Opinion Sikkim warning: Hydroelectricity push must be accompanied by safety measures

At least 14 persons lost their lives and more than 100 others, including 23 army personnel, are reportedly missing in Sikkim after the Teesta river went into spate on Wednesday. The flash floods seem to have been triggered by a combination of factors. A cloud burst ripped apart the South Shonak Lake — a glacial body in the state’s northwest. According to Sikkim’s Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), the Teesta has inundated at least four districts in the state. The calamity was aggravated by the release of water from the Chungthang dam — initial reports suggest that the breach was caused by water rushing from the mountains. Disaster management authorities are also investigating the possibility of the event being triggered by an earthquake in Nepal on Tuesday. The probe is likely to throw more light on the immediate causes of the flash flood but one thing has long been clear — states in the Himalayan region must respect the fragile ecology of the mountains and put in adequate safeguards to mitigate the damage caused by increasingly frequent extreme rainfall events.

For years, studies have red-flagged the South Shonak Lake’s expansion due to glacial melting and warned that the water body is susceptible to breaches. In 2021, for instance, a study by scientists from IIT Roorkee, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, University of Dayton, USA, University of Graz, Austria, and the Universities of Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland recommended regular monitoring of the lake’s growth and continuous assessment of the region’s slope stability. The National Disaster Management Authority guidelines also say that risk reduction has to begin with mapping such water bodies, taking structural measures to prevent their breach and establishing mechanisms that can alert people about glacial lake outbursts. The IMD has collaborated with the US National Weather Service to warn people about six to 24 hours before a flash flood. But the system doesn’t seem to have come to terms with the Himalayan region’s idiosyncrasies.

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The Northeast has a key place in the hydel power push of successive governments at the Centre. The Chungthang Dam is a part of the 1,200 MW Teesta Stage 3 Hydroelectric Project. The government claims that such projects are climate-friendly because of their low emissions intensity. Hydroelectric power is also a major source of revenue for Sikkim. Ecologists, however, caution against the adverse effects of dam construction — it increases the volatility of rocks in the Himalayan region. Wednesday’s disaster is a warning to take such caveats seriously and install robust safety mechanisms.