'Existential Crisis': Supreme Court's Tough Questions to Himachal Over Floods, Eco Damage

The Supreme Court on Tuesday posed a series of pointed questions to the Himachal Pradesh government over recurring natural disasters and ecological degradation in the state, seeking detailed responses by October 28. The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said the current monsoon season saw unprecedented rain “causing havoc” in the state’s fragile ecosystem and resulting in widespread damage to life and property.“Evidently, the state of Himachal Pradesh and for that matter, all the states in the Himalayan region are facing a serious existential crisis,” the bench observed.The court directed the state to file an affidavit signed by the Principal Secretary of the Forest Department addressing questions on zoning, climate change, afforestation,

highways, hydropower, mining, and tourism.The court asked, “Measures, if any, employed by the State to regulate the tourist activity within the State especially in the peak monsoon season. Details of the same to be placed on record.”It further queried, “Are there any measures in place to monitor the footfall of tourists while balancing the same with the ecological conditions prevailing in the State? Details of the same to be placed on record.”The bench asked the state to explain whether it has a climate change policy apart from its disaster management plans, and to submit “details of prosecutions initiated under the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, for illegal constructions.”It also sought “details of cases/prosecutions pending, if any, for illegal tree felling in the State and current status thereof, to be placed on record.”Other queries included: whether the state has conducted studies on the impact of climate change on its ecosystem, funds allocated and utilized for disaster management over the last two decades, cumulative impact assessments of hydroelectric projects, the number of mining operations and leases, and surveys on tree cover and compensatory afforestation.The bench said the response must also include “the criteria on the basis whereof, zoning (if any), is done in the state of Himachal Pradesh, that is to say, whether zoning (if any) is done on the basis of seismic activity/landslides/green cover/eco-sensitivity.”