The Jan Sangharsh Morcha head Raghunath Singh Negi met chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh and submitted a memorandum seeking protection of the Dakpatthar barrage from the mining mafia and other criminal elements. The chief secretary directed the district magistrate to take action on the information provided by Negi.
Negi said that the UJVNL’s Yamuna hydro electric project has been generating power in the Dakpattha area since 1970. The barrage was constructed for this purpose at Dakpatthar.
Considering the importance of the site, the undivided Uttar Pradesh Government had notified the barrage as a restricted area in 1989 after which police and other security personnel had been posted there. More recently, the additional DGP (intelligence) had in June 2019 recommended that two to eight trained guards be posted at the barrage but no action has been taken on this yet.
Negi said that the authorities are limiting the issue to official papers whereas the 50 year barrage has also developed cracks. Despite the regulations, large vehicles continue to carry away many tonnes of minerals from the barrage with nobody to stop them. In such a situation terrorists, anti-national elements and mafia can cause damage to the barrage which will hamper power generation and cause considerable revenue loss, said Negi.