The side-effects from these dams outdoes the benefits it brings to the people. The Tehri dam, on Bhagirathi river is a perfect example.

1. The Damming Of Ganga- A
Dangerous Maneuver
- Pankaj Khandelwal

2. Demand vs supply
• The ever increasing demand for power and electricity has
forced the government work out different plans at any cost.
• An RTI filed by water activist Bharat Jhunjhunwala in 2010
revealed that the Uttarakhand government planned to
construct 557 dams across the Ganga and its tributaries.
• After being turned into a virtual drain , where 2.9bn litres of
sewage is dumped into the river daily, now the flow of ’the
holy river’ in its upper course is being slowed down to near
standstill.

3. The side-effects
• The side-effects from these dams outdoes the benefits it
brings to the people.
• The Tehri dam, on Bhagirathi river (source stream of the
Ganges) is a perfect example.
• 1000MW hydro capacity dam has been the object of protests
by environmental organizations and local people of the
region.
• Located in the Central Himalayan Seismic Gap, a major
geologic default zone, seismologists say that earthquakes
with a magnitude of 8.5 or more could occur in this region.
• A perfect recipe for disaster.

4. Power in exchange of planet?
• The environmental consequences of large dams are
numerous and varied.
• This includes direct impacts to the biological, chemical and
physical properties of rivers and riparian environments.
• The flora, especially the bryophytes and fungi which are
significant part of the river eco-system are in danger.

5. • The report prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII),
Dehradun, warns the Centre against going ahead with 24
hydropower projects planned on the Alaknanda and
Bhagirathi river systems in Uttarakhand.
• The Kotli-Bhel dam at Devprayag will submerge 1200
hectares of forest, wiping out the river otters and ‘mahaseer’
(a kind of fish) that are found here.
• Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a measure of pollution in
water was found to be as high as 39.4mg/l (permissible limt-
25mg/l) at site 2 and 3 of Tehri Dam.

6. The effects!
• Due to building of the reservoir for these dams, huge amount
of lands will be submerged.
• This will include numerous villages and hamlets which will
ultimately lead to relocation of millions of people dwelling
there.
• The likelihood of floods in the downstream course of the river
is quite imminent.

7. • ‘Save Ganga’ crusader and activist Mr.G.D Agarwal and many
other organisations such as Ganga Ahvaan, Bhagirathi
Bachao Andolan Samiti are putting up protests against these
projects.

8. A plea to the government
• Instead of going on with these plans, government should
look out for alternate sources of energy in the form of wind
power, solar power and biomass energy or lowering power
transmission loss which stands at 30-40%.
• Mr G.D Agarwal has asked 125km stretch starting at Gangotri
to be left pristine and unharmed, possibly outside the reach
of the government.

9. • Read detailed report on The Damming Of Ganga- A
Dangerous Maneuver on http://bit.ly/KdmHLp