Activists oppose Centre’s nod to select hydropower projects in Uttarakhand

A group of environmentalists, historians, geologists and intellectuals have petitioned the Union Environment Ministry to recant its endorsement of seven hydroelectric power projects in Uttarakhand. The signatories include Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh, MP, Rajya Sabha; Justice Giridhar Malviya, Chancellor, Benares Hindu University, Ravi Chopra, chairman, Supreme Court-appointed expert body on impacts of hydro projects, Shashi Shekhar, ex-Secretary, Water Resources Ministry and Ramachandra Guha, historian. In February, a devastating flood of rock, ice and debris gushed down the Rishiganga river in Uttarakhand and killed at least 200 and severely damaged two hydropower projects. However, three Central Ministries — Power, Environment and Water Resources — who initially had divergent views on the future of hydroelectric power projects have agreed to a consensus, The Hindu reported on August 27. Fresh designs and compensating for environmental damage would make these projects economically unviable “especially when compared to the cheap solar power available today.” and therefore, they add, “Given all these facts, reports and studies, it would be a profound error, indeed a self-defeating exercise, to implement any more HEPs in the Himalaya and on the Ganga, whether under construction, new or proposed.”