From a high vantage point, Santa and Banta are watching giant yellow machines clawing at a mountainside to widen a road on the opposite slope.
Huge amounts of rock and soil are dislodged.
“Those machines are so powerful, Banta!” Santa exclaims.
“Look how these cut through the mountain!”
“And these are so tidy too.”
“As soon as the rock is cut, it just tumbles down the slope and disappears!”
“No need to carry it away in trucks.”
“Very efficient!”
Banta looks at the scene not with admiration, but with deep alarm.
“Santa, my friend, that debris is not disappearing.”
“It is being given a new address.”
“Its new address is Disaster-in-Waiting, C/o The Next Monsoon.”
Santa, startled by Banta’s grave tone, says, “What do you mean?”
“It’s just falling into the empty jungle below.”
“It’s out of sight for the contractor who wants to save money on proper disposal, yes,” Banta retorts.
“But it is very much in the mind of the unstable slope it has been dumped on.”
“That loose pile of Malba, weighing thousands of tons, is like a heavy, uninvited guest sitting on a very rickety chair.”
“The moment it rains heavily, the chair will break, and the guest will come crashing down, triggering a new landslide where none existed before, or waking up an old, sleeping one.”
He points down towards the river in the valley below.
“And that’s only half the story, Santa.”
“The debris that doesn’t slide immediately sits there, waiting.”
“When the river swells in a flash flood, it greedily picks up all this readily available loose material.”
“A flood of just water might be dangerous, but a flood carrying thousands of tons of mud, stones, and boulders – a river of rocks – is a monster.”
“It has many times more destructive power.”
“It can destroy bridges, roads, and homes far downstream.”
“We are, in effect, feeding the flood, making it stronger and angrier, with the very debris from our efficient road construction.”
Santa looks horrified.
“So, that disappearing debris is actually a secret weapon we are handing over to the next flash flood?”
“It’s like leaving a pile of cannonballs on the riverbank for an enemy to use against us?”
“A perfect, and frightening, analogy, Santa,” Banta says grimly.
“The official reports may talk of safe and scientific debris disposal, but what our eyes often see is this dangerous practice of gravity-based disposal – just letting it fall.”
“Every truckload of muck that is dumped down a slope instead of being transported to a safe, designated dumping yard is a down payment on a future catastrophe.”
Santa stares at the distant construction, the tumbling rocks no longer looking efficient, but sinister.
“So, the true cost of this road is not just the money spent, but also the risk we are accumulating downstream and downslope.”
“It seems out of sight can very quickly become out of control.”
संता – बंता की इस जुगलबन्दी से आज हमने क्या सीखा:-
- ढलानों पर मलबा निस्तारित करना आत्मघाती और गैर-जिम्मेदाराना है – सड़क निर्माण के मलबे (muck) को सीधे नीचे की ढलानों पर लुढ़का देना बेहद खतरनाक और गैर-जिम्मेदाराना चलन है / The common practice of dumping road construction debris downslope is extremely dangerous and irresponsible.
- ढलानों की अस्थिरता और नए भू-स्खलन का मुख्य कारण – यह ढीला मलबा ढलान का प्राकृतिक संतुलन बिगाड़ता है, जिससे नये भू-स्खलन शुरू होते हैं और पुराने शांत पड़े मलबे के ढेर फिर से सक्रिय हो जाते हैं / This loose material destabilizes slopes, triggers new landslides, and reactivates old ones.
- बाढ़ को जानलेवा मलबे के सैलाब (Debris Flow) में बदलना – अत्यधिक बारिश या बादल फटने पर यही फेंका गया मलबा पानी के साथ मिलकर बाढ़ को कई गुना अधिक विनाशकारी और भारी कीचड़-मलबे के बहाव में बदल देता है / It critically increases the volume of debris available for mobilization during flash floods, transforming them into far more destructive mudflows or debris flows.
- वैज्ञानिक मलबा निस्तारण: हिमालयी सुरक्षा के लिए गैर-परक्राम्य (Non-negotiable)- हिमालय में सुरक्षित और टिकाऊ बुनियादी ढांचे के लिए निर्धारित डंपिंग यार्डों में वैज्ञानिक तरीके से मलबे का सुरक्षित निस्तारण और नियमों का कड़ाई से पालन अनिवार्य शर्त है / Strict enforcement of scientific and safe muck disposal regulations is non-negotiable for safe infrastructure development in the Himalayas.
संता – बंता की यह जुगलबन्दी आपको कैसी लगी, कृपया हमें जरुर बताये
व
इस जुगलबन्दी को बेहतर बनाने के लिये अपने सुझाव अवश्य दें।
हमें हमेशा की तरह आप के सुझावों, प्रतिक्रियाओं व कटाक्षो का बेसब्री से इंतजार रहता हैं और सच मानिये इसी के आधार पर हम अपने आप में, अपनी सोच व रचनात्मकता में सुधार करने को प्रेरित होते हैं।
सो अच्छा – बुरा जैसा आपको महसूस हुवा हो, कमेंट जरुर करते रहें।
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