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Author: Sujata Mukherjee
State of Uttarakhand has an area of 20,682 sq mi. /56,566 sq km. It came into being as 27th state on 9th Nov.2000.It comprises of 13 districts which are adjoining parts of the Himalayas with a total population of 8,479,562 with Dehradun as its capital. The state has 93% mountains and 64% forest areas.
Uttarakhand is largely known for its tourism industry as it is the home of all kinds of adventure, leisure and pilgrimage spots. Country’s first tiger protection was incepted in 1972 which came up as Corbett Tiger Reserve. Besides, Nanda Devi National Park and Valley of Flowers have been declared as World Heritage Sites.
Uttarakhand has been in news for quite some time due to various movements including Chipko to save trees. Besides the state has big dam projects which have not only being criticized but also has received tumultuous responses from around the world. Conceived in 1953, the largest dam of the state on Bhagirathi-Bhilangana rivers-Tehri has been built with a capacity of 2400 MW generation. It also claims to irrigate an area of 270,000 ha. And supply 270 mil. ga. of potable water to cities like Delhi. Presence of such a large dam on a geographical area of seismic potentiality is of great importance.
Uttarakhand has two of the India’s greatest rivers, Ganga and Yamuna which act like mothers to millions of people whose lives are directly or indirectly dependent on them. Apart from the political agendas being shown, a natural resource like this should be made available to the locals of the regions where they are flowing. But due to building dams on the Bhagirathi, the people of the areas on its two banks are not getting even enough drinking water, if we just leave other issues. Many of the villages of Uttarkashi district have experienced drought like situations in summer months.
Controversies on dam issue of Uttarakhand are like never ending issues. After building the mega structure in Tehri, Uttarakhand Govt. has proposed 200 small projects on various rivers and their tributaries. One such ongoing project includes Tapovan Vishnu gad project on Dhauliganga near Indo-China border area, which is a highly sensitive zone, both geographically and politically.
Last year I had a chance to visit Tehri dam and this year I went further uphill to see the sites of Loharinag Pala and Maneri Bhali phase 2. The work on Loharinag Pala was stopped due to a stay order by the Supreme Court. The site was abandoned with all machineries lying idle on the river side. Three large tunnels have been built here through the mountain which is mainly of granite stones. Recently, a meeting between the Union power Minister, the MoEF and the Finance Minister has been ended up with a go ahead to this project since the destruction of forest land and the expenses involved have already been huge. But it has also been proposed that no more dam in Uttarakhand is going to have environmental clearance from the ministry.
After having a visit to the Tehri dam, I’m 100% assured that this is a man made wonder which claims to provide employment, electricity and potable water to even big cities like Delhi. But the dam reservoir being built inundating the old Tehri town and its adjoining areas displacing more than 100,000 people so far who are still to be rehabilitated in proper sense.Govt.is certainly in jeopardy regarding building such dams in Uttarakhand, considering its seismic activity. The hills surrounding the reservoir are nude and eroded during the rainy season. The siltation rate is very high and the water level crossing maximum mark during peak August, the longevity of the dam, proclaimed to be 30 years can be taken as building castle in air.
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