In view of the recent tragedy that hit Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a freeze on future hydel projects in the State.
Taking stock of the environmental degradation caused by mushrooming of hydel projects along Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers, the court directed the Centre and the State Government to study whether the existing and upcoming hydel projects in the region contributed to the June 2013 flash floods.
Still fresh from the horrific images of the flash floods which claimed thousands of lives, the bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra directed Uttarakhand’s Disaster Management Authority to submit a report on whether a disaster management plan was in place and its effectiveness to combat a tragedy of this scale.
“We are very much concerned with the mushrooming of large number of hydroelectric projects in the State of Uttarakhand and its impact on Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river basins,” the bench said. It cited various studies indicating how large and small hydro power dams came up in the upper-Ganga area, including Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers and their tributaries.
The observation of the Court came on an appeal filed by Alaknanda Hydroelectric Power Corporation limited, which met the approval of the Court as it had the requisite clearances and permissions to set up a 330 MW hydel power plant at Srinagar. The project involved submergence of Dhari Devi idol, which the Court allowed to be lifted up.
It directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to constitute an expert body comprising representatives of state government, WII (Wildlife Institute of India), Central Electricity Authority, Central Water Commission to make a detailed study as to the impact of existing and under construction projects on the recent tragedy.
It also quoted a WII report which found 24 hydel projects to be significantly impacting biodiversity in the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda sub-basins, both aquatic and terrestrial. It directed the Centre to find out whether the proposed 24 projects were causing adverse impact on the biodiversity of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river basins. These reports were directed to be submitted to the Centre and State Governments respectively within three months.