To save Himachal, community resolve needed

Himachal pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is accurate in his assessment that combating extreme weather events poses the biggest challenge for the hill state. Amid continuing relief and rehabilitation efforts in the disaster-hit districts, he has reiterated getting expert assistance to help understand the reason for the frequent cloudbursts and flashfloods. At a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority, he listed a slew of measures that needed urgent enforcement. These include checking unscientific muck dumping, regular weather updates and construction of houses at least 100 metres away from rivers and rivulets. Missing in the discourse is a concrete action plan or a timeline for execution.

Himachal stands at a crossroads. The time for recommendations and cursory orders — that may or may not get implemented — is long gone. Only a well-planned inter-agency campaign against the rampant disregard for laws and regulations can offer a lifeline. A crackdown on illegal deforestation, unregulated construction and unscientific development practices would require the government machinery to go on a mission mode. More than that, Himachal could do with less of political one-upmanship and more of a bipartisan resolve. The state is suffering and the outlook points to a worse-case scenario. It’s now nothing short of an existential crisis for large sections of people. There is no option but to come together as a community.

Clearly, the strategies and policies in place are falling way short. It is incumbent upon those holding positions of power to reach out to all shades of opinion — from experts, environmentalists and community elders to young people with new technological solutions — on the way forward. Man-made problems need man-made solutions. It is time to turn the clock back to a sustainable way of life. An uphill task, but that perhaps is the only feasible path.

Editorials