INDIA: Right-wing Fundamentalists Join Anti-dam Activists

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Dec 18 2001 (IPS) - Environmental activists opposed to the building of the controversial Tehri dam being built on a known seismic zone in the high Himalayas have found an unlikely ally in right-wing, fundamentalists who are sworn to protect the Ganges river, which is sacred to Hindus.

But even this formidable combination may not succeed in stopping the government from going ahead with the 2,400 megawatt Tehri Dam project, one of the world’s highest. It will displace 100,000 people and submerge the ancient town of Tehri and some 112 surrounding villages in northern Uttaranchal state.

When the dam’s builders temporarily blocked the Bhagirathy, one of the two main tributaries of the Ganges to construct a stilling basin below the spillway, they took care to insert a two-inch pipe into the gates to ensure continued flow of water and satisfy the Vishwa Hindu Parish (VHP) or World Hindu Forum.

Ashok Singhal, firebrand leader of the VHP, which is closely allied to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had earlier threatened to have the construction of the dam stopped if the water of the Bhagirathy was completely blocked.

Singhal was instrumental in the formation last April of the latest of a series of review committees on the safety of the dam although this was considered “farcical” by environmental activists because the dam’s construction was to continue unhindered and 80 percent of the Stage One of the power station is now complete.

What’s more, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder approved 32 million dollars worth of credit for the Tehri Dam project before he visited India late October, reversing an earlier rejection of a credit application by the electrical giant Siemens.

Both the German ministries of foreign affairs and overseas development had objected to the project because of a sustained campaign by activists, led by noted environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna, focused on the environmental hazards posed by impounding water in the Himalayas.

Support for the Indian activists came from the German environmental group Urgewald which said the approval violated guidelines put in place in April that bound Germany’s Hermes export credit agency to consider environmental concerns.

But the project, which the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had noted would only benefit contractors, has survived worse objections from the best authority.

India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Minstry of Power had raised serious concerns regarding safety and social impact but found themselves overruled.

The dam is situated in the most highly seismic zone of India and experts agree that in the event of an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.5 on the Richter scale, the dam would be vulnerable because it can withstand only a magnitude of seven on the scale.

According Vimal Bhai, an activist for the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), if the dam collapses more than 500,000 people downstream would die instantly and bring devastation all the way down to the capital city of New Delhi.

Bahuguna, who has given up campaigning against the construction of the dam after numerous sit-ins and hunger-strikes, has lately been pleading for reducing the overall height of the dam to limit hazards, and has now taken to advocating a ‘run-of-the-river’ project as an alternative.

Bahuguna has argued that quite apart from safety and environmental questions, any benefit from constructing the dam such as additional electric power and drinking water will go to urban centres and trigger an exodus from the rural areas to the cities.

He has also warned that even if the dam is built to withstand earthquakes, it is vulnerable to the frequent rockslides that occur in the surrounding hills which could result in the displacement of large amounts of water from the reservoir as what happened to the Vijont dam in Italy in 1963.

Tehri dam is less than 100 km from the epicentre of a temblor with a magnitude of 6+ that killed 1,000 people in October 1991. The Tehri Hydro Development Corportion (THDC) insists that the dam’s design has been extensively tested by expert institutions in India and Russia.

The International Commission on Large Dams has classified the Tehri site as “extremely hazardous” but its opinion has been ignored and in 1998 the National Committee on Seisimci Design Parametres finally pronounced the project safe after what it called extensive testing.

Bahuguna is now pinning his hopes on the VHP plan to rouse Hindu sentiment over the dam disturbing the purity of the sacred Ganges river, which is believed by millions to have spiritually healing properties.