The Uttarakhand government on Thursday decided to build hydropower projects in the larger interest of the hill state, with chief secretary Subhash Kumar meeting top officials in the PMO on the issue.
The cabinet which met here also authorised chief minister Vijay Bahuguna to keep the views of the hill state before the Ganga Basin Authority, which is meeting on April 17, to take a final call on the future of hydel projects in the state.
Earlier, additional chief secretary Alok Kumar Jain said after the cabinet meeting that no decision had been taken on the matter. Later, the government issued a statement saying the chief minister had been authorised to put the views of the state before the meeting of the Ganga basin authority. “The cabinet,” said a top government official, “was of the view that the government wants to build hydel projects by maintaining the perennial flow of the Ganga.”
The meeting assumes significance as top environmentalists like Anna Hazare and G D Agarwal are calling for a blanket ban on big hydel projects in the state. In Delhi on Thursday, Kumar met Pulak Vijay, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, and apprised him of the decision of the state cabinet.
The chief minister had been making positive statements as far as the hydropower was concerned. During recent interviews, Bahuguna had made it clear that he would take a pro-dam stand at the meeting of the Ganga basin authority. “Power is the basic resource for all economic activities,” Bahaguna said. “We all need power for which we have to build hydel projects by striking a balance between environment and development.”
The government, thus had to take the advice of experts. “After all they (Hazare and Agarwal) are not experts. The Ganga is sacred for not just them, but for everybody. For emotional reasons, development works should not be stopped, as your own thoughts should not be imposed on the hill state,” he said. “They (Agarwal) say that the flow of rivers is getting stopped due to power projects. But this happens during winters only. Why do we have to stop generation during remaining ninemonths?”
