THE CONTROVERSIAL 2400 mw Tehri
hydro electric project has run into fresh trouble with VHP and
other groups threatening to block work on the mega project
following Uttaranchal government's proposal to shut down on
March 31 two main tunnels that may submerge the Tehri village
completely.
In a new twist to the on-going controversy over the
rehabilitation of 12,000 people living around the dam,
chairman of Tehri municipal corporation(TMC) Vijay Singh
Panwar and dissident MLA from the area Lakhi Ram Joshi have
threatened to disrupt the work to shut down tunnels three and
four which are required for operationalising the first phase
of the mega project next year.
"We will oppose tooth and nail any attempt to shut down
two tunnels on March 31 that would submerge Tehri village
completely," Joshi and Panwar, who are leading the campaign
for the cause of people living around the dam, said here.
The government must first start building infrastructure
required to rehabilitate the people still living around the
dam, they said immediately after a high-level meeting of the
Centre and the state govt over the issue here yesterday.
With less than a week left for the state government's
deadline to shut down the two tunnels on March 31, VHP has
also chipped in with its opposition to build Tehri dam. Its
president Ashok Singhal has threatened to go on fast unto
death saying the dam would pollute the holy Ganga river.
