After trying to fast track infrastructure projects, there is green light at the end of the tunnel for hydro-electric power projects. “The Government is reviewing some of these projects,” said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar during Question Hour in teh lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The country needs clean energy without hurting the ecology, he said adding that Government was sensitive to the concerns expressed by some States, including Assam, over some of the hydro power projects being implemented. Terming hydro power as the clean energy, Javadekar said Government is trying to assess the impact of hydro power projects on river system and the people living in its surrounding areas. “There should be study on impact,” he said.
Replying to a supplementary question, the Environment Minister said the impact of the Uttarakhand rain disaster last year would have been more if the Tehri and Srinagar (in Uttarakhand) hydro power projects were not in place.He said the IIT, Roorkee, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and an Inter-Ministerial Group headed by B K Chaturvedi have examined cumulative impact of hydro power projects on aquatic biodiversity, river ecology and environmental flow in Alakananda and Bhagirathi rivers in the Himalayas.
Simultaneously, carrying capacity studies in seven river basis in Arunachal Pradesh, Teesta river basin in states of Sikkim and West Bengal, Chenab and Satluj river basins in Himachal Pradesh have been undertaken. “These studies primariliy examined the feasibility of development of hydropower in an environmentally sustainable manner,” he said.