Trekking high above the main valley, Santa and Banta traversed a vast, silent landscape of abandoned agricultural terraces.
The meticulously crafted stone breast walls, which once held the precious soil, were now crumbling. Wild grasses had reclaimed the small fields where generations had once grown millet and barley.
Santa let out a nostalgic sigh.
“Look at this, Banta.”
“It makes me sad.”
“Our people have left the land.”
“Such a shame to see these beautiful terraces, our heritage, being forgotten and turning to ruin.”
“It is sad, Santa,” Banta agreed, his eyes scanning the crumbling walls with a professional unease.
“But it is more than just sad.”
“It is dangerous.”
“We are looking at a new, silent threat.”
“Dangerous?”
“How can an empty field be dangerous?”
Banta pointed to a section where a retaining wall had collapsed, leaving a mound of loose soil and rubble exposed.
“This,” he said, “is the growing problem of Agriculture Terrace Induced Landslides, or ATIL.”
“When our people farmed here, they constantly maintained these breast walls.”
“Now, they are neglected.”
He painted a picture for Santa.
“Imagine it’s the middle of a heavy monsoon downpour.”
“Rainwater pounds this slope.”
“It seeps into the soil behind that broken wall.”
“The soil turns to a thick, heavy mud.”
“With nothing to hold it back, the entire mass of mud and debris behind that wall suddenly gives way.”
“It starts as a small mudflow, but as it rushes downslope, it gathers more and more material, more and more speed.”
“By the time it reaches that new settlement near the road—the one you thought was so smart—it’s no longer a small mudflow.”
“It’s a massive, destructive landslide, capable of sweeping away houses.”
Santa looked from the crumbling terraces above to the bustling settlement in the valley below, a direct line of sight between them.
The sad, forgotten fields no longer looked poetic; they looked like the starting point of a future tragedy.
The link between the socio-economic problem of outmigration and a new type of disaster risk became terrifyingly clear.
संता – बंता की इस जुगलबन्दी से आज हमने क्या सीखा:-
- समझ / Discover: रखरखाव के आभाव में हिमालयी क्षेत्र में बंजर पड़े सीढ़ीदार खेत धीरे-धीरे भू-स्खलन का एक बड़ा कारण बन रहे हैं; फिर इस ओर किसी का ध्यान जा भी नहीं रहा हैं / The widespread abandonment of agricultural terraces in the Himalayas has created a new, often overlooked landslide risk.
- विज्ञान / Science: रखरखाव के आभाव में सीढ़ीदार खेतों की दीवारे पीछे पड़ी मिट्टी को संभाल पाने में सक्षम नहीं रह गयी हैं और भारी बारिश की स्थिति में सहज ही बह जाने वाली मिट्टी कुछ ही दूरी में भू-स्खलन का रूप ले लेती हैं / Neglected and collapsing retaining walls (breast walls) of these terraces can no longer hold back the soil. During heavy rain, this soil becomes saturated and can initiate mudflows that rapidly escalate into destructive landslides, known as Agriculture Terrace Induced Landslides (ATIL).
- चिंतन / Reflect: पलायन व खेती की बेरुखी जैसे सामाजिक- आर्थिक कारण पहाड़ी ढालो के स्थायित्व को भी परोक्ष रूप से प्रभावित करते हैं / Socio-economic changes like outmigration and the decline of agriculture have direct and unforeseen consequences on the geological stability of the landscape.
- उत्तरदायित्व / Responsibility: आपदा प्रबन्धन के लिये उत्तरदायी प्राधिकारियों व राज्य को रखरखाव के बिना बंजर पड़े सीढ़ीदार खेतो से उत्पन्न हो सकने वाली आपदाओं के प्रति संवेदनशील होते हुवे क्षतिग्रस्त सीढ़ीदार खेतों की दीवारों की मरम्मत के लिये ठोस कार्यवाही करनी चाहिये / The state needs to recognise the significant hazard potential of these abandoned terraces, particularly those upslope of habitations, and devise policies for their maintenance, possibly through schemes like MGNREGA, to mitigate this growing threat.
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 आपके 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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