Is Uttarakhand eco plan for Bhagirathi a sham? Water ministry smells a rat

NEW DELHI: The Union ministry of water resources has raised questions about the public hearings held by the Uttarakhand government with villagers while drafting the zonal master plan for the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone (ESZ). In a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) last week, the ministry said it had received several complaints about how the hearings were conducted, and whose views actually heard.

For instance, according to the report, a few stakeholders have alleged that “contractors” posing as local villagers participated in the hearings. The report has not been reviewed by the NGT yet.

“The 2012 ESZ notification clearly states that the zonal master plan should be prepared in consultation with locals, particularly women. From the master plan prepared by the Uttarakhand government, it appears that it has mainly been a department exercise and not in consultation with villagers,” a senior ministry official told TOI.


The ministry’s report comes against a backdrop of objections raised by the Uttarakhand government to several clauses in the ESZ notification. Under pressure from the NGT, the Uttarakhand government did prepare a zonal master plan, but, according to a recent affidavit submitted by the water ministry to the green panel, it is in “conflict” with the ESZ notification.

For example, Uttarakhand wants a relaxation in the restriction on hydel plants with a capacity of over 2MW (to below 25MW), besides permission for commercial riverbed mining and the construction of roads on the stretch.

The report follows an NGT order directing the ministry to hold meetings with all the stakeholders to the plan — the locals, the Uttarakhand government, and the ministry of environment and forests – to discuss the draft prepared by the state for the implementation of the ESZ notification.

In its report, the water ministry has pointed out that the stretch from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi -- which will comprise the ESZ -- is particularly important for the streams that originate there. About 52% of the water in the Bhagirathi is contributed by the streams, several of which are drying up.

It has said that the destruction caused by the 2013 flashfloods in Uttarakhand was amplified by the hydropower projects in the Assi Ganga area, which is why the ESZ notification barred hydel plants of a higher capacity.

The ministry has recommended that the view of locals, particularly the women, be taken again by a group comprising climatologists, biodiversity experts, geomorphologists and others, and the zonal plan drafted afresh. “It has been communicated to the NGT that the state’s zonal master plan may not be sustainable. If at all its master plan is to be implemented, the 2012 ESZ notification will have to be amended after a discussion in Parliament. The notification has force of law,” the ministry official said.