Articles by Ashwani Sharma

The last winter was probably Shimla’s strangest and most disappointing one in a long, long time. The only snow the city got was in two or three mild spells. There were no scenes of the pretty snow covered Shimla streets and homes. “This is a big change we are seeing in the weather in the course of one lifetime” says Raaja Bhasin, Shimla author and historian. Not just Shimla but other parts of Himachal Pradesh have also been witnessing strange weather. Primarily more wet days than expected and abrupt increases in daily temperatures. Una for instance, a district bordering Punjab…

“Mountains are blessed places,” says Devki (named changed), 49 and mother of a 19-yr old youth, who died of drug overdose three years back. “Yet, there is a worrying side – growing drug abuse by youth, which tends to make Himachal Pradesh like neighbouring “Udta Punjab'', the title given to the drug riven state by a 2016 Bollywood movie. Devki and her family lied to the police while reporting her son’s death, as she doesn’t want to be identified as the mother of an addict, who suffered from withdrawals after his return from rehabilitation. The boy relapsed and succumbed to…

As with Joshimath, the ecological crisis threatening an already sinking Shimla and other hill towns in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh was long foreseen and predicted. Prof A K Mahajan, a geologist at Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Shahpur (Kangra) undertook a scientific study in 1998 on the twin-towns of Dharamshala and McLeodganj. “There is high similarity in the land subsistence crisis at Joshimath and McLeodganj town,” says Professor Mahajan. “Since 1998, I have been repeatedly highlighting the warning signals relating to the sinking threat at McLeodganj. Recently, when a road, ‘Khara Danda’ connecting Dharamshala with  Mcleodganj started sinking, it was a…

Naresh Chandra Singh, 46, is a native of Kharghar who hails from Manipur in the Northeast of India. A childhood endowed with nature allowed him a natural passion for the environment and its preservation. A job in American IT consulting firm Gartner led him to set up a base in Kharghar, which introduced him to the vast natural landscape of the district and Navi Mumbai as a whole. The slow degradation of nature in Navi Mumbai in the context of rapid urbanisation has compelled him to fight for the precious biodiversity that surrounds and sustains the area. In 2018, he…

Stalin Dayanand is an environmentalist and Director of the Mumbai-based environmental NGO, Vanashakti. His passion for environmental protection and conservation has resulted in many success stories in Mumbai and elsewhere in the Maharashtra.Some of his landmark works include keeping wildlife corridors in the western Ghats  of Maharashtra from falling prey to to mining, securing protection for wetlands in Maharashtra, protecting mangroves in the Thane creek and Sewri and saving over 3000 trees from being cut for a road widening project in Wada.He is campaigning hard to protect 3000 acres of open spaces and forest lands in Aarey Colony Mumbai from being…

NatConnect Foundation aims to protect and conserve the environment in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Citizen Matters spoke to NatConnet director B N Kumar, who is also a media veteran.  What are major environmental issues facing Mumbai's coastal areas. How will these impact Mumbai’s biodiversity? For long, authorities have been unconcerned and apathetic about Mumbai's ecology. It has become customary and almost an annual event for the people to suffer floods and city shutdown. But the deluge of 2006, somehow, made people realise that the destruction of mangroves has also contributed to the disaster. Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the ever-extending and…

Conservation Action Trust is a Mumbai-based non-profit organisation formed to protect the environment, particularly forests and wildlife. The main purpose of the Trust is to educate and enlighten decision makers and the public about the importance of forests for our survival. The role of forests in protecting the water security of the country is one of the major thrust areas of CAT. Debi Goenka is an Executive Trustee at Conservation Action Trust and a well-known environmentalist. Citizen Matters spoke to him about the threat to mangroves in Mumbai and other serious environmental concerns in the city. Vashi Creek and the Mangrove…

“The recession and inflation over the last year and more has broken the middle class and crushed low income groups,” says B.D Sharma, a retired director of public relations with the Himachal Pradesh government.  “Whatever I and my wife, who also retired from a government job, had invested in a Fixed Deposited (FD) scheme,” says Sharma. “The regular interest income from this has dropped by 45 to 50% due to cut in interest rates, but our monthly household budget is up by 120%!” Urban families, especially in towns like Shimla, a hill town known even during pre-pandemic times for its…

“Urban administration and urban planning in India is undergoing a major change,” says Rajneesh, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban development. “Himachal Pradesh, a predominantly rural state, has to make this transition given that urbanisation is a fact of life and new ULBs (Urban Local bodies) must be strengthened”. This was the rationale given by the Himachal Pradesh government to form three new municipal corporations to administer Solan, Palampur and Mandi . While Solan is a fast growing town with several educational institutions of higher studies and a bustling business community, Palampur in Kangra district is a popular tea town and home to…

“Shimla’s carrying capacity vis-à-vis vehicles is already exhausted and needs immediate solutions” admits Mohit Chawla, Superintendent of Police (SP) Shimla, as the city prepares to welcome tourists in the coming months. Having suffered huge losses last year, Shimla’s tourism-related businesses are hoping for a good season in 2021, as unlock restrictions are eased more and more. Unfortunately, an influx of tourist vehicles from outside the state would only worsen an already chaotic hill station’s traffic woes. The town presently does not have the capacity to cope even with the existing 1.2 lakh plus registered vehicles and more than 25,000 other…