28th November 2012
The GMR promoted 180 MW Bajoli-Holi Hydroelectric Project, proposed to be constructed on the river Ravi, has received a setback with the High Court ordering on 23rd November that construction on the project, if any, would be subject to the final decision of the honourable court on a writ petition. “The interim order of the Honourable High Court means that any construction undertaken on the project shall be at the risk of the project proponent,” said Digvijay Singh, the counsel for the petitioner Vinod Kumar, a resident of the Nayagram Gram Panchayat). The project proposes construction of a 14.8 Km long tunnel through a geologically fragile and ecologically rich terrain. The petitioner has challenged the Stage II (final) Forest Clearance for the project accorded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on the grounds that the clearance has been granted in violation of the conditions set by the MoEF’s Forest Advisory Committee while granting the Stage I clearance to the project. The petitioner has contested that the Forest Clearance has been granted despite the project not having adhered to the Ministry’s own circular regarding compliance with the Forest Rights Act, issued on 3rd August, 2009.
The Cumulative Environment Impact Assessment for the Ravi river basin has also not been conducted by the state government. Both these were among the 18 conditions specified in the stage I clearance given to the project on the 8th July, 2011. The MoEF circular mandates the approval of all the concerned Gram Sabhas to accompany any proposal submitted to the ministry for diversion of forest land under the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The Gram Sabha of Nayagram Gram Panchayat had passed a resolution opposing the project in the month of July 2012 as it apprehend that the project would have a severe adverse impact on their daily lives, livelihoods, agriculture and forest rights. The petitioner’s contention puts a question mark on the role of the MoEF as well as the state government which have to ensure adherence to the MoEF’s circular while submitting any project proposal for forest clearance. “The hon’ble court has issued notices to the project proponent, the state government and the Ministry of Environment and Forests to clarify their position on shifting of the project components, non-compliance of Forest Rights Act and conditions specified in the stage I forest clearance.
“Evidence from hydroelectric projects in the state reveals that underground blasting for tunnels and power houses has caused drying up of natural water sources and reduction in soil moisture, to the detriment of the local population and agriculture,” says Rahul Saxena of the Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective. The local people of the Holi area in the Chamba district have been opposing the project due to its unjustified shifting of important project components like the head race tunnel and power house from the uninhabited right bank of the Ravi river to the left bank where almost all of the population of the five affected panchayats lives.
According to the pre-feasibility report for the project the head race tunnel for the project was to be constructed along the right bank and the bids for the project had been invited and finalised based upon this design. Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited, the agency which had undertaken the preliminary survey on the project and had prepared the pre-feasibility report, has opposed this shifting of the project components by the project proponent on technical, social and economic grounds. In a letter written to the DC Chamba in February, 2011 the HPSEBL had cited many reasons for objecting to the shift including drying up of subsurface water sources, lakes and ponds, especially since most of the population and their cultivated lands were located on the left bank. HPSEBL had also cited risk to the holy Sara Dal, the left bank of the river being geologically more disturbed, much lesser need for rehabilitation and minimum disturbance to local people as reasons for preferring the right bank design. It had also contended that the report prepared by it was technically sound as it had been formulated its Planning and Design engineers in collaboration with the Survey of India after detailed surveys and intensive field studies. Surprisingly, the engineers from HPSEBL had not been invited to the Environmental Public Hearing for the project held in October, 2010.
