Tuesday, August 05, 2025

Himalayas Crying: What Dharali and Silkyara Tell Us About Our Mountain Madness

The Himalayas Are Crying

What Dharali and Silkyara Tell Us About Our Mountain Madness

Why our rush to "develop" the mountains is literally bringing them down on our heads

Remember Silkyara? Now Meet Dharali


In 2023 November, 41 workers were trapped for 17 days in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi. The world watched as rescue teams fought to save them. We called it a "miracle" when they emerged alive. But what if it wasn't an accident at all?

Fast forward to the recent incident at Dharali, a small village just 25 kilometers from the famous Gangotri temple. Another landslide. More lives disrupted. Another "natural disaster"—or so the headlines claimed.

But here's what the headlines didn't tell you: Both Silkyara and Dharali sit along the same massive construction project that's literally reshaping the Himalayas. And both disasters have the same father—our obsession with cutting through mountains as if they were made of butter, not billion-year-old rock.

The Char Dham Project: A Highway to Disaster?

Picture this: You decide to widen your street by cutting into your neighbor's house foundation. What happens? The house becomes unstable and eventually collapses. Now imagine doing this not to one house, but to an entire mountain range that's already sitting in an earthquake zone.

That's essentially what the Char Dham Highway Project is doing. This ₹12,000 crore project aims to widen 900 kilometers of mountain roads to connect four holy sites: Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath. Noble goal, right? Better roads for pilgrims, easier access to remote areas, economic development.

But here's the catch: to build these roads, contractors are slicing through hillsides at dangerously steep angles—sometimes 80 degrees, which is almost vertical. International safety standards say never go beyond 45 degrees. It's like trying to lean a heavy bookshelf against a wall at 80 degrees and expecting it to stay put.

The Numbers Don't Lie

A recent study looked at 811 landslides along 800 kilometers of Char Dham routes. The shocking finding? 81% of these landslides happened within 100 meters of road construction.

Let that sink in. Four out of five landslides occurred right next to where they were building roads. This isn't bad luck—it's bad planning.

Dharali sits just 0-5 kilometers from this construction zone. The village is basically living next door to a geological time bomb that we created.

From Silkyara to Dharali: A Pattern Emerges

The Silkyara tunnel collapse and Dharali landslides aren't isolated incidents. They're part of a dangerous pattern:

Silkyara Tunnel (November 2023):

  • Part of the Char Dham project
  • Collapsed during construction, trapping 41 workers
  • Built through unstable geological zones without adequate safety measures

Dharali Landslides (Ongoing):

  • Village sits along Char Dham highway route
  • Repeated landslides since construction began
  • Area identified as one of 60 landslide-prone zones in Uttarkashi district

Both locations share the same problem: aggressive construction in one of the world's most unstable mountain ranges, where even a small disturbance can trigger catastrophic failures.

Why Mountains Don't Like Being Cut

Think of a hillside like a house of cards. Each rock, each tree root, each grain of soil plays a role in keeping everything stable. When you remove trees (which act like natural glue holding soil together), blast through rocks, and cut steep slopes, you're pulling out cards from the bottom of the pile.

Add monsoon rains—which can dump 80mm of water in 24 hours—and you've created a perfect recipe for disaster. The water flows down these unnatural steep cuts, washing away soil and lubricating potential slide zones.

In Uttarkashi district alone, there are now 60 landslide-prone zones along the pilgrimage routes. Thirteen of these are classified as "highly sensitive." That's not natural—that's human-made vulnerability.

The Swiss Don't Have This Problem

Switzerland has been building mountain roads for over a century. Norway tunnels through mountains routinely. Japan constructs highways in earthquake zones. None of them face the scale of landslide problems we're seeing in Uttarakhand.

Why? They follow basic rules:

  • Never cut slopes steeper than 45 degrees
  • Install proper drainage systems
  • Replant vegetation immediately
  • Monitor slopes continuously

These aren't rocket science techniques. They're Construction 101 for mountain areas. But following them costs 15% more upfront—money that's apparently too precious to spend on human lives.

The Real Cost of Cheap Construction

Here's the cruel irony: India spends over ₹500 crores every year cleaning up landslides and repairing damaged roads. That's money spent on fixing problems that could have been prevented with proper construction techniques costing just 15% more initially.

It's like buying the cheapest umbrella available, then spending five times more replacing it every time it breaks in the rain. Except in this case, when our "umbrella" breaks, people die.

Beyond Roads: The Bigger Picture

The Char Dham highway isn't the only culprit. The region is also seeing:

  • Char Dham Railway Project: More tunneling and blasting
  • Hydroelectric projects: Dams and diversions affecting river systems
  • Tourism boom: Unregulated hotel construction on unstable slopes

It's like performing surgery with multiple doctors operating simultaneously without coordinating. Each project alone might be manageable, but together they're overwhelming the mountains' ability to cope.

What Dharali and Silkyara Teach Us

These disasters are sending us a clear message: the Himalayas have limits. Push too hard, too fast, and they push back—with landslides, tunnel collapses, and floods.

This doesn't mean we should stop all development. It means we need to develop intelligently:

Immediate fixes:

  • Stop all construction with slopes steeper than 45 degrees
  • Install proper drainage systems on existing roads
  • Plant vegetation on all cut slopes immediately
  • Create real-time monitoring systems

Long-term solutions:

  • Learn from international best practices
  • Invest in alternative transportation (cable cars, better rail links)
  • Make geological safety mandatory, not optional
  • Include local communities in planning

The Choice Is Ours

Dharali didn't choose to become a landslide hotspot. The 41 workers in Silkyara didn't sign up to be buried alive. These are consequences of our choices—choices made in Delhi boardrooms and state secretariat buildings by people who'll never live with the consequences.

We can continue this path, creating scenic highways that become graveyards. Or we can choose to build infrastructure that works with the mountains, not against them.

The mountains have been here for millions of years. They'll outlast our highways, our tunnels, and our ambitions. The question is: will we learn to respect them before they teach us respect the hard way?

Every landslide is a lesson. Every tunnel collapse is a warning. Dharali and Silkyara are speaking to us. The question is: are we listening?

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