A shocking incident on Tuesday in Harshil Valley of Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand shocked everyone. A cloudburst in Dharali village, situated on the Gangotri Yatra route caused severe havoc. A sharp flood in Kheer Ganga caught the entire village. This catastrophic floods shed many hotels, dozens of houses turned into a pile of debris, and many people went missing. So far, the death of five people has been confirmed. Relief and rescue operations are going on fast, but there is an atmosphere of mourning and fear in the village.
Dharali village, which is situated at an altitude of about 9,000 feet above sea level, is an important stop for those traveling to Gangotri Dham. This village is very popular among tourists for its panoramic natural beauty and greenery. Apart from its beauty, this entire valley is also famous all over the world for apple cultivation. The golden and red deityus apples here have their special identity in the markets of the country and abroad.
This business of apple is the main source of livelihood of many families of the village. This farming not only strengthened the local people financially, but also brought the area to new heights of prosperity. However, this flood has also caused heavy damage to many apple gardens. The hard work of many farmers was washed away under water and debris.
Travel from poverty to prosperity
Dharli and the villages around it have also seen the period when people used to struggle for two times. After the Indo-China war of 1962, business routes in this border area were closed and the livelihood of the people was directly impacted. But time took a turn and the fate of these hills changed by apple orchards. Local people started growing apples with hard work on bumpy land. On seeing this, apple cultivation in eight villages of Harshil Valley became the main livelihood of the people.
Today, there are 10,000 hectares of apple orchard in this area, where about 20,500 metric tons of apples are produced every year. Great varieties like Golden and Red Dyilsius are sold in the markets of the country and abroad. Every year about 1.5 lakh boxes go to the market and there is a turnover of about Rs 10 crore. Here a common farmer also earns up to Rs 5 lakh in a year, while there are some families whose earnings reach 20 to 25 lakh rupees annually.
The old residents of Dharali say that their ancestors used to live with sheep rearing and woolen clothes. Prior to 1962, there used to be an annual market in Taklakot, Tibet. Tibetan traders used to bring gold, silver, coral, Pashmina wool and Candar cow here, while the villagers here used to carry Mandua, Sattu, red rice, jaggery and woolen clothes. But after the Indo-China war, this entire trade stopped. This broke the economic spine of the area and people faced fierce poverty.
Indian Army changed the whole picture
There was a terrible flood in this valley in 1978, which broke the people financially. At that time very few people used to grow apples and that too only for their own food. According to a news by Dainik Bhaskar, during this time the Indian Army bought the apple of a farmer from Jhala village for 10 thousand rupees. This deal became a big news for the area because at that time the price of 10 thousand rupees was considered very high.
People saw how much the apple cultivation has and they started hard work in this direction. Today this area is counted among the most rich areas of Uttarakhand. Many families here have now installed apple chips making machines in their homes. Children are studying in good schools in Uttarkashi and tourists also come here and buy apples from straight garden.