Differing ministers leave Ganga hydel row to Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will step in to resolve a wrangle between three ministries over the construction of hydropower projects on the Ganga, sources say, in what has come as a major dilemma for the BJP government that took office vowing to conserve the holy river and provide electricity to 1.2 billion Indians.

Updated on: Apr 19, 2015, 01:14:31 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will step in to resolve a wrangle between three ministries over the construction of hydropower projects on the Ganga, sources say, in what has come as a major dilemma for the BJP government that took office vowing to conserve the holy river and provide electricity to 1.2 billion Indians.

The environment ministry that is backed by the water resources ministry has cited likely adverse ecological impact to express its disfavour for the proposed half a dozen projects on the river’s upper reaches, while the power ministry says the ventures are essential towards ensuring the country’s energy security.

With the ministries failing to firm up a stand, the government recently told the Supreme Court the issue will be settled by the PM, who returned from a three-nation tour on Saturday, and sought two more weeks to file an affidavit.

Sources say the environment ministry is not keen on the construction of major hydropower projects on the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers that meet in Uttarakhand’s Devprayag town to form the Ganga, while the Uma Bharti-headed water resources ministry agrees that these projects will destroy the ecology in the higher reaches.

The power ministry, however, has advocated the projects be allowed with more stringent environmental norms so the adverse impact on ecology can be minimised.

The Piyush Goyal-led department has strongly opposed a proposal to scrap six such projects, though government scientific bodies say the ventures would reduce the mighty Ganga to a mere stream near its source where its natural flow is still largely unhindered.

The apex court is hearing a plan from project developers seeking relief from the court over its ban on hydropower projects in the Ganga’s upper reaches in Uttarakhand, a state that witnessed its worst flash floods in June 2013 with hundreds of people killed.

The court asked the Centre to decide on a four-member expert panel’s view that the six projects should not be allowed because of the potential detrimental bearing on biodiversity, riverine system and wildlife. The committee had a member representing the water resources ministry.

Experts say if the government rejects the panel’s proposals it would be another blow to the ecology in the Ganga’s upper reaches as the Prime Minister’s Office has already asked the environment ministry to dilute its notification of eco-sensitive zones along 135 km of the river in Uttarakhand.

The ministry in December 2012 had identified around 4,000 sq km of the Ganga river basin as no-construction zone, also called eco-sensitive zone, for several activities including hotels and resorts.

The Uttarakhand government, however, has not implemented the notification saying it was issued without consulting it, despite the National Green Tribunal (NGT) asking the state to enforce the order strictly.

Sources said the Prime Minister’s principal secretary, Nipendra Mishra, had asked the environment ministry to examine the reservations expressed by Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat at a recent meeting of the Ganga River Basin Authority.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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