Hydro projects have hit 80% of Bhagirathi, 65% of Alaknanda, impact irreversible: Centre to NGT

DEHRADUN: In an alarming disclosure, the Centre has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that a large number of hydropower projects (HPPs), including those that are under construction, have “severely affected” 80% of Bhagirathi and 65% of Alaknanda, causing the rivers to dry up at many stretches.
Almost 90% of smaller tributaries of Ganga have also been affected due to the hydroelectric projects, said the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and ministry of water resources in a joint affidavit submitted to the NGT in the last week of December 2016.
The affidavit, a copy of which is with TOI, stated that since natural springs contribute to more than 50% of Bhagirathi’s flow, the impact of HPPs on these sources would be “irreversible”. While highlighting the need to restore ‘aviral dhara’ (unhindered or natural flow) of the rivers, the Centre said, “The Ganga has been exploited and of the 2,500km stretch of the river, its flow is now unhindered only on the stretch from Gomukh to Uttarkashi.”
The joint affidavit came in response to the Uttarakhand government’s Zonal Master Plan (ZMP) for Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone that was recently submitted to the Centre and the NGT. The ZMP sought construction of HPPs up to 25 MW on the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) in Uttarkashi district.
A central government notification of December 18 2012 had declared a 100km-stretch of Bhagirathi from Gomukh to Uttarkashi covering an area of 4,179.59 square kilometres as eco-sensitive. The notification mentioned that HPPs of only up to 2 MW can be built in the notified area. The state government had sought amendments in the 2012 notification to incorporate in it HPPs of up to 25 MW capacity.
Environment ministry officials in a meeting with state government officials in New Delhi on August 31, 2016 had asked Uttarakhand to initiate a cumulative impact assessment of HPPs on Bhagirathi river basin.
The Centre while rejecting the state government’s ZMP for Bhagirathi said that the state government has failed to propose a plan for satisfactory disposal of solid and biomedical waste in the region. It added that the ESZ notification has been misinterpreted as “anti-development”. The environment ministry has replied to the letters of the state’s political representatives in this regard, asking them to develop a ZMP for sustainable development in the region, the affidavit said.
After the Centre’s rejection of the ZMP, chief minister Harish Rawat sat on a day-long fast in Delhi on Thursday against rejection of the state government's zonal master plan for Bhagirathi ESZ, which he termed “anti-people” and “anti-Uttarakhand”.
Environmentalists said that the state government’s zonal master plan for Bhagirathi does not include sufficient number of studies to assess the impact of HPPs in the region.
Environmentalist Hemant Dhyani told TOI, “The zonal master plan does not mention hydrological studies related to surface and groundwater, aquifers/water springs or the number of lost water sources and plan for their revival.”
Surender Aggarwal, media advisor to the CM, said, “The state needs development or else local residents will migrate. If the Centre does not want hydropower plants or other projects in the eco-sensitive zone then they should compensate the state government with appropriate green bonus.”