 lakh people and polluting the Yamuna.
Arguing the matter, Mr. Akash Vashishtha, Advocate and Counsel for the Petitioner, submitted that the NGT failed to read its own Order passed in the Original Application that raised serious issues of pollution arising from the absence of sewerage infrastructure in the area Notwithstanding that residents have been paying sewerage charges for last 27 years.
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