AT WHAT COST?

The recent catastrophic flashfloods in Uttarakhand and landslides in Himachal Pradesh have brought centrestage the debate on water management and development in fragile zones.

Having had to deal with the negative effects of this dam construction spree – deforestation, increased siltation, landslides and increased pollution – project affected communities have benefitted little from such ‘development’. Dissenting voices have been termed ‘antidevelopment’.

Diverting river water into a power-plant

The total hydel potential of Himachal Pradesh is a just over 20,000 MW. Many experts however point out that a majority of the power plants only generate 20-30 per cent of their potential power. While the sheer inefficiency of these power plants is shocking, the even bigger problem is the environmental cost of these projects and the risk involved in building so many of these projects in an ecologically fragile zone. The worst hit by this construction spree is Kinnaur district in the north of Himachal, with a total of 18 major dams, including those already constructed as well as several proposed and under construction.

Although touted as environmentally benign, the construction of these run-of-the-river dams involves a huge amount of blasting in the mountains to create tunnels, through which river water is diverted and carried to the turbines in the power plants located downstream. The Himalayas, being some of the youngest mountains in the world, are naturally fragile, and the constant and unregulated blasting weakens the mountainsides, increases the chances of landslides and fills the river with silt, further damaging the already crippled river and reducing its environmental carrying capacity.

In Kinnaur, dam builders have routinely ignored the conditions and promises they made under environment clearance mechanisms to local communities under which they have been permitted to build dams.

According Shanta Kumar Negi, a local activist, project affected com - mu nities are promised facilities like colleges and hospitals by the builders, so that they don’t oppose the construction of the dams. The problem with this is that once the NOC is given, the builders don’t fulfil their promises. He says “They’re just businessmen. They’re here to make money. That’s it.” There is no one to ensure that these promises are fulfilled, and that seems to be troubling the locals the most. Even if there is electricity in the district, where are the schools, hospitals and colleges that were promised to them? The other important problem, is that how can one compensate for the environmental loss? Once all of the dams are constructed, the entire river will be diverted and channelled underground, and will disappear completely. R S Negi, a former bureaucrat, asks “Who will come to Kinnaur to see a ditch? There’ll be no river left.”

When it comes to power generation, one can’t help but notice that the social and environmental cost of these dams is too high. According to R S Negi, Kinnaur only requires around 7 MW, although the region has the potential to generate between 12,000-15,000 MW. The actual amount of electricity produced is only about 3,000 MW. Of this, Himachal retains only 13 per cent, of which the monetary value of 1 per cent of this electricity is routed to the Local Area Development Fund (LADF). This fund is used to develop the project affected area by building schools, colleges and hospitals, etc. The remaining 87 per cent is sold by the developer to the national grid. Despite these somewhat generous terms of energy trade, said Shanta Kumar, some of the towns near the north west of Kinnaur, still don’t have constant electricity. He points out that that there are people still waiting for the monetary compensation, as well as the facilities they were promised. As of 2011, the power companies still owe the Himachal Government Rs.264 cr, as part of the LADF.

Deforestation remains a major concern. A 2011 study on five project affected villages in Kinnaur by Renuka Thapliyal and Manoj Jreat, show that 35,046 trees were damaged and felled, during the construction of dams in the district. Amongst these felled and damaged trees are endangered Chilgoza pine, prized by local communities for their pine nuts. A total of 7,89479 hectares of forest land was ‘diverted’ to enable the construction of these dams.

This is the cost that the people of Kinnaur are paying for their electricity. They give up their land, their forests and their water, and all they get in return, are false promises and in many cases, electricity problems. Is this “development” really worth it?  

I N T E R V I E W
	Shanta Kumar Negi an engineer from Punjab University and an anti-dam activist in Himachal Pradesh interacted with Nishant Saxena and B Harikrishnan
Q 1. What do think about the instalment of hydro power projects in your state? I understand the concern of the government towards the increase in the energy requirement but I think we should also focus on the cost at which we are installing these dams. The negative effect of hydro projects to environment, loss of people's rights and livelihoods, danger to national security and gross violation of tribal, environment and forest laws cannot be compensated. Moreover energy requirement is a never ending greed; I don't think we should run after it blindly. Q 2. What are the problems people face due to these projects? What kind of rehabilitation and compensation is missing according to you, because we are told that proper compensation is provided, in fact one hospital was also built which functions quite well? There is not a single problem, from resettlement and rehabilitation to employment and damage to the environment. There are a lot of problems. We go to the govt. and the concerned company to ask for proper compensation but we don't get anything. They don't even reply properly. Yes they speak very confidently about the hospital. Go to the site and you will know the reality. The hospital worked quite well till the construction was going on; as the construction got completed the hospital's condition became worse than any government hospital. Q 3. How are the villagers/ locali tes involved in the decision of building a dam? People were totally unaware earlier. They have been fooled all the time, but gradually things started changing. With the command of NOC coming to the gram Sabah a lot of flip in power play has taken place. No project can start till the time the gram Sabah gives No Objection Certificate. Q 4. What do you have to say about the rumours that suggest that Gram Sabhas accepts undue favours for handing out NOCs? They are only rumours. These people have been putting such accusations but there hasn't been any such case. It is all a game of NOCs now. They have tried to bribe people but it didn't work out for them. People in Kinnaur just don't want these dams anymore, what they only want is to preserve their resources. We always give them Total Objection Certificate (TOC). Q 5. According to official sources, skilled labour cannot be provided to the locals because they are not technically equipped. Most of them have just completed their intermediate education. What do you have to say about it? He is right to say that, but the question that arises is, in an isolated district like Kinnaur how do you think these poor people will get the required technical knowledge. I think if the government is really keen to employ the locals, they should conduct a 6 month or a years' technical training programme. Q 6. Looking at the present situation, what do you think about the future of Kinnaur? The future is unpredictable but if we keep in mind today's pace of 'development' then I don't see any bright future. Although people of Kinnaur are more aware now and they will surely find a way out of this mishappening but I think even the authority should also show real concern towards the deteriorating environment. Such development is unsustainable.