Om is Not Seen: Om Parvat's Snow Vanishes for the First Time

These days one thing is surprising in Vyas valley going from Dharchula to Kailash Mansarovar. The mountain which used to make people bow their heads in faith, that 'Om Parvat' is out of sight! For the first time, the snow on the mountain has melted completely. The shape of Om is not visible now. There is only a black mountain in front.

Krishna Garbyal of Garbyal village of Vyas Valley is worried. He says that he has seen this for the first time in his life. He considers it an inauspicious sign. He believes the reason for this is the increasing human interference in this sensitive zone.

While moving from Dharchula towards Kailash Mansarovar, the glimpse of Om Parvat about 15 kilometers behind the China border makes the heart happy. It removes all the tiredness. The local Rang and Bhutiya communities look at Om Parvat with great faith. They have been worshipping this mountain. In Vyas valley, human pressure has increased in the last decade due to Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and security activities on the China border.

Recalling 2016, Krishna says, 'If it does not rain continuously, the snow does not last. In 2016, there was less rain, even then the snow on Om Parvat had melted a lot. That year in June-July, very little snow was seen on this mountain, but it did not disappear like today.'

He says that this is the first time that all the snow has disappeared from Om Parvat. Explaining the reason for this 'disease', he says, 'A road has been built till Om Parvat. A motorway has been built in 2019. About 100 vehicles go there every day. If carbon increases, then there will be a difference.' He also blames indiscriminate tourism in the area for this. Krishna says, 'KMVN has started helicopter darshan service. Helicopters are landing directly there. This is also a reason. The local people had protested against this for a long time. The locals wanted that the helicopter should not be taken to Adi Kailash and Om Parvat. If the helicopter had been stopped in Gunji, 16 km before Om Parvat, people's livelihood and the environment would have been saved.'

Senior scientist Hemant Pandey of Defence Agriculture Research Laboratory (DARL) attributes this to the ever-increasing temperature of the earth. He said that he too had gone there in June, even then there was only a nominal amount of snow on Om Parvat. He says that a rise of even two to three degrees in temperature is enough. You can understand this from the fact that there is a difference of four to five degrees in the hill stations of Uttarakhand. In such a situation, its effect can be understood in the high Himalayan regions.