उत्तराखंड की भीषण बाढ़ व् बर्बादी ने एक प्रश्न को उजागर कर दिया है. क्या बाबा केदार नाथ का तांडव गंगा को बंधक बनाने से हुआ है. हम प्रकृति को कितना कम जानते हैं?
क्यों हम उससे इतनी छेड़छाड़ कर रहे है . हिमालय अभी उठ रहा है. वहां पर बड़े बड़े बाँध बना कर शायद हम नीचे की प्लेट्स को ज्यादा प्रेशर मैं डाल देंगे. इसी तरह इस ऊँचाई पर बड़े बड़े जलाशय बना कर हम शायद गंभीर खतरे को आमंत्रित कर रहे हैं . क्या यह बर्बादी हमारी बिजली परियोजनाओं की महत्वाकान्शाओं का परिणाम हैं ? क्या इस से जनित भूकंप दिल्ली को ही नहीं मिटा देंगे.
श्री प्रिय दर्शी दत्ता का लेख कुछ उनछुये पहलुओं पर दृष्टिपात करता है.
Ganga suffering due to multiple hydel projects, river plains polluted
Untreated municipal sewage and industrial toxics are viewed as the worst demons for the Ganga. They pollute the oxygen-rich water, making it unfit even for bathing or washing. But some experts and activists have a different take on the issue. They argue that the perennial river has enough natural flow to cleanse itself. But the problem is that numerous hydro-power projects on feeder streams of the Ganga are screwing up its flow in the Himalayas. Spending thousands of crores to clean Ganga would not help until its normal flow is restored. The same theory applies to the pollution of Yumana. Even a marginal surge in water can flush out a huge quantity of pollutants. This was demonstrated during the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad earlier this year.
The Kumbh Mela experience
The Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) released 250 cumecs of water from December 21, 2012 to February 20, 2013 and 220 cumecs during the ensuing week to maintain adequate water level at Prayag for the Kumbh Mela. The Uttar Pradesh Government only ensured that existing Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in Kanpur and Allahabad worked properly. Even with 100 million devotees taking holy dip the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) remained within tolerable limits- 7 to 9 mg/l. Without infusion of this fresh water, it was estimated to rise 25 to 30 mg/l.
Devotees take holy dip in River Ganges, celebrate Buddha Purnima
Hydel projects squeeze the Ganga
The hydel projects in the Himalayas are not few in number. As per the data compiled by the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), headed by BK Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission there are 69 hydel projects in the upper Ganga Basin. Out of these 17 projects are operational, 25 under construction, 10 projects have been cleared by the Central Electricity authority and 17 projects are under development/review stage. Harish Rawat, the Minister of Water Resources, provided these figures to Lok Sabha on May 2, 2013.
One is appalled at the prospect of these planned projects becoming operational. Their effect on the fragile ecosystem of Uttarakhand would be cataclysmic. The hydel projects threaten the very survival of the Ganga. A depleted Ganga, in turn, would have disastrous effect on the thickly populated Gangetic plains.
The Tehri Dam controversy revisited
Remember the bitter controversy over the Tehri Dam in the 1980s and 1990s? It was the first hydroelectricity project to serrate the ecosystem of Garhwal. A 600 megawatt Tehri Dam project on Bhagirati, a feeder stream of Ganga, was cleared by the Planning Commission in 1972. The environmental discourse in politics was at a nascent stage. It did not factor in the decision. However, the Chipko Movement against commercial deforestation that arose in Chamoli (Pauri Garhwal) became recognised globally. The Tehri project could not avoid controversy for long.
The Tehri Baandh Virodhi Sangarsh Samiti (TBVSS) formed in 1978 was able to stir up support for anti-dam protests. The dam work was abandoned in the mid-1980s after a Government review committee criticised the project on environmental grounds. But in the 1986, the project staged a come back in a larger avatar backed by technical assistance and Rs 2000 crore financial support from the then USSR. It is interesting to note that Jawaharlal Nehru, notwithstanding his fascination for high dams and Soviet model of planning, had left the sacred river unmolested. Perhaps, this had something to do with his love for the Ganga, which flowed by his native town Allahabad. But his grandson Rajiv Gandhi dealt a major blow to the river.
Rajiv Gandhi put the project back on track despite the Environmental Working Group for Tehri Dam (1987) observing that – a) some segments of the reservoir slopes are unstable b) deforestation and degradation specially in Bhagirathi is extensive c) the project is located in a highly sensitive seismic zone; and d) the failure of the dam or the hill slopes would threaten the entire population of Rishikesh and Haridwar. The Government took refuge in the technicalities that the working group had not categorically rejected the project. It is ironic that Rajiv Gandhi, admired for initiating the Ganga Action Plan in 1986, did this singular damage to the existence of Ganga later the same year.
