Shimla : The proposed Rs 3,600 crore Renuka dam project in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district received a setback as the national green tribunal ordered the Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited(HPPCL) to stay all acquisition process under the land acquisition act.
The tribunal was hearing a petition by a local man who challanged the environmental clearances awarded to the project in October 2009.
The order was passed Thursday after councel Ritwik Dutta argued that the environment impact assessment(EIA) report for the project was totally inadequate.
Also there were severe discrepencies in the figures of the total area to be acquired for the project and the total number of families to be affected the project.
The EAI report, the environment clearance letter and the affidavit filed by HPPCL in the court has three different sets of data.
While the environment clearance(EC) was granted for 1477 hectares of land the the HPPCL claims that total land for the project is 2239 hectares.There is also a difference in the number of families affected.
So how can the project be given clearances when the baseline data is basent or false, the court asked.
The storage project of the Renuka project proposes to supply water to Delhi.It has been declared a national project and the Central and Delhi governments will fund the project.Himachal will only build the 40 Mw hydro electric project.
In a 20 year career published widely. He has worked for the BBC, AFP, The Statesman, IANS and the Business Standard . Known for his hard hitting writing and occasional off-beat stories. He lives in Shimla.
