The IITians for Holy Ganga, a forum constituted to preserve heritage and ecology of the river Ganga by alumni of all IITs across the country, has urged the Environment and Forest Minister Jayanthi Natarajan to immediately issue orders to suspend work on all ongoing Hydro Electric Power (HEP) and tunneling projects in Uttarakhand till a thorough review is done by a technical expert committee to identify the impact of these projects on the recent calamity.
"A high level delegation of IITians for Holy Ganga met the minister and also appealed for reinstating the idol of Dhari Devi at its previous rightful place to respect the beliefs of millions of countrymen. Dhari Devi is believed to be the vital force holding the rocks of Kedar valley together," said the forum president Yatinder Pal Singh Suri, who led the delegation to the minister.
"In view of the recent disaster in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, where many hundreds of lives have been lost and thousands have been uprooted, there is an urgent need to re-examine the ongoing so called 'developmental' activities in the basin. large scale deforestation, blasting, tunneling, destruction of underground natural streams, submergence of forests causing loss of biodiversity and loss of endangered and threatened species has resulted in this great tragedy. The entire region is highly eco-sensitive and earthquake-prone. We urged the minister to set up technical group to explore alternative ways to produce hydro power by not storing water on the riverbed but off the bed as topography of the area does not permit such feasibility," said Suri.
He stressed that the existing and proposed hydro power projects on various rivers in the State have also contributed to this massive and irreparable damage and are threatening to destroy it's invaluable ecosystem including the various beneficial qualities of Ganga water due to uninterrupted flow of river Ganga. The attention of the Government has been drawn to these threats by the civil society, scientists and engineers as well as religious leaders from time to time. "In our view, timely actions would have diluted the level of this calamity. We urged the Minister to not to permit reconstruction of damaged dams/structure as per their old design. The project proponents may be asked to make alternations in the design to ensure 50 per cent of minimum flow as uninterrupted flow in the natural river course of holy Ganga," he added.
"The IITians also urged the Union Government to levy a cess in the income tax as financial support from the entire nation to the people of Uttarakhand and demanded assurance from Natarajan for considering demands of Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand who had been on a hunger strike since June 13 in Haridwar," added Suri.