Dhari temple not to be shifted: Uttarakhand CM

In a fresh setback to infrastructure major GVK, Uttarakhand Chief Minsiter Ramesh Pokhriyal today said the Dhari Devi temple will not be shifted from the site of its 330 Mw Alaknanda project.

This assurance was given by Nishank to fasting former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, who was sitting on fast at Haridwar since May 9, top officials here said.

After the assurance, Bharati broke her 9-day old fast after taking a glass of juice from Nishank. GVK had been trying to shift the Dhari Devi temple from its original site near Srinagar town where the project is coming up at the river Alaknanda, a major tributary of Ganga, for enhancing the project’s capacity from 200 Mw to 330 Mw.

Last month, the Uttarakhand High Court had directed the Alaknanda Hydropower Company Ltd (HPCL), a GVK company which is construcing the project, to seek fresh environment clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

The lastest assurance had given a big setback to GVK’s efforts to complete the project by December this year. GVK was given the task of completion of the Alaknanda project in 2006 after its construction remained suspended for nearly 20 years due to financial crunch and various other factors.

Bharti was opposing the project stating that the temple will get submerged into the reservoir of the dam. Since the Chief Minister intends to contest assembly election from Srinagar constituency, the issue had taken a political dimension with a section of BJP leaders also jumping into the issue.