Uttarakhand CM protests plan to scrap dam projects

NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has protested to environment minister Jairam Ramesh over the Centre's decision not to proceed with two power projects of 861 mw, saying that the border state should be compensated with 1,000 mw of power from other sources.

The CM has said the environment ministry has taken a view on two power projects on the Bhagirathi that were to be developed by the state but withheld a decision on a third that was being developed by the Centre. "Our resources and planning have been affected in one stroke," said the CM.

On the environmental concerns over a sharp drop in water availability in Uttarakhand's rivers, the CM told TOI, "This varies seasonally. Sometimes the water flow is down to 25 cusecs, it can also be 250 cusecs in a river like Bhagirathi. Can the state not be allowed to harness water when it is excess?" He said the state had a right to develop its natural resources.

The CM is understood to have told Ramesh that the decisions had not kept in mind the power needs of Uttarakhand which has suffered shortages that need to be addressed while planning for the future. "Issues like water management of Ganga and its tributaries should be discussed by the national ganga river basin authority the prime minister has set up. After all, the intention was to work in a collaborative manner," Pokhriyal said.

On the agitation launched by sants opposing dams on Uttarakhand's rivers, the CM said he has appealed to them to consider judicious use of waters flowing through the hill state. With their "spiritual and religious" attachment to the rivers, the sants were agitated over waters of the Ganga being "dammed" up. "I am not insensitive to environment but development and conservation are not mutually exclusive," he said.

The chief minister has also recently taken up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the demand that a tax holiday available by way of excise exemptions to the state not be curtailed. While NDA government had set 2014 as the sunset year, the UPA had brought this forward to 2010. "I told the PM to direct the finance minister to allow the exemption to continue. I said the finance minister is often like a miserly father and the PM has been in that role. He can help us," the CM said.