Government does a volte face, scraps Bhagirathi dam project

Within a month of approving the 600 MW Loharinag Pala dam on the Bhagirathi River, a major source of the Ganges in Uttarakhand, the government has decided to scrap the project.  The volte face came after the intervention of the Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Citing ecological impact, the government's concern for religious sentiments attached to the river, and the demand for unbroken flow (aviral jaldhara), union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh together announced that the controversial project would be wound up. 

The decision to shut down the hydroelectric project was taken by the same three-member group of ministers - Shinde, Ramesh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee - who recommended in June that the dam could not be scrapped due to the financial implications involved, as Rs650 crore have already been spent on it and shutting it down would be too expensive. 

But with the Congress high command intervening in the matter, the three met again on Friday morning and reversed the decision.

In a press release issued late in the evening, the two ministers said that though the GoM had recommended continuation of work, the prime minister held consultations with a wide range of people and asked the GoM to review the project from the environmental, financial and social points of view. 

A scientific committee earlier had already pointed out that it was technical possible to shut down the project mid-way though it would require some more expenses to be ploughed to make the unfinished construction safe in the seismically active area.