NEW DELHI: The Union environment and forests ministry has moved fast to commission two studies on the cumulative impacts of all the hydroelectric projects planned on Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers -- two key tributaries of the Ganga in Uttarakhand.
IIT Roorkee and the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, will carry out the comprehensive studies.
The institutes have been asked to determine the requirement of minimum flow from the proposed and already commissioned hydroelectric projects on these rivers in their entire stretch.
IIT Roorkee would address the issues of hydrology.
Its study will determine whether the acceptable limits of geomorphologic stability or of environmental sustainability, particularly of environmental flows, are likely to exceed at any small or large hydropower project sites. The IIT team will also assess if the construction of dams could reduce the water available to the people for irrigation and drinking purposes. The report will, most crucially, determine if restrictions should be placed on the development of hydropower in the Ganga basin.
The ministry also decided after a meeting in end June to study thoroughly the cumulative impact of the dams on the flora and fauna in the region. WII will carry out work on this. It has been asked to make a detailed investigation into the consequences of various hydroelectric projects on the riverine ecosystem, in general, and terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity, in particular, along with a review of the effectiveness of the mitigative measures and compliance of the stipulated conditions on which various projects have earlier been cleared.
While IIT will finalise its study in six months, WII will submit its report in two months.
The move comes after the ministry's Forest Advisory Committee refused to clear any new projects on the Ganga basin upwards of Haridwar until a cumulative assessment is conducted.
The ministry itself had got into a serious tangle with the power ministry after it decided to stop two key projects on Bhagirathi. It had to finally relent, after finance minister Pranab Mukherjee mediated, to allow the under-construction Loharinag Pala dam.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Studies-on-hydropower-projects-impact-on-2-Ganga-tributaries-commissioned/articleshow/6192803.cms
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