Harish Rawat urges centre protect environmentally sensitive places

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat has urged the central govt to implement projects like National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) to safeguard the environmentally sensitive areas from the effect of Climate Change.

New Delhi: A day after a portion of Nanda Devi Glacier broke off in Uttrakhand's Chamoli district, triggering an avalanche, former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat said that the Central Government needs to implement projects like National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) to safeguard the environmentally sensitive areas from the effect of Climate Change.

Harish Rawat said, "Situation is not clear yet. It is estimated that more than 100-150 people have died. This issue has been discussed many times. These are environmentally very sensitive areas. Climate Change has more adverse effects on these areas. That is the reason why a glacial breach occurred during the winter season. Fortunately, it gets dissolved before reaching to Alaknanda."

A tragedy unfolded on Sunday morning when a part of Nanda Devi glacier breaking away, causing avalanche and flooding, which resulted in the death of over 100 people and damaging two hydel power projects. However, a number of activists and environmentalists had, for long, opposed these power projects, apprehending such a disaster.

When asked about the matter, Harish Rawat, who had also raised similar concerns during his tenure, said, "When I used to raise these issues relating to the power projects, since then, a lot of things have changed. So, there is no meaning of raising those concerns again. All we can do is to see if those issues can be addressed in the current scenario, or how we can take preventive measures or how to tackle climate change."

He suggested, "Central Government should take forward some initiatives like Mission Himalaya because these are very sensitive areas located in Southern slope of the Himalayan range, where a majority of rivers originate."

NMSHE was launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, aiming to develop in a time-bound manner a sustainable National capacity to continuously assess the health status of the Himalayan ecosystem and enable policy bodies in their policy-formulation functions as also to assist states in the Indian Himalayan region with the implementation of actions selected for sustainable development.

Former water affairs Minister and senior BJP leader Uma Bharti also raised similar concerns saying that the tragedy occurred in Rishi Ganga in the Himalayas was a matter of concern as well as a warning.

She tweeted, "When I was minister, my ministry in its affidavit about the dams in Uttarakhand in the Himalayas had requested that it is a very sensitive region and therefore power project should not be built on the Ganges and its main tributaries."

Meanwhile, Rawat also expressed gratitude to ITBP, Indian Army, and NDRF forces, thanking them for engaging in the rescue operations and retrieval in the affected areas.

"We want to thank everyone who is involved in the rescue operation. In addition to this, many international organisations and governments have also offered to help. All of the leaders have expressed their concerns over the matter, including Rahul Gandhi. We want to thank them," said the former CM.