[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
DAM-L LS: Tehri: VHP Threatens Fast (fwd)
----- Forwarded message from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net -----
Return-path: <owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net>
Received: from DaVinci.NetVista.net (mjdomo@mail.netvista.net [206.170.46.10])
by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) with ESMTP id PAA04925
for <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>; Mon, 26 Mar 2001 15:20:12 -0500 (EST)
From: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
Received: [(from mjdomo@localhost)
by DaVinci.NetVista.net (8.10.0/8.8.8) id f2QK3J608815
for irn-narmada-list; Mon, 26 Mar 2001 12:03:19 -0800 (PST)
(envelope-from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net)]
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 12:03:19 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200103262003.f2QK3J608815@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
Subject: LS: Tehri: VHP Threatens Fast
Sender: owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk
The Hindu, Delhi, March 24, 2001
Singhal threatens fast against Tehri dam
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, MARCH 23. Mr. Ashok Singhal, Vishwa Hindu
Parishad leader, has threatened to go on an indefinite fast by the
month- end "in defence of the Ganges'' and "to protest against the
Tehri dam.''
The point being made is that the Government has plans to block the
waters of the Bhagirathi to fill the reservoir behind the 270-metre
high dam. "It is the water of the Bhagirathi which gives the Ganges its
purity, and not the streams like the Alakananda. And if the Bhagirathi
flow is stopped, Ganges will no longer be what it is,'' he said.
Swami Chinmayanand, another VHP star who is also a BJP MP, said
that "Mr. Singhal will not be alone when he fasts, many `sadhus' and
`sants' (Hindu priests) will join him.''
Mr. Singhal said he brought this ``important matter'' to the notice of
the Prime Minister, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and others. He
blamed the bureaucracy for taking the decision to block the flow of
the Bhagirathi. He stated that work on the dam, "which will also
increase the risk of earthquakes in the region'', has gathered speed
over the last three years (which is since the Vajpayee Government
was installed at the Centre). He did not want to blame the BJP
leadership directly, instead he chose to attack the bureaucracy.
Although the VHP has only made a few noises about the Tehri dam
earlier, Mr. Singhal claimed that the organisation has not just woken
up when the project is nearing completion but had been protesting for
the last 15 years.
The `dharam sansad' organised by the VHP at the recent Kumbh
Mela in Allahabad had also passed a resolution on the subject
opposing the Tehri dam.
-----------------
The Tribune, Chandigarh, March 26, 2001
New turn to Tehri dam row, VHP to start protest
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service
Dehra Dun, March 25
The Tehri dam project has come in for fresh
controversy after the announcement of
the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday in New
Delhi to launch an indefinite
protest against changing the course of the Ganga.
The VHP President, Mr Ashok
Singhal will start an indefinite fast from March
30 this year on the site of the dam at Tehri in Uttaranchal.
Since long, the environmentalists have been
apprehending submergence of the
surrounding area of the proposed Tehri dam in the
event of a quake. Gandhi
satyagrahis led by noted environmentalist
Sunderlal Bahuguna have been trying
unsuccessfully to stop the construction of the
dam. Last year the VHP joined hands
with Bahuguna to change the views of the Union
Government by pegging the issue to
the ideology of Hindutva by saffronising the
issue. They have been campaigning to save the Ganga from the
onslaught of the dam.
Although, the VHP has altered the very character
of the whole movement of environmentalists but indirectly has given a boost
to Bahuguna's campaign, conducted almost single-handedly focusing on human
and environmental issues.
According to Bahuguna, the blasting of the rocks
for cutting tunnels through the mountains had severely weakened the
rocks in and
around Tehri, a fact borne out by unprecedented landslides in the
Garhwal region of
Uttaranchal. Take any road from Dehra Dun or Rishikesh to the upper
Himalayas and
consider yourself lucky if you come out unscathed.
The local residents fear that the surrounding
mountains, that form a natural wall around the dam have been weakened
by the blasts
and felling of trees. They may not be able to protect the
260.5-meter-high water
filled dam over 43 sq km if hit by severe earthquake. Unfortunately,
if it happens
the water will flood downstream regions within a matter or minutes submerging
dozens of villages and thousands of acres of land.
The trend in the developed countries now is to
build small hydro-power projects in order to minimise environmental
and human damage.
Bahuguna has also been campaigning towards the same end, but the national
policy makers have given no response.
The Tehri dam project has been mired in
controversy since its very inception. The dam site was identified in
1949, a period when big
dams were considered key to India's development. The spadework began in 1961
and the Planning Commission cleared the project in 1972. But the Rajmata of
Tehri-Garhwal protested against the dam in Parliament.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to majordomo@netvista.net
with no subject and the following text in the body of the message
"unsubscribe irn-narmada".
----- End of forwarded message from owner-irn-narmada@netvista.net -----