Activists and locals in Kinnaur have asked the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) to not extend environment clearance to the integrated Kashang Hydro Project.
Around 1,000 environmental activists from across the world and local residents have written to the ministry raising concern over the ecological damage the will be caused due to the project.
They alleged that on April 30 this year, a portion of a mountain near the project caved in destroying apple orchards and killing one Nepali migrant worker in Pangi village.
“This area in the high Himalayas, falling in the Satluj Valley, is known for its geological and ecological vulnerability, and is also the site of Stage 1 of the 243 MW-Integrated Kashang Hydropower Project, which is already operational,” said a Sushil Sagar Negi, a local and president of Paryavaran Sanrakshan Sangharsh Smiti.
“Stage II, III and IV of the project will come up on the same mountain, which will spell doom for our lives, livelihoods and biodiversity,” he said.
The MoEFCC had granted an Environment Clearance to the four-stage project back in April 2010 with the condition of 10-year validity.
Only stage I of the project has been completed within the deadline by the Himachal Pradesh Hydropower Corporation Limited (HPPCL), which now is seeking an extension.
{{/usCountry}}Only stage I of the project has been completed within the deadline by the Himachal Pradesh Hydropower Corporation Limited (HPPCL), which now is seeking an extension.
{{/usCountry}}The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the ministry is due to discuss the matter today.
Manshi Asher, convener of Himadhara Environment Collective, said that their petition to the Union ministry raises some important points to buttress their demand.
The petition claims that underground blasting and tunnelling for hydropower projects disturb the local geology and soil erosion triggering slope failures and exacerbating landslides in an area, which is already disaster prone.
It alleges that lack of safety compliance and non-accountability by HPPCL means that locals have to bear the cost of the damages to fields, farms, forests and human lives.
“The project is a threat to the local ecology, floral and faunal biodiversity as it falls in the Lippa Asrang Wildlife Sanctuary, home to the Himalayan Brown Bear and endangered Snow leopard. The eco-sensitive zone is also rich in floral biodiversity. However, the environment impact assessment report submitted a decade ago does not mention this,” villagers alleged in the petition.
They also alleged that it also poses a threat to tribal livelihoods and land-based economy and more than 1,000 families, who depend on horticulture and cultivation of cash crops such as peas, potatoes and kidney beans and forest produce like Chilgoza pines and kala jeera.
The submission also alleges violation of the Forest Rights Act and Tribal Laws. The individual and community rights of Lippa village are yet to be settled despite an NGT order. They said that the project is also financially non-viable due costs overruns in the first phase.
“A CAG report has slammed the HPPCL for initiating work without approval from the gram sabha and increasing the financial risk to the project,” said the petition.
It submits that the Kashang Project has almost no economic benefits and humongous ecological, livelihood and social costs.
“Allowing the project is an invitation to more disasters in the fragile Himalayas, already bearing the load of the climate crisis,” it concluded.
Some of the prominent signatories, include Medha Patkar, Prafulla Samantara, Himanshu Thakkar, Ashish Kothari and Roma Malik.