Uttarakhand, not Switzerland

Europeans are shocked to see the response of the Indian authorities to the tragedy in Uttarakhand. The fact is: Disasters happen everywhere, but they are managed differently. Between 1970 and 1995, more than 150 major floods occurred in Europe.

However, the recurring floods are managed in an intelligent manner, in the form of Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM). Keeping construction out of flood plains — “more room for rivers” — has become Europe’s governing principle for reducing discharge and flooding.

The Swiss Model

Switzerland is about the size of Uttarakhand. It is used to natural disasters and is recognised as being ahead of the game in the area of flood prevention, on which it spends 2.5 billion Swiss francs a year.

The population is about 8.1 million (Uttarakhand is 10 million), with an average population density of around 190 people per sq.km (189 people per sq.km in Uttarakhand).

Switzerland has the most dense rail network in Europe of 5,063 km, carries over 350 million passengers annually. Our “land of the Gods” ( devbhumi ), as the State of Uttarakhand is known, has 345 km of rail routes. Electricity generated in Switzerland is 56 per cent from hydro electricity and 39 per cent from nuclear power, virtually a carbon-dioxide-free electricity-generating network. Uttarakhand is a power-deficit State.

In 2011, Switzerland offered 4,967 registered hotels or hostels, offering 38.8 million lodging nights by 10 million tourists. Uttarakhand received about 20 million tourists during the same period. There are only 22 registered hotels. Most are in the unclassified category — of small guest houses, dharmasalas , night shelters and lodges. There are only 8.4 tourist rent houses, 102.5 hotels and guests houses and 337 beds per million tourists.

While Uttarakhand has two domestic airports — Jolly Grant in the Dehradun district and another in Pant Nagar — Switzerland has 25 heliports, 110 transitory helipads, 8 large international airports where the most modern jets can land, and 56 smaller airports where mid-sized business jets can land. Switzerland boasts of the densest network of public transport in the world, about 22,000 km. There are over 800 bus routes operated by the Swiss Post (PTT) and over 600 funiculars, cable cars, rack railways and chairlifts — all working in clockwork precision.

Jungfrau and Kedarnath

There are 24 mountains in Switzerland over 4,000 metres in height, 64 above 3,500 metres (all similar to Kedarnath) and over 4,400 summits exceeding 2000 metres. All are easily and safely accessible. The Jungfrau railway station — the highest in Europe — is located at 11,332 ft, the same height as Kedarnath. A cog wheel railway tunnel across the Alps was conceived in 1893. It took 16 years to build and the summit station was opened 100 years ago — in 1912.

Corvatsch (St Moritz), a mountain of the Bernina Range, has an elevation of 11,322 ft and is celebrating 50 years of cable car operation this year. Kedarnath Temple is situated at 11,500 ft above sea level. Despite the fact that millions visit the temple, it is not directly reachable by road and has to be reached by a 14-km uphill trek from Gaurikund, or by mule, pony. So, whom do we blame for the state of affairs in devbhumi ?

(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany.)

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