Something unimaginable happened last Wednesday in the western Himalayas. River Bhagirathi actually stopped and retreated because the gates of two tunnels were shut due to construction activity on the Tehri dam.

The ancient bridge which links the hill-town of Tehri to the world beyond, might submerge in the days to come, as the apocalyptic waters of a blocked Bhagirathi rises. The fifth largest dam in the world, covering an area of 45 sq kms in the Bhagirathi and Bhilangana valley of Tehri Garhwal, is set to submerge thousands of hectares of fertile land and displace over a lakh people. Tehri’s 14,000-odd residents will be the first to be hit as the bridge goes under water. And it is not incidental that the poorest of the poor, the Valmiki Dalits, have been the first to be uprooted.

The authorities are adamant that the project will generate much needed power in an electricity-starved state. However, certain questions have never been satisfactorily answered and continue to stalk the multi-crore project. Half of the ousted people in Tehri still do not have alternate homes or workplaces. Thousands of villagers are estimated to be uprooted. Where will they be rehabilitated? Where is the fertile land (near a river) that they will inherit? Those resettled in the plains have often been transplanted on barren lands. Most have been forced into cultural alienation and abject poverty. Many returned to their roots. In a country which does not have an effective rehabilitation policy (as seen in the case of the Sardar Sarovar Project), it’s certain that a gigantic tragedy awaits the uprooted people of Garhwal.

The 260.5 metre high dam is located in an active seismic zone in the fragile and young Himalayan ecology. Between 1816 and 1991, 17 quakes have hit the region. Eminent seismologist Vinod Gaur has repeatedly appealed that the dam could lead to dangerous consequences. The International Commission on Large Dams has declared the site “extremely hazardous”. If a quake of magnitude 8 on the Richter scale or more hits the dam, Rishikesh could drown in 63 minutes flat, followed by Hardwar. In February 1980, the Central Environmental Appraisal Committee went on record: “Taking into consideration the geological and social impacts accompanying the project... the Tehri project should not be taken up as it does not merit environmental clearance.” The clock, it seems, won’t be turned back. But for the local people, it could be a time bomb that goes on ticking.