Uttarkashi/Nainital: The recent cloudbursts and landslides in Dharali, Uttarkashi, have not only taken lives and property but have also cast a dark shadow over Uttarakhand’s globally celebrated tourism industry. The devastation has directly crippled tourism in Nainital, one of India’s most popular hill stations, and partially dampened the season in Mussoorie.

What was expected to be a booming Independence Day holiday season has instead turned into a nightmare for hoteliers and travel operators, with a wave of cancellations sending shockwaves across the fragile hill economy.

Tourism in Freefall

“The disaster in Dharali has truly cursed our tourism business,” lamented a Nainital hotelier, whose bookings vanished overnight. “Before Independence Day, almost 75 percent of hotel reservations had been cancelled.”

According to reliable sources. “Earlier, tourists would at least call to check weather conditions before booking. Now, phones aren’t ringing at all. It’s silence – and that silence is deadly for our livelihoods,”  said a hotelier

After enduring a poor summer season in May and June – marked by incidents such as the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, and public outrage over a child rape case in Nainital – the industry had hoped to recover during the Independence Day weekend. Instead, Dharali’s landslides have left businesses gasping for survival.

Why Are Disasters Becoming Frequent?

Behind this tourism tragedy lies a deeper environmental crime – the reckless felling of trees in the fragile Himalayan belt. For decades, timber contractors, corrupt officials, and shortsighted policies have stripped Uttarakhand’s hills bare, weakening the very backbone of the mountains.

Once clothed in dense forests that held soil and absorbed excess rainfall, these mountains are now scarred, fragile, and prone to avalanches, cloudbursts, and deadly landslides. The Dharali tragedy is only the latest reminder of how human greed and ecological negligence are pushing the Himalayas towards collapse.

When trees fall, rivers choke with silt, natural springs dry up, and soil loses its grip. The results are catastrophic – homes swept away, roads blocked for weeks, wild animals losing habitats, and an entire tourism-dependent economy brought to its knees.

Construction – A Double-Edged Sword

While infrastructure development is crucial for connectivity in the hills, unscientific road widening, tunnel drilling, and unregulated construction have further destabilized the slopes. Bulldozers and blasting machines may create smooth highways, but they also tear into fragile mountain geology, triggering landslides after every bout of rain.

Experts warn that unless road expansion and new construction projects are carried out in a scientific and eco-sensitive manner, the cost will be unbearable – not just in terms of money, but in terms of lives, wildlife, and the survival of the region’s tourism.

A Wake-Up Call for Uttarakhand and Kashmir

The Dharali devastation must serve as a final warning. It is not just Uttarakhand’s problem – the same mistakes are being repeated in the Kashmir Himalayas, where deforestation, reckless road projects, and unchecked construction are threatening both nature and livelihoods.

The time has come for governments to:

• Launch large-scale afforestation drives to restore the natural strength of the hills.
• Ban illegal timber operations and hold forest officials accountable for collusion with contractors.
• Restrict unscientific road construction, ensuring ecological balance is not sacrificed for quick contracts.
• Protect natural streams, springs, and wildlife corridors that sustain both human and animal life in the hills.

This is no longer about tourism revenue alone. It is about the survival of mankind, wild animals, and the natural ecosystem that has kept the Himalayas alive for millennia.

Enough Is Enough

The Dharali tragedy should not fade into yet another statistic. Unless urgent steps are taken, Uttarakhand and Kashmir may face an irreversible collapse of both their tourism-driven economy and their ecological lifeline.

This is a wake-up call – perhaps the last one. For the sake of the Himalayas, the forests, the rivers, the animals, and for future generations, the government must act now OR NEVER