Mayukh Biswas
North Bengal faces a severe catastrophe as relentless rain triggers devastating landslides and floods. Hill towns have been buried, rivers have breached their banks, and key bridges have been washed away, severing crucial transportation links. The signs of disaster were apparent since the night of October 4. By the morning of October 5, it had escalated into an all-consuming calamity. Rivers across North Bengal swelled abnormally, and landslides triggered storm warnings. Houses and shops collapsed like card houses under nature's wrath, accompanied by a rising death toll. The entire iron bridge over the Dudhia river has been washed away, an image that seems to define the scale of this disaster. The death toll has risen to at least 40, with the picturesque town of Mirik among the worst affected. Despite prior weather warnings, the scale of the disaster appears overwhelming.
In stark contrast to the catastrophic march of death and anguish, Kolkata's Red Road in the same state of Bengal witnessed the glittering carnival of idol immersion, with the Chief Minister seen dancing to music! This paradox seems to be the norm in Bengal today. For the people battling this catastrophe, fighting a losing battle against nature, the neon-lit festivities have truly paled into insignificance. There were weather warnings. The threat of heavy rain was known. Yet, no picture of proactive measures to handle the situation was seen.
The Himalayas – An Eco-Sensitive Zone
To the north of the Dooars lies the Himalayas. This mountain range maintains the climatic balance of the northern part of the country and gives birth to life-sustaining rivers like the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. These rivers are the focal point of livelihood and faith for millions. However, in recent years, the Himalayas have been witnessing a series of natural disasters - catastrophic flash floods, landslides, glacial lake outbursts, and cloudbursts - highlighting the perils of climate change.
Events like the devastating flash flood in Dharali village, Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand, on August 5, 2025, the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy, followed by incidents in Chamoli, Joshimath, and various locations in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and the 2023 Teesta River disaster, repeatedly raise the question: are these disasters natural, or are they the result of our state policies? The August 2025 event, involving over 200 mm of rainfall in minutes, collapsing hillsides, the raging waters of the Kiriti Ganga river, hotels and shops being swept away, and loss of life, was labelled a 'natural disaster'. Yet, behind it lies a long history of environmental neglect, a disregard for science, and policies that destroy hills in the name of political development. This mirrors the October 2023 catastrophe when the Lonak Lake burst, sending its waters into the Teesta and causing widespread devastation.
The Himalayas are a young and fragile mountain range. Pressuring them is counterproductive. While development work continues across North Bengal, if it is done by betting against the environment, the impact on people's lives is inevitable. Examples like road expansion along the Teesta and blasting hills for railway lines have consequences that are felt every moment by the residents of North Bengal and Sikkim. Destroying forest cover to connect Bhutan with a rail line will have a similar impact. The changing character of the Teesta, deforestation around hills, coupled with excessive rainfall, have made flash floods in North Bengal's rivers an almost daily occurrence.
Flash floods generally occur in two ways: first, sudden, abnormally heavy rainfall (cloudbursts), and second, the outburst of glacial lakes formed by melting glaciers (GLOF). In a seismically active, young, and soft mountainous region like the Himalayas, the impact of these natural events is severe. The incidents in Dharali village, the Kedarnath disaster, Chamoli, or the Teesta accident in Sikkim are all manifestations of the same pattern. Climate change plays a significant role in such disasters. According to multiple reports from the IPCC and India's Meteorological Department (IMD), the average temperature in the Himalayan region is increasing at nearly double the rate of the Indian plains. This causes glaciers to melt rapidly, glacial lakes to swell and burst under increasing pressure. Concurrently, monsoons have become more erratic, with intense rainfall occurring over short periods that normal rivers cannot handle. This is compounded by geological weaknesses, which are being further aggravated by hill-cutting, deforestation and unplanned construction.
Unsustainable Development
The destruction being wrought in the Himalayas and their foothills in the name of 'development' has made these disasters inevitable. The Char Dham Highway project in Uttarakhand is a prime example of such development-parading-as-disaster. Adding to this are a series of hydroelectric projects. Such large construction projects at the sources of rivers severely disrupt glaciers and the natural flow of rivers.
An alarming fact is that since 2014, the central government has relaxed environmental clearance regulations, leading to several projects being approved without any independent Environmental Impact Assessment. Consequently, thousands of 'small' but hazardous projects have sprung up in the hills.
It is not just development projects; the unplanned expansion of settlements in the name of tourism is also inviting danger. Hotels, homestays, and shops are being built right on the banks of rivers, none of which have infrastructure robust enough to resist natural disasters. The incident in Darjeeling hills and adjacent foothills is no exception - many illegal structures were built too close to the river, multiplying the extent of damage.
In this context, the 2023 Teesta disaster in Sikkim is particularly noteworthy. On the night of October 4, the South Lhonak Lake in Sikkim suddenly burst, creating a glacial flood. The water then surged down the mountains into the Teesta River, leading to a severe catastrophe. Although the dam's lock gates were attempted to be opened upon hearing of the flash flood, it was unsuccessful. Consequently, before the gates could be fully opened, the dam of the 1200 MW Teesta-III hydroelectric project in Chungthang was washed away. A massive wave swept away many villages, army camps, bridges, roads, and highways in Sikkim. At least 70 people lost their lives, and over a hundred remain missing. In an interview, the Chief Minister of Sikkim stated that a part of Chungthang was washed away because the dam was not constructed properly.
