U'khand for early meeting of Ganga authority

With Rs 750 crore on stake, Uttarakhand has urged the Centre to convene an early meeting of the Ganga River Basin Authority to decide the future of three major hydro power projects on the Bhagirathi in Uttarakashi district.

A group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had scrapped the 480-Mw Pala Maneri and 381-Mw Bhaironghati hydel projects being built by the state-run Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL), and set up a technical committee on the NTPC’s 600 Mw Loharinag Pala.

The technical committee had already conducted a fresh survey of the Loharinag Pala early this month. All the three projects are being opposed by environmentalists as well as ‘sadhus’ and saints, who want the uninterrupted flow of the Bhagirathi to continue.

But in the absence of any clarity from the Centre, confusion is still persisting over the fate of these projects. Cutting across party lines, the ruling BJP and Congress leaders have now openly come in favour of the three hydel projects, claiming only the Ganga River Basin Authority, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, can decide the future of these projects and not the group of ministers.

“Any decision on these projects has to be taken by the Ganga River Basin Authority. So it is better that the Centre convenes an early meeting of the authority,” said Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

While NTPC has so far invested Rs 650 crore in Loharinag Pala, the UJVNL spent Rs 100 crore in Pala Maneri.

From Chief Minister Nishank to Congress state president Yashpal Arya, all want the early revival of the three projects saying they are badly needed for the overall development of the hill state.

Congress Lok Sabha MP From Tehri Vijay Bahuguna and two MLAs from Uttarakashi have also lent their full support to the revival of these projects. Most of these leaders want the centre to convene an early meeting of the Ganga River Basin Authority to take a positive decision on the projects.

Avadash Kaushal, the head of RLEK, a Dehra Dun-based NGO which had fought the legal battle in the High Court for the revival of these projects, has also sent letters to both the centre and the state government calling for their revival.

After the culmination of the mahakumbh at Haridwar where sadhus had opposed the three projects on April 28, the focus shifted on the three projects.

During the past few months, the Centre had been hesitant to revive the project apparently due to the Mahakumbh.