Discontent In The Hills Over Priority Given to Tourists Over Locals Evacuation

As a tourism destination, disaster ravaged Himachal Pradesh has been witnessing the herculean rescue and relief effort aimed at the tourists. According to the state Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu 60,000 tourists had been rescued by Thursday evening. Efforts are on to bring another 10,000 to safety soon.

While the authorities are duty bound to rescue the visitors stranded at various places, the questions around the attitude of the tourists towards warnings sounded by the authorities regarding the weather conditions need to be addressed as well. It is common knowledge that such weather warnings are not heeded to by visitors coming to the hills, and the results are there for everyone to see.

There is a lot of discontent among the people on how the prioritising of tourist rescue comes at a cost of the relief to the local communities. The locals are the worst hit as their homes and hearths have been swept away by floods, along with their means of livelihood.

“The resources in terms of manpower as well as the rescue operation machinery could have been more optimally used had the tourists adhered to the warnings that were being sounded well in time,” is a common refrain even among the officials.

But the golden question remains: what makes the visitors take such warnings so lightly?

Meteorologist Anand Sharma who has witnessed several disasters during his service including the one at Kedarnath in Uttarakhand a decade back pointed out, “There is a need to make weather a part of your planning. The problem is that this is either totally ignored or half baked information is taken into account.

“Worse, the travellers go by the partial knowledge of climatology that is based on an average. They would just go by the information about what the average temperature or precipitation at a destination is during a particular month. They do not go beyond and totally ignore the daily projections that are available.

“The second aspect is that they have no inkling of the concept about the height above the mean sea level that also has a bearing on the oxygen levels. I have seen people from places like West Bengal and Gujarat coming to the mountains dressed in just shirts, trousers and floaters with the knowledge that the temperature would be say 10 degree Celsius. A sudden shower can make the temperature dip to minus for which they are totally unprepared and hence face medical issues.”

Sharma said that there is a need to sensitise people about weather and its inclusion in planning right from the school and to take traditional wisdom available with the locals seriously. He also pointed at the tendency of blaming everything on climate change as “it suits everyone from the politicians to others down the line”.

Anil Kant who is a hotelier with units at Manali and Tosh which have been among the worst hit by the recent disaster explained things further. “The visitors have planned their trips and activities well in advance while the weather warnings can only be provided about 12 hours before they undertake any activity.

“Since they have planned things with enthusiasm, they are adamant to go ahead even if they are told not to. I have several examples on my hands right now of such people,” said Kant who walked 28 kilometres through the disaster hit terrain to reach his own home in Mahoul in Kullu.

“It is not that the receptionists at the hotels do not inform the tourists of the weather conditions and what can be expected. But the effort is futile. On many occasions the tourists do not show faith in the hotel staff having a cynical view that holding them back would be in the commercial interests of the latter. The only thing that can be done in such a situation is to put up barriers and make them return to safety by force,” he opined.

In hill state’s like Himachal Pradesh the weather forecasts are regularly disseminated through various mass media including newspapers, local radio and television channels with regularity, only to be ignored.

“Majority of the tourists are neither familiar with the terrain nor with the weather conditions. With high energy levels and risk taking tendencies, the youth in particular does not understand how even that one percent possibility of things going wrong can prove to be fatal. They just want to experience things without paying any attention to the risk factor.

“This is because they have never seen a natural calamity. It can be compared to the tendency of taking selfies at the doors of fast moving trains. They just do not understand the risk involved,” explained Solan based Abhishek Mittoo who has organised biking expeditions to Ladakh and the interiors of Sirmour in the past.

The government and society at large has risen to help the stranded tourists. Many hotels and homestays have opened their doors for free boarding and lodging for those stranded. Amid this scenario an interesting aspect was shared by Anil Kant when he said, “The tendency to make e-payments and not carry cash also showed its failure in the face of there being no power to charge mobiles or there being no mobile signals.”

The rescue operations have been directly monitored by Sukhu. According to a government spokesperson Sukhu dedicated three days to monitor and oversee 60 hours of rescue operations.

Sukhu disclosed at Manali on Thursday that the Israeli embassy has also reached out to the state government expressing willingness to evacuate their nationals from the affected areas of Kasol and Tirthan through their own special sorties for which the state Government has no such objection. He said that all the foreign tourists are safe and essential commodities were being ensured to them.

One of the most daunting rescue operations was carried out at Chandratal to rescue around 300 stranded tourists under the leadership of the state’s revenue minister Jagat Singh Negi and chief parliamentary secretary Sanjay Awasthi. The two along with a team of rescuers reached Chandratal at 2AM on Thursday after crossing the mighty Kunzum pass located at a height of 4551 metres above the sea level while braving the sub-zero temperature.

According to the state’s chief secretary Prabodh Saxena the government, in its initial response to the calamity, has prioritised the evacuation of the people stuck in different areas of the state. The focus now is on ensuring essential services in the flood torn areas.

He told the officers that the restoration of roads, power and water supplies, medical facilities, communication services, especially mobile connectivity and fuel supplies should be in focus and any financial assistance needed to do so will be provided immediately by the government.

"I have spoken to all the Deputy Commissioners, and taken stock of the prevailing situation and challenges being faced by them in bringing normalcy in their areas. I was informed that most of the major roads, communication lines, power supplies, and water pumping stations have been repaired and are functional," he said.

Rescue teams are being rushed to vulnerable trekking routes and passes to ensure no one is stuck there.