4 Uttarakhand rivers alter course after rains

DEHRADUN: Heavy rains that lashed

Uttarakhand

last week have led to four prominent rivers in the state to alter their course, prompting the forest department to rope in IIT Roorkee to conduct a study on the river channels and the impact of this change.

An analysis by the forest department following devastating rains since October 17 found that swollen rivers in Kumaon — Kosi, Gaula, Nandhaur and Dabka — have changed their course. In some areas, they have started flowing towards human habitations while in others, the change has adversely affected works of the forest department such as mining and patrolling.

Tejaswini Patil

, chief conservator of forests, western circle (Uttarakhand) told TOI, “The change in course of rivers is a concern for us. We have asked IIT-Roorkee to study the changes so we can build embankments on the river after a proper technical assessment.” According to Patil, instead of meandering through its usual channels, the waters of rainfed rivers are now flowing across its traditional riverbed, which, in many cases, has been encroached upon.

Environmentalists said encroachments on riverbanks have compounded the problem. “The rivers have not changed their course or taken up new channels, they are simply flowing in their own space — the riverbed — which humans have encroached upon,” said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (Sandarp), a non-profit.

“Illegal construction, waste dumping and muck dumping into the river — while clearing landslide debris during monsoon or during the construction of all-weather Char Dham road — has squeezed riverbeds,” he said.

Historian and Padma Shri recipient

Shekhar Pathak

added that “anthropogenic pressure and blatant unscientific construction works” were the main reasons for the rains causing widespread devastation. “The road from Nainital to Almora was constructed by encroaching upon the Kosi river floodplain, and in this deluge, we have seen the entire road being washed away,” said Pathak.

“This kind of unscientific construction activity by felling of trees, cutting of mountains, will cost Uttarakhand heavily,” he said. TOI had earlier reported that over 250 km of forest land was washed away in the rainfall.