Vulnerability and damage to the mountain ecosystem of Uttarakhand by shortcomings of development projects

The 2013 flood disaster in Uttarakhand has drawn much attention to the role of hydropower projects in economic development, and also in environmental degradation. The objectives of this paper are to (i) identify how the hydropower projects have contributed to environmental damages of villages/towns in Uttarakhand state, India, using Ukhimath block, Rudraprayag district as a case study; and (ii) identify the challenges pertaining to hydropower projects related issues that Uttarakhand has faced. Primary data were collected through interviews with 144 households, and ten focus groups discussions in ten villages in Ukhimath block. Content analysis and triangulation method were used to analyse the collected data. The findings reveal that what happened in 2013 could not be ascribed only to heavy rain, assumptive cloud burst or overflowing of Gandhi Sagar Lake, but it was unplanned development projects which contributed to creating extreme vulnerability and increasing disaster risk to the local residents.