PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF KEDARNATH PILGRIM REGION

Abstract

Some States of Himalayan Region like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand faced unexpected rain and some locations of these states were hit by cloud burst on 14" to 17" June 2013. In this period, both Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh recorded highest rainfall which was highest in last 20 yrs. Period. This rainfall became flash flood and triggered landslides in valleys and along the river. These landslides badly hit many settlements and tourist places in both these states. As a result mar'y Himalayan Rivers like Ganga and its main tributaries Alaknanda and Mandakin swallowed up, and washed away many settlements along these rivers. The water with debris and silt gathered tremendous momentum and caused widespread destruction it in along the rivers. With no warning, there have been a large no. of fatalities in some areas which are popular destinations for pilgrims and tourists. The main affected areas are very remotely and very environmentally fragile areas and there are also a limited facility of transportation and connectivity. In this flash flood few roads were cut off and bridges (connecting key for many towns) were collapsed. An estimate of 70000 pilgrims and tourists were stranded in their area. The total no. of evacuees was around 1, 10,000 and total number of fatalities was around 5000 and an estimation of missing people was 4700 but the actual no. of casualties and mission people expected to be much higher. Public facilities and infrastructure such as Roads and bridges, Residences, public buildings and social infrastructure such as school, collages and health centers were badly damaged. An estimated loss of State was INR 30000 million. This disaster has stopped the lives and livelihoods those who are poor or rural people. Around 20, 36,000 people has affected across and 40000 sq. 1 miles of area. This dissertation aims at the causes of the calamity and formulating some planning strategies for sustainable development of Kedarnath Pilgrim Region. Most of the economy of Uttarakhand is based on Tourism and Char Dham (Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri) plays a big role in tourism based economy. Kedarnath is one of the most popular pilgrim sites of Uttarakhand. After this disaster this area needs some redevelopment polices and planning so that it will be possibleto reduce the possibilities of disasters and can minimize the numbers of casualties in the future.