Lesson from Dharali: Do not cross the limits of nature

The massive flash flood in the Kheer Ganga (Kheer Gad) on August 5, 2025, in Uttarakhand’s border district of Uttarkashi has changed the geography of Dharali town.

The frenzy with which the debris-filled waters from the catchment areas of the Kheer Ganga destroyed the houses of Dharali like a pack of cards, has come across as a disturbing and tragic incident for all Indians.

The Dharali disaster is very similar to the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy. Our carelessness only increases the damages caused by such disasters.

We completely forget that ultimately we will have to bear the consequences of interfering with nature.

We start building settlements without thinking about sensitive places like a river’s floodplain, its catchment areas, landslide-prone areas, places with old sediment and near motorways. The main reason for this can be attributed to the lure of economic benefits.

In the context of natural calamities in the mountains, it is important to note that it is essential for us to maintain harmony with the environment around us, keeping in mind its limitations.

Without doubt, if we try to cross the limits of nature or go against it, sooner or later we will certainly have to suffer the consequences.

The hills of Uttarakhand have not remained untouched by the effects of natural disasters. Due to specific environmental climatic variations, incidents of landslides, floods and cloudbursts keep happening here. Uttarakhand is also considered to be geologically sensitive.

Development work being carried out in the Himalayan regions, especially in Himachal and Uttarakhand, ignoring their sensitivity, limited carrying capacity and geomorphology, is emerging as a major cause of concern from the environmental point of view.

The process of increasing urbanisation in small towns and cities has affected the local environmental balance. Consequently, the loss of life and property due to natural disasters is increasing further.

The flat and medium slope area where the Kheer Ganga meets the Bhagirathi river in Dharali is shaped like a conical fan. In geographical terminology, this type of landform is called an ‘alluvial fan’. This type of landform is formed when a river keeps depositing its silt at the mouth of a plain, valley or confluence area.

Generally, due to the accumulation of sand, gravel, small and big boulders and other deposits in the alluvial fan, temporary landforms emerge in a certain area. Sometimes the river carrying silt divides into many branches and creates its new flow path. The flood silt of the Kheer Ganga in Dharali has filled this alluvial fan and has also changed the direction of its flow.

In times past, when the only means of reaching Gangotri was by foot, Dharali was one of the main stops on this road. There was a suspension bridge to cross the Bhagirathi and pilgrims used to get food items from the shops here.

The original village is located half a kilometre above the present market (2,506 m) at an altitude of 2,593 m. After a motorable road was built at the foot of the main village in the 1960s, settlements gradually started to develop on its banks as well.

After the formation of Uttarakhand, the number of hotels, dhabas, shops and homestays boomeranged in the last five-seven years due to increase in the number of tourists/pilgrims in Gangotri.

The sensitive and unstable nature of this place were completely forgotten and this uncontrolled and unplanned process of development continued unabated. Whereas in reality, under the prescribed norms, construction of any kind of building within 100 metres of rivers and canals in such areas is prohibited.

On looking at a Google map it is clear that past Sukhi Top, after the Bhagirathi motorable bridge at Jaspur stop, around 28 small and big streams pass along the motorable road up to Sungarh, Jhala, Harshil, Purga, Dharali, Mukhaba, Jangam Rishi Cave and Bhairoghati.

These streams, which are saturated with glaciers and water from the height of 4,000 to 5,000 metres or more of the high Himalayas, have brought mud, sand, gravel, boulder debris from their catchment areas and have created small and medium sized alluvial fans on the banks of the Bhagirathi. At these places, the road often gets blocked due to debris coming onto it during the rainy season.

It is noteworthy that the terrible disaster that occurred along the Kheer Ganga in the middle of the third decade of the 19th century also caused devastation in Dharali.

During the subsequent years, mainly in 1978, 2003, 2010, 2013, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024, incidents of excessive rainfall, floods, landslides, land subsidence, cloudbursts, etc. have been reported in Dharali and its adjacent Bhagirathi valley. In these disasters too, lives and property were lost in several local villages.

The way encroachment is increasing on the vulnerable geospatial areas of the mountains as well as places which are extremely sensitive from the environmental point of view, and the resultant consequences being faced in the form of loss of life and property, is a matter that needs to be urgently addressed.

Whether it is the vanishing biodiversity of the Himalayan region or the increasing population and pollution in the towns and cities that are being built along the natural flow paths of roads and river basins, it would ultimately be better for us to overcome consumerist ideologies and orient ourselves towards a harmonious relationship for a proper solution.

It would be better to live in harmony with nature while staying outside its boundaries. We all have to harmonise our aspirations in accordance with the principles of nature.

For this, cooperating with nature at every step should be considered as important as the desire to benefit from it. Understanding the sufferings of nature, efforts like changing our own lifestyle for its protection should be our top priorities.

For those who believe in materialism though, there is no denying that humans can be fully capable and independent in conquering nature and using it for their own benefit by virtue of their ability and ambition.

But here, it is very important to think deeply that when there is no nature, humans will not be able to fulfil their ambitions and save their very lives. Therefore, it is necessary that we do not try to cross the limits of nature.

The author is a Research Associate at Doon Library and Research Centre, Dehradun

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth