Photo Essay : When mountains are hollowed …

1. In April 2012 there was a massive leakage in the 16km HRT of the 231 MW, Chamera III project just above the Mokhar village in Chamba district leading to severe threat to the village downhill so much so that the 40 families residing there had to be evacuated. This picture is of the Adit 6 of the tunnel. The leakage occurred during testing of the generating units.

2. Leakages in the surge shaft of the 231 MW Chamera III tunnel just above the Mokhar village in Chamba.

3. Vidya Devi’s house in Mokhar was completely damaged by the landslide caused due to the seepage from the surge shaft in April 2012

4. Shri Jagdish Sharma standing in front of the debris of his leftover house after the leakage tragedy .

5. The pastures of the village buried under the landslide caused by the seepages in Mokhar village.

6. Cracks on the walls of Aaganbhadi Kendra of Dhalanjan village due to the tunnel construction of 36 MW, Chanju HEP in Chamba on Ravi basin’s Chanju nallah.

7. Lilo Devi’s house was located just above the HRT of the Chanju project. 12 houses were completely damaged by the tunnel construction in this village in December 2013.

8. Power house site of Chanju HEP, where 1000s of trees were damaged by the blasting for the tunnel construction due to activation of a landslide.

9. People of Dhalanjan village are now residing in temporary shelters.

10. Landslide at Alwas due to road and channel construction for 5 MW Tarela project in Chamba.

11. Cracks in the house of Shri Baija Ram due to Tarela Project in Alwas village.

12. Lanslide close to Alwas village due to Tarela project.

13. Wtermill rendered dysfunctional due to landslide cause by construction work for the 5MW Ginni Project in Tarela village in Chamba. The Project also diverted the water that was being used by the village for the watermill. Almost 15-20 watermills in this village have dried up due to the project’s construction activities.

14. The location of the landslide which dried up the watermill.

15. Landslide due to the construction activities and then subsequent destruction of the penstock of the Ginni project further led to soil erosion. The village above the slides, Junas has 20 houses and now stand threatened.

16. Murim-I, is a local stream that dried up due to the 17 km long 1000MW Karcham Wangtoo project’s tunnel in Kinnaur district. The stream is surrounded by grazing lands and the livestock grazing there used to drink water from the stream.

17. Murim-II next to Murim I shared a common source which led to drying up of both streams.

18. Nang Choling water source or chashma near the highway. The water was used for drinking not just by the people in Choling but also by passers by. This source has totally dried up now due to the Karcham Wangtoo tunnel construction.

19. Peokeh-I is a water source in the Yulla village. The discharge of this source has reduced by 50% since the construction of the tunnel for Karcham Wangtoo HEP.

Yet another source of water - Peokeh-II, Yulla village whose discharge has reduced by 30 to 40% .

21. Jyoti Prakash’s house in Yulla village suffered from cracks because of the tunnel construction of Karcham Wangtoo HEP.

22. Jagat Singh’s fields had this water source and used this for drinking and irrigation. Due to the reduction in the discharge after tunnel construction there is just enough water to use for drinking.

23. Kakhiyo water source was used for drinking by 10 families in Yulla and the source is now totally dry.

24. Lang Chuldhing water source in Yulla the discharge has reduced due to the tunnel. 4 -5 families in the vicitnity depend on this source.

25. Ram Devi’s gharat in Yulla has been rendered useless along with another 4 above her’s. All due to the drying up of a water source – Yang baro

Ramanand’s House in Urni village which has developed cracks and crevices due to the blasting and construction of tunnel for Karcham Wangtoo Project.

27. Ramanand Negi showed this water source in Urni village which emerged suddenly in 2005. This has come out in a location where there is a landslide getting active.

28. This is the Urni steep slope where the landslide is active .

30. Runnag Chashma is used by the Runnag village for washing and drinking. The water discharge has reduced substantially.

32. Landslide just above the tunnel of Karcham Wangtoo project at Rangle. This was also activated lst year during the monsoons.

Ryabi Khaldam (Disturbed Source), the water source has relocated naturally after the construction of the tunnel began.

Land slide at Meeru village activated last year and the main path of the village disturbed.

Buthkas, IPH Source fully dried now as a result of tunnel. Almost the entire Meeru panchayat was dependent on this water for drinking.

Jagdish Chand Negi’s house in Chugaun was impacted because of the construction of Karcham Wangtoo Tunnel.

Cow shed developed cracks in Chugaun affected by Karcham Wangtoo Project’s tunnel construction.

On 25th May 2014 this landslide occurred in Nigulseri village. Locals claim that the tunnel of 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Project had already disturbed the area which was further disturbed because of the transmission tower construction for Baspa II and Karchham Wangtoo HEPs.

Geeta Ram’s house affected by the landslide at Nigulseri.

40. Shamsher Singh’s house cracks at Nigulseri in May 2014. A total of 13 houses have suffered such damages.

This landslide has occurred near powerhouse of the Nathpa Jhakri project in Jhakri.

A Photo Essay on the impacts of blasting and tunneling for hydroprojects (Photos by Sumit Mahar)

Tunneling for hydropower project using the blasting technique can be compared to mining or quarrying. It has a series of direct and indirect impacts which have already been documented. Among the most serious impacts of tunneling that are likely to occur as a result of blasting for constructing the tunnel for the project is drying up of the natural drinking water springs and the reduction in sub-soil moisture. This directly impacts the drinking water availability for the local villagers as well as agriculture and horticultural productivity, which is critically dependent upon the presence of sub-soil moisture. Blasting for tunnels and other underground components of hydroelectricity projects creates vibrations that have resulted in cracks in houses situated near these components.

 This photo essay documents the impacts of tunneling and blasting for hydropower projects mainly in Chamba and Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. In Chamba, the impacts of  Chamera III, Chanju, Ginni, A.T. hydropower projects were studied, and Karcham Wangtoo and Nathpa Jhakri in Kinnaur district.

Read a detailed article on this issue,  ‘Seeping through the cracks’ visit

http://www.epw.in/web-exclusives/seeping-through-cracks.html