When trees saved many lives at Gangnani

In many past accidents, trees cushion their impact

PrashantNews

At a time when forests are being axed rampantly in the name of development in Uttarakhand, a bunch of trees cushioned the impact of an accident when a passenger bus carrying 27 pilgrims fell 15-20 feet deep at Gangnani in Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand.

The bus coming from Gangotri shrine broke the crash barrier, tumbled down the gorge and got stuck on a tree before it could hit the bottom, police officials said.

Only three people were killed in the accident which occurred on Tuesday night.  The majority of the pilgrims only suffered minor injuries. “The bus fell on a tree due to which the impact of the accident got reduced,” said a top police official. Despite falling 15-20 meter down, the trees prevented the bus from tumbling down further, said a government official of the rescue team.

More than two decades ago in a similar accident, a bus which was carrying school children was saved by a tree as it did not fall further down into a deep khud at Langasu area in Chamoli district.

“Tree are not only protecting our environment but also saving lives of people in such accidents,” said Anup Nautiyal, an environmentalist, who is actively participating in save trees campaign in the Khalanga area in Dehradun in Uttarakhand where hundreds of trees are being marked for felling.  “Our point is that trees should not be cut mercilessly.  We are not saying we don’t want development. But before you start felling trees, the government should look into other options also,” said Nautiyal.

“Due to global warming, Dehradun is suffering from unprecedented heat waves these days. People are even operating ACs in the hill resort of Mussoorie. We should explore some other alternative option where a large number of trees are being felled,” said Harsh Dobhal, a professor at Doon University.

Recently, a campaign was launched to prevent hundreds of trees being chopped down at Khalanga where the state government is planning to build a drinking water project for Dehradun. Citizens in Dehradun have held a series of protests in this regard.