SHIMLA:
Environmentalists denounce the process as an ill-timed eyewash; Force Government to conduct Consultations at Tehsil levelA public consultation on the Cumulative Environment Impact study of the Satluj river basin conducted today at Jhakhri today saw uproarious scenes with the project affected people of the Satluj valley and environmental organisations vehemently protesting against the conduct of the meeting, at a very short notice of 4 days and without sharing the draft study with the public beforehand. The study is being conducted by Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education, Dehradoon, for the Government of Himachal Pradesh, which had organised this meeting. At the outset, the public demanded and forced the officials, representatives of the consultants and the project proponents to step down from the stage and sit at the same level as the public. As soon as the meeting began, there was confusion due to the presentation being made by the consultants not being legible to the public. Another major issue of concern was the fact that not even the draft report had been shared with the public ahead of the consultation, making it impossible for anyone to know about its contents or comment upon it. A month’s notice is given before public consultations after sharing the executive summary of the environment impact assessment (EIA) report under the Environment Impact Assessment Notification.
“We do not understand what was the hurry to conduct this public consultation at a notice of just four days,” said noted environmentalist RS Negi of the Him Lok Jagriti Manch, Kinnaur. “The whole manner in which this consultation is being done has reduced it to being a farce that is being conducted to complete a formality in the process,” said Negi.
The State Government did not consider it necessary to share the report prepared by the consultants with the public even during the consultation leaving many doubts among the public regarding the issues studied by the report. “We do not know whether the consultants have studied the impacts of the hydropower projects that have been already constructed like drying up of drinking water sources, impacts of blasting due to tunneling and road construction, impacts on agriculture and the loss of forests ,”said Shyam Singh Chauhan, a member of the Mandi District Zilla Parishad.
“There is no indicator that the consultants have determined the carrying capacity of the Satluj basin or have included in their draft recommendations stretches of the river that should be left free flowing. Without such recommendations, the report itself would make no contribution to the preservation of environment,” said Nek Ram Sharma of Satluj Bachao Jan Sangharsh Samiti.
Hydroproject affected public from areas as wide as Spiti, Kinnaur, Mandi, Kullu and Shimla districts had attended the consultation. Representatives of organisations from these areas targeted the manner in which the projects were being constructed in the valley with indiscriminate blasting resulting in the drying up drinking water sources and hardly any water being released downstream of the dam sites.
The environmental organisations present at the consultation viz. Him Lok Jagriti Manch, Satluj Bachao Jan Sangharsh Samiti, Himdhara and Himalay Niti Abhiyan submitted their respective memoranda to the State Government pressing various issues of their concern. Most memoranda questioned the faulty process of carrying out the public consultation while also raising issues regarding their expectations from such a report. All organisations have demanded the conduct of such consultations at the Tehsil level in the project affected areas with at least 15 days prior notice and sharing of the draft report with public. The Secretary (MPP and Power), Sh. RD Nazim, present on the occasion agreed that this was a viable suggestion and that the government would conduct tehsil level consultations before finalising the report. He also promised that two members of the consultant’s team would revisit the project affected areas to record the impacts of the project construction activities.
The memorandum submitted by Himdhara, a Palampur based Environment Research and Action group, submitted to the officials during at the consultation has been attached herewith.
