A board flashes the details of a bridge being built to connect the two sides of Tehri district separated by the reservoir. The construction of the bridge had started in 2007 but a decade later, after involvement of several consulting-executing agencies, and spending ₹138 crore, the Dobra-Chanti suspension bridge remains at the heart of problems and the politics of Pratapnagar.
“In the past decade the construction work has been on and off several times. It started again, last year, but I don’t think it’ll be completed even this year [2017],” said Vijender Singh Bisht of Saur Uppu village.
While construction work progresses on the 440-metre-long bridge, drawing on expertise of agencies from South Korea and Ukraine, there is a boat ferrying villagers across the half-kilometre wide reservoir.
“The boat is available every two hours. If we miss the ride we have to wait for two hours to reach the other side… To use the boat after 5 p.m., the villagers call up the district authorities in New Tehri [town] for permission,” Sheeshpal Rana, also a resident of Saur Uppu, said.
Tehri’s Pratapnagar and Ghansali constituencies are most affected by the 42 sq. km. Tehri reservoir. Some parts of the reservoir that fall under Uttarkashi district’s Gangotri constituency have also been impacted.
Rajeshwar Painuly of the Tehri-based Dobra-Chanti Pul Banao Sangharsh Samiti has been actively advocating the cause of the Dobra-Chanti bridge for the past six years. Mr. Painuly, who was associated with the BJP, was expecting ticket. However, after the BJP denied him candidature, he decided to contest the polls as a candidate of the Indian Business Party.
“Had the BJP named Painuly ji as its candidate from Pratapnagar, it would have gone in the party’s favour, but now he might eat into the votes of the BJP and the Congress,” Mahipal Negi, a political observer from the district, said.
In Pratapnagar, the 2012 election was a close contest between the Congress’ sitting MLA Vikram Negi and the BJP candidate Vijay Panwar, who lost to Mr. Negi by only 542 votes. This time too, the two candidates have been fielded by the BJP and the Congress.
In Madan Negi — another village under the Pratapnagar constituency — Prem Dutt Juyal has been demanding rehabilitation for 1,336 reservoir-affected families living on sinking land, and in damaged houses.
Fear of landslips
Apart from Madan Negi, 80 villages in the vicinity of the Tehri reservoir have also been exposed to frequent landslips and land sinking due to constant erosion caused by the reservoir water.
The villages await rehabilitation as the court mulls over “who, among the district authorities and the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited (THDC), must pay for the rehabilitation of the dam-affected villagers,” Tehri District Magistrate Indudhar Baurai, who is also the Director of Rehabilitation, said.
“In the past five years the Congress MLA [Vikram Negi] did nothing for the reservoir-affected people [in Pratapnagar]. Therefore, This time I have told all the people here [in Madan Negi] to vote for the BJP candidate [Vijay Panwar],” Mr. Juyal said.
Mr. Panwar has been Pratapnagar MLA between 2007 and 2012.
Madan Negi comprises five villages that have around 5,000 voters. “I will get the maximum number of voters here [in Madan Negi] to vote for the BJP candidate,” Mr. Juyal said.
