Anti-India gang latches onto Chamoli disaster to drag down India’s infrastructural work

The eco-fascists of India have turned into vultures and keep waiting for new tragedies to advance their propaganda. After a glacier broke off in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand on Sunday, causing a massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river and endangering the lives of people living along its banks, several eco-fascists blamed it all of the construction work carried out by the government for security and transportation purposes.

“In the era of changing environment, we request the State to stop promoting this environmentally vulnerable zone as a tourist destination, branding it as Dev Bhoomi. Widening of roads & large water/power projects are endangering millions of human lives here,” tweeted former Prasar Bharati Chairperson Mrinal Pande, who has been called of many times for spreading fake news against the Modi government.

“Building too many dams in the Himalayas has lead to this. Prayers for the people of Chamoli. Please contact Disaster Operations Center number 1070 or 9557444486 for help,” tweeted actor Dia Mirza who is Goodwill Ambassador UN Environment and played a critical role in making the life of Mumbaikars hell by advancing the Aarey protest.

“A shocking aspect of this Uttarakhand disaster (in which many of the missing are dam workers) is that a cabinet minister, no less, warned against building a dam at that location. But still the project went ahead. Why?” tweeted Amitav Ghosh, the poverty glorifying writer, who opposes almost all infrastructure projects, with an article of the New York Times.

Even Gargi Rawat, news anchor and environment reporter with NDTV, had similar thoughts on the Chamoli floods and blamed the centre for the same. “This requires a proper study as to what caused the glacier to break. Is warming due to climate change, tremors due to infrastructure work? I do know that many in Uttarakhand want better connectivity, employment but the development needs to be done very carefully,” she tweeted.

The Wire, in a style typical to the portal, quoted an environmental and climate change activist in its report on what caused the glacier break and subsequent flooding in Chamoli, who blamed it all on the ongoing construction in the area.

“This disaster again calls for a serious scrutiny of the hydropower dams building spree in this eco-sensitive region,” The Wire quoted a volunteer for the Combat Climate Change Network, who blamed the power projects on Ganga for the Chamoli floods.

Environmental activism has already cost billions of dollars to the government and the development of the country. The Intelligence Bureau in its report in 2014 claimed that Foreign-funded NGOs were stalling India’s development. The report claimed that the NGOs are “serving as tools for foreign policy interests of western governments” by sponsoring agitations against nuclear and coal-fired power plants across the country.

The report further stated that the NGOs work roughly through a network of local organisations like the Narmada Bachao Andolan and have negatively impacted India’s GDP by 2-3%.

The government came under heavy fire as in the report the IB accused ‘Greenpeace’ of receiving Rs. 45 crore from abroad in the past seven years to oppose the building of coal-fired plants in India with companies like Coal India Limited, Hindalco, and Aditya Birla group emerging as the NGO’s major targets.

The recent case of the Sterlite plant and the subsequent losses incurred is a prime example of environmentalists trying to stonewall India’s development. Despite the crackdown by the government, the eco-fascists have succeeded in the blockade of many projects including the Aarey metro shed.

For the fast clearance of infrastructure projects in border areas of Northeast and border states in Northern India, the government has removed the clause for the requirement of environmental clearance. However, capitalising on the Chamoli tragedy, the eco-fascists are back with their agenda but they often forget that they may soon come under the radar of the Modi government.