The pro-dam and anti-dam agitation on the Ganga river is hotting up. Activists, along with leading Hindu seers, staged a protest march from Rajghat demanding the Centre to take strong steps to stop the construction of new dams on the upper reaches of the Ganga river.
Magasasay award winner Rajender Singh warned that the aggressive pro-dam policy being pursued by the Uttarakhand state government will push the state towards an environmental catastrophe.
Meanwhile, pro-dam activists blocked the national highway near the Alaknanda hydro-project, demanding an assurance from the Central government that the project will not be closed down.
These activists, led by Ganesh Bhatt, a member of the Pariyojna Prabhavit Sangharsh Samiti, warned that power demand was escalating in the state of Uttarakhand and already in 2012, the demand was touching 33-35 million units this year.
“The 330 MW Alaknanda hydro project at Srinagar is almost complete and `2000 crore has already been spent on it,” said Mr Bhatt.
Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna came out in favour of the pro-dam lobby announcing that there would be no ban on dams or power projects across the river. He also said that in case of any interference, the Central government would have to compensate for the losses incurred.
The pro-dam lobby is also piqued by the fact that despite the state facing an acute power crisis, the state government was not planning to take any legal action to ensure transfer of the 25 per cent UP state government’s share holding in the Tehri dam be transferred to Uttarakhand.
The dam built at a cost of `10,000 crore provides peaking power to the states of UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, J&K, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.
Tehri Dam also provides drinking water facilities to Delhi (300 cusecs) and Uttar Paradesh (200 cusecs). Rajendra Singh reacted sharply to Mr Bahuguna’s criticism, stating, “The Ganga belongs to the entire country and it is our job to help restore its purity and its natural flow.”