Stop construction of hydel projects in Himachal’s Kinnaur: Green activists to Centre
They have urged the expert appraisal committee, river valley projects, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, to discuss the issue in the meeting wherein the Sutlej river basin cumulative environmental impact assessment (CEIA) report comes up for reconsideration
Fearing Joshimath-like land subsidence in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur, various environmental groups and local activists have urged the central government to stop the construction of power projects in their district, which has at least 22 small and big hydroelectricity projects.
They have urged the expert appraisal committee, river valley projects, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, to discuss the issue in the meeting wherein the Sutlej river basin cumulative environmental impact assessment (CEIA) report comes up for reconsideration.
Environmental groups active in the Kinnaur district said that local panchayats of the upper Sutlej river basin were already bearing “irreversible and multiple negative impacts” of hydropower projects that have a total 4,000MW generation capacity and have expressed their scientific objections and opposition to further construction.
These organisations from Kinnaur have also submitted a memorandum to the expert appraisal committee, apprising its members of the adverse impact of the hydropower projects on the fragile ecology of the region.
In the memorandum, they claimed that the planned 804 MW Jangi-Thopan, Youngthang Khab, Tidong II and Kashang II, III and IV projects could worsen the situation.
“We are already bearing the damages and losses caused by 22 power projects of almost 4,000MW capacity (commissioned and under construction). This is more than what can be harnessed from a geologically and ecologically sensitive area like ours. Any new project in the upper Kinnaur region will only bring doom for us. If our voices continue to get ignored, we would be left to meet a fate worse than that of Joshimath,” said RS Negi, a retired IAS officer and convener of Him Lok Jagriti Manch.
He said the process of the cumulative impact assessment for the cascade of 153 hydropower projects on the Sutlej river basin began over a decade ago.
“During this period, the northwestern Himalayan region where this river valley falls has witnessed a spate of climate disasters that have caused loss of lives and damage to property in the region,” RS Negi added.
Unprecedented flashfloods, cloudbursts and landslides in Himachal Pradesh had claimed more than 1,500 lives in the last five monsoons, according to a report by the state’s disaster management authority, he further said.
“Scientific assessments have shown that the northwestern Himalayas have been one of the most-affected terrains subjected to frequent disastrous landslides given the active tectonics and multiple precipitation sources. The region has recorded 51% of all the landslides in India during the years 1800-2011,” RS Negi added.
Sunder Negi, president of Nav Rang Yuvak Mandal, Khadra village, said placed under the ‘very high landslide vulnerability category’, Kinnaur is reported to have one of the highest landslide events and disaster casualties in Himachal.
The environmental groups said several villages situated above hydropower tunnels, such as Nathpa, Kandar (both officially declared unsafe), Shalaring, Kachring, and Nigulsari, are heavily impacted by landslides and rockfalls. In Urni, they said, landslides not only destabilised the village but also adversely impacted NH-5 and connectivity to the outside world.
Meanwhile, five-time legislator from Kinnaur, Jagat Singh Negi, who is also horticulture and revenue minister, said, “Permissions to the power projects were granted after seeking no-objection certificates from the local panchayats. The work on many of the planned projects has already started.”
On Joshimath, he said the area has different geology. “It’s situated on the debris of glaciers and a portion of it had been sinking since the 70s. Nothing of this sort has happened in Kinnaur so far. I am of the view that in future, the power projects should be planned after conducting deep environmental studies,” he added.
