Questions are naturally raised about dams—especially the one at Tehri— every time a calamity of this nature strikes us. At the beginning of my political caree in 1991, it was my position that this dam is neither safe nor viable. It is also a hazard during war, if the enemy decides to target it. I think what we urgently need are smaller projects of up to 25 MW. Such small dams can provide not only electricity but also employment to many people. They also minimise some of the worst risks of megadams. My government had laid down a policy on building small dams in 2008. It still exists and must be implemented. I see a systemic indifference towards the entire Himalayan region, and not just Uttarakhand. There has been no thinking or long-term planning about how to balance ‘environment’ against ‘development’ in these states. There is a duality and a contradiction here that needs to be addressed; but the central government has remained indifferent. This has largely been responsible for a lot of apathy. The thinking has been geared towards ‘favouring’ environmental agencies, not development. On the other hand, the local people support environment, but do now feel the need for development. These are people from villages that haven’t used electricity or seen a bus. They are naturally desperate for development. This complete indifference to their needs has resulted in the locals, instead of being more in tune with the environment, have come to resent its protection and are becoming more and more indifferent to it in practice. This could cripple any long-term effort to protect the environment. We have been unable to appreciate this and find a convergence of the people’s needs with that of the environment. One should not exist at the cost of another.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 00:23:26 +0000
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