2. Ganga – Our national River
“
”
“ The land of India is blessed, Himalayas are also blessed but the region in Himalayas where
Ganga is born is especially blessed because this is the place where she exists in confluence
with God.”
- 149, 39-40
Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in his will and testament:
“The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories,
her hopes and her fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of
India's age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga.”
Swami Vivekananda on the other side of the ocean wrote:
“The Gita and the sacred waters of the Ganga constitute the Hinduism of the Hindus.
Last time I went to the West I also took a little with me, fearing it might be needed,
and whenever opportunities occurred I used to drink a few drops of it.
And every time I drank in the midst of the stream of humanity, amid that bustle of civilization, that hurry of frenzied footsteps of
millions of men and women in the west, the mind at once became calm and still as it were”
3. A matter of concern
• Ganga is vanishing in her valley of origin –
bumper to bumper HEPs being constructed all
over Uttarakhand in the last pristine stretch of
the river
• Local impacts – fragile Himalayan ecosystem
• Impact of the already existing hydro-power
projects
• Existing projects – overall feasibility
• Next steps
4. View of the Himalayan Basin –
Water towers of Asia
6. These are hydropower projects, aka “Run-of-the river
schemes” beginning from Glacier lines, designed in a
series, one following the other one, lined up bumper-to-
bumper.
7. What is this so called “Run of the river” project?
River from one exit is almost immediately diverted to the barrage of the
following project where the river is diverted through the tunnel directed
to a power house and after using it to move the turbines – it goes
through 2nd exit – again diverted at the barrage of the following project
26. Himalayan Environment under threat
• Developing mountains ,deep gorges
with fragile mountain slopes.
• Rich biodiversity and areas enriched by
natural water springs .
• Highly hazardous landslide zone
Earthquake prone zone – Seismic zone V.
• Retreating Gangotri glacier – stored
water in reservoirs, raising temperatures in
vicinity
• Himalayan snow trout - endangered –
obstructed migration path
• Golden mahasheer – endangered – due
to decreased water in Ganga
• Bear, goral, leopard, Himalayan Otter –
being affected
• Home to many migratory birds
27. Current situation in Uttarakhand
- Cloud bursts in Gangotri, Yamunotri , Alaknanda, Mandakini etc.
- Flash floods in Asi-Ganga – Gangotri valley
- 3 under-construction power projects completely washed away
-The cloud bursts are more catastrophic due to the hydro projects on the path of
the river. No considerations, whatsoever, are even proposed or thought of during
proposing the HEPs in areas of Uttarakhand
- Due to the extensive construction in the hills, our forests are literally being
skinned & due to this the land is rendered loose – increasing the frequency of
flash floods
- The project authorities fill up the reservoirs to the limit, sometimes beyond &
when they open the reservoir gates it causes flood downstream. Due to the filling
up of the reservoirs beyond the posted limit, the villages in the vicinity are at risk &
the areas are often submerged. The villagers then have to immediately tread uphill
in order to protect themselves
- In Alaknanda valley, forceful filling up of reservoir was seen in
the under-construction HEP – that almost drowned the entire
dhari village & even after repeated appeals to the company to
open the gates – they refused.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35. Fragile Himalayan Ecology
GIS-based Landslide Hazard Zonation
in the Bhagirathi (Ganga) Valley,
Himalayas – International journal of
Remote sensing
The seismic sensitive zones of
Uttarakhand
36.
37. Not just the constructed dams even the process of
construction has severe impacts in the vicinity
Impacts with Examples of some
existing projects
38. Havoc created by Deforestation at the
construction sites
A destroyed mountain slope between
Loharinag and Pala
40. The loose land in the
Bhukki - Salang villages
close to Asi-Ganga stand
as a threat.
Over 3000 trees have
uprooted & are ready to
add to the already
flooded Asi-Ganga any
moment
41.
42. Loss of Water sources – at different sites of
dam construction – all over Uttarakhand
The smaller tributaries are
vanishing
49. Tapovan – Vishnugad project
where excessive tunneling has
caused cracks in houses
The usual myth that these local
projects generate local jobs –
is a complete farce.
The excessive blasting has
also caused loss of water
sources
50. Dried water sources – after effects of
Maneri Bhali 2
Once enriched, now dried water sources in Deoli
55. Severe Impacts of the construction
process – Case of Bhatwadi - 2010
-Even during the early phase
of construction of Loharinag-
Pala dam excessive blasting
that was done at Pala for
tunneling rendered the entire
area weak
-The following monsoons,
massive land-sinking was
seen in Bhatwadi, the
immediate vicinity of the
construction site
56.
57. Collapsed house in Vishnuprayag –
another example of land sinking due
to excessive blasting
58. Chai gaon - Joshimath
• The tunnels that are dug for
the HEP construction render
the mountains weak & fragile
causing big cracks in houses,
drying the fresh water
sources in villages & pose an
immediate threat to the
village located above the
tunnels.
62. -Muck Dumping in Asi-
Ganga
-Due to this muck dumping
& cutting of trees, the muck
was blocked - a temporary
reservoir was formed &
recently during the
monsoons the water filled in
this make-shift reservoir
-Consequently with the
cloud-burst, the collected
water added to the woes &
caused severe damage
downstream – washing
away 3 under-construction
dams.
