Anna Hazare joins anti-dam agitation in Uttarakhand

Move might sound trouble for power-deficit hill state

For GMR, L&T, GVK and other hydropower companies, the entry of Anna Hazare into an anti-dam movement gaining momentum in Uttarakhand may not auger well.

After his movement against corruption, the veteran Gandhian has broadened his horizon to jump into the anti-dam agitation in this hill state. The move might sound more trouble for the already depressed hydropower sector in the hill state. Hazare, 74, has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately stop all the hydel projects on the Ganga and its tributaries having a vast potential of more than 15,000 Mw, most of which are still untapped.

This, when the Centre, buckling under pressure of anti-dam activists, had already scrapped three major hydel projects, including NTPC’s 600-Mw Loharinag Pala (two years ago).

Of late, Hazare has joined hands with G D Agrawal who led the movement against Loharinag Pala project on environmental and religious grounds, and called for convening a meeting of the Ganga basin authority to consider the issue of pollution in the river. Hazare is also being supported by yoga guru Baba Ramdev.

Companies like GMR, L&T, GVK are constructing at least a dozen hydel projects on the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers. The three main tributaries of the Ganga are under the scanner of anti-dam activists, who claim that hydel projects are causing pollution and reducing their flow.

Mumbai-based L&T is constructing 99-Mw Singoli-Bhatwari hydel project in the hilly Rudraprayag district of the state on Mandakini river. Similarly, GVK, headquarterd in Hyderabad, is also constructing a 330-Mw Alaknanda hydel project at Srinagar in Pauri Garhwal. Both the projects have faced the flak of environmentalists and religious leaders time and again.

Hazare, while expressing solidarity with Agrawal who went on a fast on the issue, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, saying the government should listen to the suggestions of the ailing activist.

“The meeting of the Ganga Basin Authority has to be convened fast,” Hazare noted. “Till then, there should not be any activity of construction of dams.”

Stating that the Ganga has an important place in the hearts of people, he said the dams built on the river in the hill state were hindering its flow leading to pollution in it.

Some social activists are not amused. “All these so-called activists want to take Uttarakhand back to medieval age,” lamented Avdhash Kaushal, who heads an NGO called the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra. “These people just don’t understand that power is the basic necessity for the development work.”