Joshimath, a hill town of about 20,000 people in Uttarakhand is sinking. Wide cracks are splitting roads. Buildings are tilting and collapsing as the land beneath them shifts. And people are being evacuated in a hurry.
Now the technical term for what’s happening is land subsidence. Think of it like the ground simply giving up one day and collapsing under your feet. (View Highlight)
And that’s possibly the main culprit in Joshimath too — the Tapovan Vishnugad Hydro Power Project by government-owned NTPC. (View Highlight)
See, harnessing water isn’t very easy. Especially in the mountains. You need to tame the river by setting up massive dams first. You need underground tunnels to transport water to gigantic power stations that do the heavy lifting. You have to construct pathways for heavy construction vehicles to pass through. You have to dig deep wells and desilting chambers to handle sand sediments and wastewater. (View Highlight)
And to set all of this up, you need to drill into the hills. And if it’s not done right, it can puncture aquifers — rocks that contain groundwater — and disturb the land underneath our feet. (View Highlight)
For instance, the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh is the highest producer of hydropower in the country today. But it’s worth noting that nearly 97.50% of the total geographical area of the state is actually prone to landslides. This means that at least 1 in 4 hydropower stations are constantly under threat of falling mountains and debris. (View Highlight)
So a couple of years ago, Him Dhara, an environmental research and action collective, decided to conduct an in-depth investigation into what was going on in the Himalayas. They spent time between 2011 and 2018 studying and documenting the various hydropower projects in the Himachal region. And they found problems that will shock you. (View Highlight)
See, in a bid to set up projects quickly, environment clearances were hastily doled out. There wasn’t enough assessment done on the eco-vulnerability. And even when studies were conducted, they were quickly glossed over saying that any ‘hurdles’ and ‘surprises’ would be dealt with as and when they occurred. Mitigation and sustainability weren’t front and centre of these projects. Apparently, even the Himachal Directorate of Energy and State Disaster Management Authority turned a blind eye to regulating and monitoring these projects. (View Highlight)
A parliamentary committee had recommended that all hydroelectricity projects above 25 MW would also be considered “renewable”. And we know that ‘renewable’ projects get a lot of subsidies. A discount that generates massive profits in the hands of developers. Meanwhile, the brunt of this cost is borne by the ecology and people living in the region. (View Highlight)
See, as far back as 1976, the Mishra Commission told us that Joshimath was in a precarious situation. It asked to stop heavy construction in the area. But we didn’t listen. (View Highlight)
Then in 2006, we had another report from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology which pointed out the shoddy state of the drainage system in the town. And said that alone could affect the soil. It could lead to an eventual collapse. But no one paid heed to that as well. (View Highlight)
And in 2013, a committee appointed by the Supreme Court warned that hydropower projects were a significant hazard in Uttarakhand. But looks like the warning fell on deaf ears. (View Highlight)
