Shut down hydel projects posing threat to villagers: HP Cong

Congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia said, these projects should be shut down immediately

A state Congress leader has sought immediate closure of a few hydel power projects in the area saying that alleged irregularities in their execution had led to them now posing a threat to hundreds of villagers.

In a letter to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, senior Congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia further demanded that an inquiry commission be set up to investigate the alleged violations committed by a few of the mini power projects in the area.

He said these projects should be shut down immediately and reopened only after getting a clearance from the commission.

He said that Dhiyara near Boh and Uni near Chari were two villages near one such project sites which were "sinking- sliding". Hundreds of villagers were either shifting out of the area or living under a blanket of fear, he added.

These project allotments were made by the previous BJP government in the state, he said.

One of the plants is for a 5MW project which has been allotted to a BJP leader at Boh while another one was a 1.5MW project being developed by one Raheja Company.

"I approached the district administration many times (over the issue) but no official has visited the affected areas," he told reporters here today.

He said that the alleged irregularities had come to light through an RTI application filed by a former president of Boh Panchayat, Gagan Singh, with the forest office at Dharamsala.

"The ecology and environmental balance (of Dhiyara and Uni villages) has been undermined by the mini hydel projects which are responsible for illegal cutting and felling of trees, illegal mining and unauthorised dumping of waste, choking the streams," he alleged.

Meanwhile, when contacted, the owner of one of the plants said they were working according to norms laid out by the government, adding that the allegations were politically motivated.

The district forest officer at Dharamsala said that the department had conducted an inquiry about one company's working at Boh and sent its report to the government.