These accidents, too, had prior warnings. A 2018 joint report by the UNDP and NDMA had identified South Lhonak Lake as "GLOF prone". Despite this, such a large hydroelectric project was built in its vicinity. Design flaws during construction, structures built too close to the river, and the disregard for climate change collectively made this disaster inevitable.
Ignoring the Mighty Himalayas
From Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in the west to Sikkim and North Bengal in the east - two regions at two ends of the Himalayas - face the same danger today. The construction underway in the hills, disregarding nature and the environment in the name of development, security, and tourism, is blatantly violating the ultimate limit of the hills' carrying capacity. Science has repeatedly warned against this. Local residents have also raised their voices time and again. But that experience, those warnings, find no place in the state's development policies.
Meanwhile, the rivers, eroding the hills and carrying rocks and soil with the rain, are silting up the riverbeds at the foothills, like in the Dooars-Terai. Excessive siltation has caused many rivers to overflow, like the Leesh River. To protect themselves from the silt, massive embankments line the rivers from the foothills downwards. The reason is that these mountain rivers are unreliable. On one side are the rocky slopes and on the other, the small farmlands of workers from the Washabari tea garden, growing primarily paddy and some vegetables. The problem is acute in the dry season when the river water recedes. In 2024, rainfall in North Bengal was comparatively less. The same was true overall for 2025. Consequently, even the autumn season is experiencing severe heat. Crops and tea leaves are on the verge of being destroyed because the groundwater level drops significantly in the dry season, in some places by over a hundred feet. During the monsoon, excessive rain and muddy water make it impossible for fish to survive. Roads have been built by cutting down the forests in the upper hills, along with enormous "loop bridges". The loose soil from these has slid into the rivers; the hillsides have been cut, rocks and earth split to create winding roads. All these processes are impacting the entire ecosystem.
What is the solution?
First, crucial areas of the Himalayas must be declared "Eco-sensitive Zones", where large-scale construction will be prohibited.
Second, before undertaking any major project, a mandatory Carrying Capacity Study must be conducted to understand how much stress the area can bear.
Third, local communities - especially indigenous or hill communities who are accustomed to maintaining ecological balance - must be actively involved in decision-making.
And fourth, international-standard environmental impact assessments must be made mandatory for hydroelectric and road projects.
Environment Should be Made a Political Issue
Finally, it should be realised that the Himalayas and their foothills are not just a geographical reality today - they are a political question. It is a question of the state's development policies, a question of people's security, and a question for future generations. In today’s time, the conflict between development and nature or environment is resolved in favour of recurring profits, neglecting the burning issue of saving the environment or nature. In Tuticorin, we have seen, people who came to protest against pollution in front of the power of profit were killed by bullets of profit. And this time in the name of ‘development’, the Center and state governments of the RSS-Corporate BJP have entered into a dangerous game of bringing disaster to the entire Himalayan mountain region with the aim of building an enabling environment that just creates the illusion of religion. In the recent past, we have seen the Modi government at the center taking advantage of the lockdown situation to impose one anti-people policy after another. Some examples are bringing the three agriculture laws, amending labour laws, bringing in the new education policy or arresting the leaders of mass movements. And another addition to this list was Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations of 2020. Under these, the approval of the state authority is sufficient for industrial projects within a radius of only 5 km of ecologically sensitive areas whereas earlier permission was required if the project-area is within 10 km radius. As a result, one project after another will be constructed by clearing the forest in an ecologically sensitive area. Corporate-friendly Modi government has simplified and made business-friendly the entire procedure for granting ‘environmental clearance’ to companies. We are seeing its effects everywhere in the country. Especially the ‘ecological hot spots’ are facing the most danger. These include the Himalayas, our jungles, the Western Ghats, coastal areas, etc. The people of Himalayan region are having to pay a heavy price for unscientifically and unregulated electricity generation against nature. Most of the people living in the Himalayan villages of Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Darjeeling area, depend on tourism and animal husbandry. As a result of this disaster, they have been asked to leave the area. But most of them do not have identity cards or land-deposit papers. The future of marginalized families is also uncertain. We have already seen the displacement of inhabitants of coastal or island regions due to climate change around the world. The Himalayas are now facing the same disasters. If we fail to understand the language of the mountains now, then it won't just be Himachal, Dharali or Chamoli in Uttarakhand, the banks of the Teesta in Sikkim and Bengal, Brahmaputra basin of Assam or Dooars and Terai area - many more towns and settlements will face nature's retaliation in the days to come.
CPI(M) has been in favor of environment friendly development from the very beginning. But leaving the local residents alone in this situation and causing their destruction is proof of the inhuman cruelty of the government. The main thing to keep in mind is that whether it is climate change or landform change, only the poorest people are affected. But corporate greed is changing this rapidly. Now everyone is affected. No one is left out. So, time is short. We must save our planet from capitalist plunder. Otherwise, none of us will survive. Remember Fidel Castro’s mantra: “Tomorrow it will be too late to do what we should have done a long time ago.”
