Bhagirathi Eco Sensitive Zone – Burning Issues

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Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar informed that the Zonal Master Plan(ZMP) for the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone, prepared by the Government of Uttarakhand and appraised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, has been approved by the MoEF&CC

CHAARDHAAM ROAD PROJECT

The ChaardhamProject proposes to connect Yamnotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath which host Chaardham Yatra in the State of Uttarakhand.
The all-weather ChaardhamRoad has in all 53 projects of 826 km length, involving an investment of Rs 12000 crore.

Long standing demand of people that the last pristine stretch of River Ganga (Bhagirathi) be protected from large scale development activity like HEPs.
In 2012, the MoEF&CC issued a gazette notification declaring the watershed area along the stretch of river Bhagirathi, covering 4,179.59 sq km from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi, an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ)
Eco-Sensitive Zones or Ecologically Fragile Areas are areas within 10 kms around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
Notified by MoEFCC under Environment Protection Act 1986.
The aim is to regulate certain activities around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries so as to minimise the negative impacts of such activities on the fragile ecosystem encompassing the protected areas.
No activity without a zonal master plan.

The ESZ notification was amended on April 16, 2018 following Uttarakhand government’s objections that the notification was ‘anti-development.’
The amendment approved land use change to meet the local DEVELOPMENT needs.

The Zonal Master Plan(ZMP) for the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone, prepared by the Government of Uttarakhand and appraised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, has been approved on 16^thJuly, 2020.
The ZMP is based on watershed approach and includes governance in the area of forest and wildlife, watershed management, irrigation, energy, tourism, public health and sanitation, road infrastructure, etc.
‘’The approval of ZMP will give a boost to conservation and ecology of the area and also to undertake developmental activities as permitted under ZMP.’’

This approval could make the entire Bhagirathi region extremely vulnerable to natural disasters.
The area declared as the eco-sensitive zone has witnessed several ecological tragedies in the past.
Landslides, flash floods, earthquakes, land subsidence.
Over the last few years, the frequency & intensity of disasters in the state of Uttarakhand has consistently been increasing.
The deforestation has rendered the soil loose leading to increased cases of landslides.
The flash floods due to cloud burst events were much infrequent.
Experts have repeatedly pointed out that an increased burden of anthropogenic activities lies at the root of this frequent destruction.
In a report prepared after the Kedarnath disaster (2015), the Geological Survey of India stated that road construction in mountains reactivates landslides as it disturbs the ‘toe of the natural slope of the hill’.
The Himalayas is the region where Indian tectonic plate goes under the Eurasian tectonic plate.
Himalayas are in seismic zone V, thus a major earthquake can happen anytime.