PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE
In the recent past the country has seen many devastating floods due to glacial lake outbursts with UTs of Ladakh and J&K, and Uttarakhand among the worst hit. In this context, the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has asked the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to take immediate steps to deal with Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh after observing that the Himalayan glaciers are retreating at a rapid rate due to climate change. There is no doubt that human interference in the fragile areas of nature deteriorates things and the recent floods in Ladakh, Kashmir and several other places in the country can be attributed to the undue meddling with nature. One thing is known to everybody that prevention is better than cure therefore the advice given by the aforesaid committee that increasing destruction of the natural forests, constructions works in the name of development of habitations in glacial lake outburst flood prone areas has raised the risks for the people living in the vicinity and therefore immediate steps are must to stop all such activities which can prove detrimental in this regard as saving lives is much more important than carrying out meaningless development which has potential to pose risk to the lives of people. Taking the prudent decision, the Parliamentary Panel has stressed that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) should provide training to people in the Himalayan region to prepare them to deal with aforesaid kinds of floods by setting up emergency shelters, distributing relief packages, etc. The example of Uttarakhand is best for adopting same measures in J&K and Ladakh UTs because that state has successfully implemented Satellite-based Mountain Hazard Assessment and Monitoring (MHAM), mapping and monitoring of glaciers and glacial lakes, and coordination with Central Water Commission (CWC) for establishing an Early Warning System (EWS). A deadly flood in northern India, sparked by a crater in a glacier is not an isolated incident but several incidents of such nature are occurring regularly due to the rapidly warming planet. The catastrophes in the recent past are precursors of what is to come unless drastic measures are taken to slow climate change. The government should take the advice very seriously to ensure that nothing big doesn’t happen in the coming times as the pace with forests are being depleted and concrete jungle is coming up, mass scale devastation is inevitable.