Sikkim’s Chungthang dam shock exposes how development moves without disaster impact checks

No disaster-impact assessment or carrying-capacity study

India’s fragile Himalayan ecosystem is now threaded by hydropower and major highways and railways, with claims that at least 430 large hydropower projects exist across the region. Yet development often proceeds without disaster-impact assessments or carrying-capacity studies. The question grows sharper as attention turns to the Chungthang dam in Sikkim and what its collapse signals for the future.