63. Feasibility of these projects
• The existing Maneri-Bhali 1 hydro power project of just 90MW, is working
at almost half its efficiency since the last ten years. The reasons stated in
the RTI are:
– Increased silt in the river during monsoons
– Decreased flow during winters.
• The problem of silt is only going to increase in the near future owing to
melting of the glaciers, how then can a upstream project of 600MW
function when on the same river a 90MW is not running to its capacity.
• Dropping water levels: Ganga was flowing at half her normal capacity last
year. The global climate change has already seen this in cases of several
other rivers.
64. Similar trend all over Himalayas
Excessive silt in Himachal – shutting up
of power plants
67. Local electricity requirements
Often the hydro-power projects are promoted under the pretext of
“Local energy requirements” when the fact of the matter is that no
electricity from the big projects is supplied locally.
68. Zone in Uttarakhand The hydro-power projects Actual Energy Consumption in 2011-
2012 (As per RTI response received
from UPCL)
Uttarkashi Operational 48.76 Mus
1. Maneri Bhali 1 (90MW)
2. Maneri Bhali 2 (304MW)
Cancelled
1. Loharinag Pala (600MW)
2. Pala Maneri (480 MW)
3. Bhairon Ghati 1&2
Under Construction and proposed
1. Asi Ganga, etc.
Tehri Operational 132.03 Mus
1. Tehri Dam (1000 MW)
2. Koteshwar (400 MW)
Under construction
1. Kotlibhel 1A, 1B and 2 ( )
2. Tehri stage 2 (1000 MW), etc.
Pauri Srinagar (330 MW) etc. 115.57 Mus
Rudraprayag Under construction: 28.26 Mus
1. Singoli Bhatwadi (99 MW)
2. Phata-Byung (77 MW), etc.
Gopeshwar/Chamoli Under construction : 82.39 Mus
1. Vishnugad-Pipalkoti (444 MW)
2. Tapowan-Vishnugad (520 MW)
3. Alaknanda (300 MW), etc.
Garhwal region of Ganga-Himalayan More than 18,000 MWs estimated Total consumption ( 407.01 MUs ≈
basin capacity. 46.46 MW)
69. A Reality Check
• 50% of Uttarakhand’s electricity is consumed by a handful of factories
•The Public hearing carried out are farcical.
•Many times the locals don’t receive intimation at all. Few planted people who arrive at the
scene, are made to sign – which is then used as official document for clearance.
• Case of Devsari Dam – where locals have opposed the public hearing time and again & yet
the authorities prompt fresh public hearings
•Environment ministry has become a clearing house. No project is ever rejected.
•There is a clear conflict of interest as the proponent of the project carries out the EIA
•Cost benefit analysis is absolutely flawed. Wrong projection of benefits and no talk
about environment, culture etc
•Maximum death & casualties were reported from village Jamak, under which the tunnel
for the Maneri Bhali runs. The irrigated & fertile fields that once grew many cash crops,
are now dry.
• Breeding of malarial mosquitoes is now rampant due to the stored water of reservoirs.
The fogging done to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes is leading to respiratory
disorders.
70. Despite of expert’s opposition Alkananda
(300 Mw) got clearance near Badrinath
71. Environmental flow for the
National River
• Constant bargain for an environmental flow
• Environmental flow for A class rivers such as Ganga is actually her
natural flow. On such rivers, no projects or construction should be
proposed or executed, in order to maintain the special water quality
of the river.
• No laws to protect our national heritage
• Decreased water flow (since most it will be tunneled) means
increased temperatures, loss of aquatic life & velocity.
• Sustainability in light of ecological flow – cases of fraud flow in
Maneri Bhali every-time a committee came over for a visit
• No valuation of the loss of natural habitat
• Flawed cost benefit analysis – underrate cost & ignore many factors
• As has been seen in the case of Maneri-Bhali, under the banner of
hydro power prjects, Ganga gets reduced into a mere rivulet.
72.
73. Corruption – Committee visits
- Time & again different committee visits that have happened in different parts
of the Uttarakhand are always planted & schemed for a certain result
- During the visit of an expert committee that went in Uttarkashi at the time of
decision for Loharinag – Pala, water was intentially released in the main river
bed by the Maneri Bhali authorities only to show that there is an environmental
flow.
- During the recent visit of Sanchita Jindal committee by MoEF to Alakananda,
Dhari Devi – the project authorities, contractor lobby showed them around &
with the result the committee submitted a wrong report of assessing the
violations done.
- The committee members that just went to Alaknanda – Dhari Devi did not
even meet the locals & when the locals somehow caught hold of them – they
were so convinced with the project authorities false claims that the meeting was
therefore futile.
-
80. Conclusion
• All the projects (proposed & under construction) in the
Ganga-Himalayan basin should be scrapped.
• Maneri Bhali project is barely producing 40 MW and drying up
14 Km of Ganga, belongs to eco-sensitive zone & is 30+ years
old – this must be de-commissioned now.
• At least 60% of ecological flow from the existing projects must
be released immediately & maintained at all times of the year.
In a set-time frame steps to de-commission the projects must
be taken.
• 150 kms from winter glacier line, must be declared as
“Cultural-Eco-sensitive zones” - locals are given an incentive
to protect the forests, the Ganga & the environment.
• A different view for Himalayas. – A fresh Himalayan policy
must be structured
