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The heavy rains that lashed Garhwal region of Uttarakhand over the last weekend and the floods that followed have blown the sails out of the mountain state’s fragile economy. While damages to property and life have been reported in at least six districts of the state, three of them – Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag are the worst affected.
“Industry is badly affected. Between 13,000-14,000 micro industries and business units in these three districts are badly affected. There has been no activity at all for the past one week,” said Pankaj Gupta, president, Uttarakhand Industries Association.
Development in the mountain state has been largely along the roads which run parallel to the Ganga and its tributaries. Of the two main tributaries, Bagirathi was relatively quieter, while towns and villages on the banks of Alakhanada paid a heavy price.
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Hotels, small businesses and power units are invariably situated near the river and many of them stand precariously on the edge of the roads as if suspended on air often held in place by concrete pillars that run several metres deep.
As the water levels rose, “some have been grounded, others washed away.”
Power supply has also been cut in many areas as poles and transmission lines have fallen to the nature’s fury. Restoration of these are not yet a priority as the state machinery is geared toward clearing the stranded pilgrims and tourists.
Downhill, the Rishikesh-Devaprayag belt is relatively better off. But the river rafting and adventure tourism business that had come up in the last few years has suffered a big blow. There are about 30-35 campsites between Rishikesh and Devaprayag,which have suffered damages. Investments of about Rs 15-20 lakh ride on each of these campsites.
Hotels in and around Rishikesh which offered adventure tourism as an add-on also face loss of clientele. “Everything is closed now. We are offering up to 20 per cent discount on our regular tariff” says a receptionist at the Hilltop Hotel.
The river rafting season ends on June 30. And, typically the final two weeks used to draw heavy bookings. PranavaKukreti, director, Treks n Rapids, an adventure tourism company said, “All the bookings have been cancelled. The camps used to make macimum revenues during the last few days of the season.The loss of business could be up to Rs 5-7 crore.”
Tikharam, a priest from the local temple in Gullar village near shivpurisays,”Hai yeh paani khatrnaak. Usko business banarakha. Nuksaantohhoga hi. (The water is anyway dangerous. You have made it a business. In such times, damage is inevitable.”
He says almost all the campsites in the vicinirty have suffered damages, though he has not heard of any loss of life or injury.
Bad roads are bad for business. The road from Rishikesh to Devprayag and onwards to Shrinagar is anyway treacherous with signs of evil humour reading “Drive slowly. Heaven can wait” dotting the riverside. But these have been made worse at several places by boulders that have descended down and not much has been cleared. At places, river water has corroded the roads badly making maneuverings dangerous.
Rebuilding the roads and restoring power would be top priority for businesses in these districts.
Banks and insurers would have a large role to play in the coming days as the state limps back to normalcy. “The Association will work closely with insurance companies to ensure that claims of the people whose properties have been washed away are settled on priority basis. We will also ask banks to restructure the loans for the business affected by flood,” said Gupta.
Claims may be settled, loans may be restructured. But rebuilding the lost markets is going to take a long time for the Uttarakhand’s business community as high-profile Chardham circuit has been battered beyond recognition.
