Villagers and some organisations have alleged that the five-member Central team which visited the State on December 10 regarding the construction of hydro electricity projects in the state had arrived and conducted its task in a “haphazard manner” with proper information about their visit not being disseminated in the public on time, especially to the villagers to be affected by the projects. At Devprayag- where the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers merge to form the national river Ganga-- the people and some organisation members expressed their views to the committee members on issues related to construction of dams in the region. Some alleged that though the villagers had not been kept in the loop, some building contractors seemed to have prior knowledge of the committee’s visit.
Vimal Bhai of Matu Jansagathan said, “The committee members asked people their grievances about the dams, in response to which Rajendra Negi and Sudarshan Sah of Matu Jansangthan cited aspects like the impact of already constructed dams to question the construction of big dams. A representation addressed to the secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change was also submitted by them to the said committee. A group of people from Srinagar also argued against big dams on the Ganga river. People raised objections, doubts and suggestions in the petition submitted, stating that they came to know about the MoEFCC committee’s visit only through a Hindi newspaper on December 9.
Other than this, no information was provided to the local people on important aspects including the committee’s subject and work area, the time period the committee will assess the projects and the people whom the committee would be interacting with. The dams constructed on the tributaries of the Ganga river exacerbated the 2013 disaster. Because of the emerging dams in Mandakini valley, Madmaheshwar river and Kali river, the whole valley is facing problem of landslides causing considerable problems for the locals.”
He further alleged, “It seems as if the MoEFCC is not taking the impact of dams on the national river Ganga seriously as seen in this visit of the committee. The Kotli Bhel 1A project was one of the 24 hydro-power projects on which work was stopped by the Supreme Court and the environment clearance of Kotli Bhel 1B project was cancelled by National Environment Appellate Authority, prior to the formation of the National Green Tribunal. Kotli Bhel 1B and Kotli Bhel-2 did not get forest clearance form the MoEFCC.
We demand the complete ban on all three Kotli Bhel projects and also cancellation of all 24 hydro power projects stopped by the Supreme Court-- there is no need for rethinking over this issue,” added Vimal Bhai.