Politics over the rivers of Uttarakhand took a new turn with social activists, former politicians and a section of the business class threatening to undertake a fast- unto-death in Dehra Dun if the National Ganga River Basin Authority did not take the decision to restart Lohari Nagpala, Pala Maneri, Bhairo Ghati and the other closed hydel projects in Uttarakhand.
Amongst the 40 odd eminent citizens who participated in the meeting here over the weekend included Anand Sharma, Director, State Meteorological Centre.
The reaction has come in the wake of professor turned Swami G. D. Aggarwal's crusade forcing closure of these projects for saving the sanctity and eternal flow of the Ganga and other rivers. He is currently on yet another fast-unto-death. Announcing the decision after a consultative meeting of pro-development activists including some officials to discuss the power situation and fate of the abandoned hydel projects in Uttarakhand, Avdhash Kaushal, Chairperson Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra said he along with former Congress MP Paripoornand Painuli would lead a fast unto death if their demands were not met immediately.
The three point resolution passed unanimously at the meeting were -Uttarakhand Assembly should pass a resolution and send it to Centre before April 17 to start the stalled hydel projects and complete them in next 5 years.
These (hydro projects) were science policy issues and nothing to do with the Dharamgurus as their approach reflected a ‘Taliban' kind of mindset and there should be no negotiations or discussion on this matter at all.
Keywords: Uttarakhand hydel projects, Ganga River Basin
@Kabir: Please comment after understanding the ground realities.
I am a resident of Uttarakhand and I support this initiative fully.
First of all these are run of the river power projects. No dams are
proposed here. Parts of the river will just be diverted through
tunnels to generate power causing no environmental damage at all.
The electricity in this case will be for the locals unlike the massive
Tehri Dam (only 10% of power generated there is available for
uttarakhand, the rest is sent to Delhi).
As regards the entire Sadhu lobby, they have no right to ask the
residents of uttarakhand to stop all developmental activities and hand
over the entire state to them for running their ashrams. The Ganga
after all these projects will continue to flow freely over the ghats
of Rishikesh and Haridwar. If they are so concerned about the Ganga
they should focus first on Kanpur (Prog GD Aggarwal is from IIT
Kanpur) where the ganag has been reduced to a drain and get all the
factories shut down.
So the "citizens" ask for dams... One wonders who will get the electricity- locals or the legislative assembly members and business associates or common masses. Yes one thing is sure displacement will be there and development... No idea. Biodiversity can go to hell. We don't need it. Seismic zones active- why worried about it, once these dams explode we will have lesser of population. We want employment whether we need to compromise life-giving trees and web of life.
The "citizens" says that this is a science issue so there should be no discussion or negotiation. One wonders who defines science- the business community, activists funded by World Bank, legislative assembly members or scientists who devoted their lives for the river conservation. Is web of life and biodiversity not acknowledged by science?
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