The Dharali tragedy has raised concerns about another looming disaster in Harshil, Uttarakhand, as warnings from geologist Naveen Juyal go unheeded.
Juyal cautions against cutting 7,000 trees for road widening, which could destabilize the avalanche-prone slopes.
Despite environmental recommendations, the Supreme Court approved the project, risking further ecological imbalance in the fragile Himalayan region.
Even as Uttarakhand and the rest of the country recover from the shock of the Dharali tragedy that occurred on August 5, 2025, are warnings about another potential disaster in the making, this time in nearby Harshil, being ignored?
After the Dharali disaster, a video made by senior geologist Naveen Juyal in 2023 went viral. In the video, Juyal warned that Dharali is sitting on a ‘time bomb’ that can explode anytime. The forthcoming disaster, according to Juyal, is inevitable and will happen due to a lack of understanding of Himalayan rivers and tampering with the mountain range.
In the same video, Juyal also warns about the plan to cut down about 7,000 trees for the widening of a six-kilometre road in the Harshil valley. He adds that the forests on the Jhala-Jangla road are built on silt deposited by avalanches. Many avalanches occur in the region in in winter, which are stopped by trees and their roots stabilise the slopes. If these trees are cut down, entire mountains will become unstable.
The project that Juyal talked about is a part of the ambitious All Weather Road planned by the Government of India. The Supreme Court had also formed a high-power committee headed by renowned environmentalist Ravi Chopra to study its environmental impact. Naveen Juyal was its member.
This panel had also recommended not to cut the deodar trees in the Harshil valley. But considering the strategic importance of the road, the Supreme Court had approved its widening and the felling of trees for it. According to the forest department, 6,800 trees are to be cut as part of the project.
A senior BRO official, on the condition of anonymity, shared information about the project with Down to Earth (DTE). He said the road widening project from Gangotri to Uttarkashi has been divided into five sections.
The first is from Gangotri to Jhala. The second section will bypass Sukkhi Top from Jhala and reach Gangnani from the mountain in front, as Sukkhi Top is a subsidence area. The third section is from Ganganani to Hina, while the fourth is from Hina to Tekla. The fifth section is from Tekla to Badethi Chungi.
According to the BRO official, three projects have already been approved. The first is for the township area of Uttarkashi. The second bypasses Natala and the third is from Gangotri to Jhala. There is already a wide road from Gangotri to the Bhairon valley. Consequently, no trees are to be cut. But trees will be felled from the Bhairon valley to the Jhala bridge.
According to the official, the forest department has directed that minimum tree felling should be done. This means that it is not necessary that all 6,800 trees that have been marked for felling, need to be felled.
The forest department also plans to relocate undeveloped or very old trees (mostly with a circumference of 10 to 20 feet). The department claims that 25 per cent of the big trees will survive translocation and the chances and rate of survival of the small ones will be even better.
Two years ago, Juyal had gone to the Harshil valley with one of his colleagues. He had then shared the video mentioned above on his YouTube channel, which recently went viral due to its ominous warning regarding a disaster in Dharali.
Juyal says in the video, “This eco-sensitive area between Jhala and Jangla has a lot of traffic. In this 6-km stretch, about 6,000 trees are to be cut, which have already been marked. We are trying to find an option as to whether the road can be widened without cutting those trees.”
He further says, “There is a very steep north facing slope on the left side of the Jhala-Jangla road. The stones on it are avalanche debris. Trees marked for cutting are also visible. The avalanche debris indicates that this entire slope is avalanche-prone, meaning that there are many avalanches here in winter.”
Juyal then warns, “These trees hold avalanches back and their roots stabilise the slope. If these trees are cut down, the entire mountain can become unstable.”
Vikram Gupta, a senior geologist at Sikkim University, has also been a member of the state planning commission. He agrees with Juyal and adds that not only should tree felling be banned but all types of construction work in the Himalayan region should be completely stopped.
Gupta worked for a long time at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun before joining Sikkim University in August 2023. In a study done for the Wadia Institute in 2022, he found that 51 per cent of Uttarakhand falls in ‘high’ and ‘extreme’ landslide-prone areas.
A lot of human intervention in the Uttarakhand Himalayas in the form of hydroelectric projects, tunnels, dams, bridges, new roads, etc have affected the geological conditions of the state, Gupta said in the study.
The paper warned that “in general, any deviation from the natural angle can lead to instability in slopes, and if immediate measures are not taken, slopes may collapse either immediately or over time.”
Extending Juyal’s point of not cutting trees after the Dharali disaster, Gupta says, “He (Juyal) is right in saying that trees increase the bearing capacity of the land and prevent any stone falling from above or any landslide.”
“It has become too much … it happened in Himachal, in Sikkim and now it has happened here (in Uttarakhand). I feel that all construction activities should be stopped because extreme events have increased a lot in recent times. With climate change, these are likely to increase further. Construction activities should be reduced to zero. Leave nature alone. We have seen enough.”
Juyal is aware that wide roads are necessary in the border area, given the threat from China. But he believes this can be done without cutting trees. He suggests, “It is important not to disturb this slope to prevent the mountain from becoming unstable. Instead, we should widen the road by building an elevated corridor towards the river.”
DTE put forward Juyal’s point to the BRO officer but he did not agree. He said a 90-100-metre-high bridge or elevated road would be impossible to build.
He also said no such proposal has come to the BRO. The official did admit about there being two spots where avalanches occurred.
On October 4, 2022, 26 climbers of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) died in a major avalanche on Draupadi Ka Danda-2 peak in Uttarkashi. Earlier in 2021, there were several avalanches on the Lamkhaga Chitkul track in Uttarkashi and on the Trishul peak in which many people lost their lives.
Juyal says, “Scientists believe that in the coming years, the effect of climate change will be more at higher altitudes. Especially in the Himalayas, the temperature in the higher regions is going to increase more than in the lower regions. Consequently, these glaciers will become very active and the incidence of ice and rock avalanches will increase, which may lead to floods like the Rishiganga disaster and Dharali.”
And when these avalanches occur, it will matter a lot whether there is pine forest underneath to reduce their impact.