Alert! Another sign of humans reaching nearer to ecological catastrophe!
Glacier Break Triggers Massive Flood In Uttarakhand, Many Dead!
Many people are dead, many more missing, many millions going to be affected, with vast damages to the river sides and structures, along with the animals and remaining trees in a vast region in Uttarakhand after a glacier broke off at Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district in an avalanche and massive flooding of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers on today morning, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands and destruction of the nearby Rishiganga and NTPC power plants. As the administration serving international corporate capital and the mainstream media owned by the corporate forces or controlled by the corporate fascist government will not come out with real facts even after such human tragedis occur as a result of the incessant aggression on eco-system and bio diversity in even an ecologically sensitive region like Himalayas, we have to wait for the full reports from the freelance journalists reach there in two or three days.
The glazier breaking and causing avalanche shows the alarming intensification of ecological destruction in the Himalayan region, in the general condition of increasing Global Warming causing destruction of most of the glaziers in the Antartic and Artic regions. In spite of the vast destruction caused by the June, 2013, heavy rains and floods in the state, least attention was paid for making an ecological study of the region before projects like the one which is washed away now were taken up. As India and China are engaged in huge infra-structure development along the long imalayan borders and deployed huge forces there, both are competing in the ecological destruction of mountain tops. It is in this situation, the Himalayan glaziers have started melting faster than it was predicted. What happened at Chimoli is only the beginning. If immediate plans for ecological protection are not taken up including stopping the projects in the most sensitive areas now taken up, the mining and real estate constructions for religious-tourism, before long more incidents of heavy rains, avalanches following glazier breaking causing vast destruction can be expected more frequently.
While expressing condolences to the families of the diseased, the CPI(ML) Red Star would like to say that following the 2013 floods the authorities were warned that most of these calamities are man-made for rabid expansion of accumulation of wealth, and only if the forces responsible for it are removed from power, and a people’s alternative with an alternative development perspective is brought forward the impending ecological catastrophe can be averted.
KN Ramachandran
General Secretary
CPI(ML) Red Star
New Delhi
7th February 2021
