Khanduri govt to favour small hydel projects

The new Uttarakhand government is likely to give preference to small dams over big ones like Tehri in its new policy guidelines for the power sector. This could mean the death-knell for the 6,480 Mw Pancheswhar project.

An indication to this effect was given by Chief Minister BC Khanduri, who also advocated a separate rehabilitation policy.

"We may not go for big dams, which create rehabilitation problems. We will go for small hydel projects," said Khanduri.

Khanduri's statement comes in the wake of the Centre spending Rs 10,000 crore for building the Tehri dam, which saw the submergence of the old Tehri town as well as nearly 125 villages in the reservoir.

The rehabilitation problem of the Tehri dam has not yet been settled, with the state government seeking a fresh package for this.

This policy will be in line with that of the previous ND Tiwari government, which also gave preference to small dams.

The Centre will seek approval from the Uttarakhand government to build the 6,480 Mw Pancheshwar hydel project, thrice the size of Tehri dam, on the Kali river in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts of the state but officials said a nod for this was unlikely because the new dam would create much bigger problems.

Various environmental groups have already opposed the Pancheshwar dam, threatening to launch an agitation on the lines of that against the Sardar Sarovar dam.

"We disapprove of building this huge project because our experiment with the 2,400 Mw Tehri dam has failed," said Anil Joshi, who heads HESCO, a non-governmental organisation working on environmental issues in India.

The height of the Pancheshwar dam has been increased from 238 metres to 315 metres which would make it the highest and biggest dam in India. A 12,100 km-long reservoir is being built for the Pancheshwar dam, which would submerge nearly 146 villages.

Stating that there would be two underground power projects in the proposed site, Joshi said most of the areas in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts were ecologically fragile and added that there should be a referendum in the state over the issue. "Moreover all these areas are earthquake prone," he said.