The project was not to be derailed even by 74-day hunger strike by environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna in 1996. The Hanumanth Rao Committee (1997) recommendation on reviewing the project remained unimplemented. In 1998, Tehri Hydro Development Corporation was incorporated as a joint venture between Government of India and the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
Corporate lobby threatens the Ganga
The carving out of Uttarakhand in November 2000, led strengthening of corporate hold on the State. The new State wanted to have surplus power, which could be sold off to other States. This is regardless of the Government that has been in power. The present Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna also favours big dams. Only Gen BC Khanduri had realised the dangers from big dams. He had emphasised on non-invasive micro-hydel projects.
The Ganga might be plagued by problems of pollution downstream. But it is witnessing a foeticide up in the mountains. The hydropower projects on the feeder tributaries of the Ganga like Alaknanda, Bhagirati and Mandakini are obstructing the formation of the Ganga. This has led to visible desertification of the river basin in Garhwal. They give the lie to the UPA Government’s symbolism of declaring the Ganga as the National River or recognising the Garhwal region as eco-sensitive zone. The Tehri Dam was likened to the Damocles Sword hanging on northern India. Today several scimitars, daggers and knives are also dangling. But then there are experts, activists and some well-meaning politicians across parties who are determined to save the Ganga and its basic values for us .
Buildings collapsing like pack of cards in Uttarakhand spate makes a poignant view. According to the annual report of Ganga Flood Control Commission (2010-11), Uttarakhand was allocated a budget of Rs 28o crore, but ironically, the flood management plans ignored the issues of deforestation and environmental devastation. These are important factors in the recent flashfloods. These were not a ‘natural’ calamity but to a great extent, were a manmade disaster.
The hydro-electricity projects on Ganga’s tributaries are major culprits. Their construction involves large-scale clearing of forests. Deforestation triggers soil erosion making the terrain vulnerable to landslides. The rampant blasting of the mountains, diversion of river, redirecting the river through tunnels (call Run of the River) are factors destabilising the fragile ecosystem of the Uttarakhand.
The agitation against the hydel projects in Himalayas, planned by Kunwar Revati Raman Singh, MP, Allahabad at Haridwar on June 22-23 might become a casualty of the floods. Its cause, however, has been vindicated by this deluge. The construction of barrages and functioning of their hydel projects are running riot with the sensitive Himalayan environment. The flow of Ganga is shrinking in non-monsoon period. The dumping of muck on river bed is reducing the navigable depth. Shallow rivers are more volatile than the deeper ones. The dams release excess water leading to inundation. In other times, they promote denudation of the environment.
The hydrograph of the Upper Ganga Segment between Gomukh and Haridwar (294 kilometers) have significantly altered due to commissioning of hydel projects. Some 82 kilometers of this 294-km stretch has been forced to flow through dark tunnels as run-of-the-river or converted into ponds of water. The stretch from Rishikesh to Gangotri presents a heart-wrenching picture. Ganga appears to be lying dead- filled with rotten dead bodies, hyacinth and rubbles in a 46-km long reservoir built for the Tehri Dam. The old Tehri town and its surrounding villages have got submerged. People have left their ancestral homes.
Further ahead from Tehri to Uttarkashi unfolds a more dreadful scenario. For 30-km, the Ganga appears to have dried up. From Dharasu to Uttarkashi, there is no sight of Ganga as the entire river has been diverted into a 16-km long tunnel for Maneri Bhali-2 tunnel. Over the rest of 14-km, Ganga has been diverted to serve Maneri Bali I hydel project. If the Ganga were personified as she has been throughout the Hindu tradition, these development projects have inflicted perverse murderous assault on her body. It is ironical the same Government affirms ‘comprehensive measures for restoration of the wholesomeness of the Ganga system and improvement of its ecological health’ (Min of Environment & Forest Annual Report 2011-12 Pg.155). A consortium of the seven IITs have been pressed into service through a Memorandum of Agreement (July 6, 2010) to frame a comprehensive river basin management plan. The consortium has already submitted the first five reports and yet to submit another 17!
After the deluge retreats, Uttarakhand will have to pick up the pieces. But it would leave behind a significant lesson that messing up with Himalaya’s eco-sensitive zone is fraught with dangers.
