Blaming dams, deforestation and climate change for this particular tragedy partially diverts attention from the unfettered pilgrim traffic and unregulated infrastructure along the pilgrim routes. These became the unfortunate victims of the natural processes that hit Uttarakhand almost every year.

The fact that more than 1,000 road breaches were reported and over 3,000 villages impacted due to heavy rainfall in 2010 goes to show that the damage and loss this year got highlighted because of not just higher losses but also that people from all over the country travelling in the hills got trapped.

The number of tourists going to Uttarakhand, state records show, has grown by nearly 300% over a decade between 2000-2010 from 1.11 crore to 3.11 crore. The number of tourists visiting the state is projected to double again by 2017 at current growth rates. The infrastructure to cater to the tourists has grown but disproportionately slowly and mostly 'illegally'. June is the month that sees the highest tourist footfall in the state year after year.

"Almost every time, natural calamities have hit the hill state in the months of July-September when tourists and pilgrims are not there in such high numbers. This year, the timing has led to tourists been trapped but the people of Uttarakhand have been increasingly facing these problems over the last decade," Charu Tiwari, an activist and journalist from the state, said.

Heavy rainfall and cloud bursts have been causing greater havoc than before, he said, noting that development projects in the hills have altered the dynamics but this year the timing and the intensity led to greater damage.

Carrying capacity studies undertaken earlier by the government and other agencies show that many places in Uttarakhand, including townships like Joshimath, breached their infrastructure limits some time back. Construction on the pilgrim route grew organically and with successive state governments providing limited public infrastructure, people in the region built up the cheapest and quickest motels, restaurants and roadside kiosks to benefit from the growing number of tourists.

Limiting the number of pilgrims visiting the holy sites is a political hot potato that no government in the state can think of. Building infrastructure that suits the hills to match the growing numbers is a challenge that Uttarakhand is yet to give a serious thought to despite multiple master plans and tourism development reports by various agencies.

The low-paying pilgrim-tourists do not fit into the revenue models that high-end hotels, tourism industry and the government is interested in. More than 75% of the rooms available to tourists in Uttarakhand still comes out of dharmshalas and low-cost hotels run by locals.

Dozens of dams and unregulated development may be leading to changes in the way the hills react to cloud bursts and heavy rains - the debate over the proposed 100 plus dams is still on - but the fact that casualties and losses are higher this year owes more to the particular river valley that got impacted and the month the havoc played out as much as the intensity of rains.