Villagers question logic behind giving water to Delhi by submerging Himachals forests Residents of 37 villages in Sirmour district are up in arms against the upcoming Renuka Dam project aimed to supply drinking water to Delhi,as it will submerge or severely affect all these villages in the 24-kilometre area between Dadahu and Khairi. The 786 identified families to be displaced by the project have challenged the environment impact assessment and environment management plan,on the basis of which the government has decided to go ahead with the project. They have demanded a fresh survey for these reports and a public hearing by an independent agency. Besides,environment activists and experts have raised a question on the viability of the project in the long term and the logic behind supplying water from Himachal to Delhi. Himanshu Thakkar,a water expert of the South Asia Network on Dams,Rivers and People,said: Delhi has reduced the Yamuna to a sewer. It cannot harvest rainwater and is suffering from 40 per cent distribution losses. If these losses are plugged,Delhi can generate much more water than what Renuka Dam can supply. He also stressed for rehabilitation of the affected families on the pattern of Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada valley,where every family was given 5 acres and every person above 18 years was treated as a separate family unit. The Renuka Dam Relief and Rehabilitation Plan does not talk of agricultural land and the displaced people would only be offered houses in a colony,near Paonta,says Manshi Asher of NGO Himalaya Neeti Abhiyaan. They were speaking at a special screening of a film on adverse impacts of Renuka Dam and voices of people who are resisting it. A study report on the impacts of Renuka Dam Dispossessing Mountain Communities : Who will pay for Delhis water which is supported by the Peoples Action for People in Need,a Sirmaur based NGO,was also released on Sunday. The other questions raised in the report prepared by Nidhi Agarwal and Prakash Bhandari of the Environment Research and Action Collective relate to pending forest department clearance,social impact assessment and options assessment study,without which the HPPCL has initiated the land acquisition process. Sanjay Kumar of Dadahu says: We are dependent on agriculture and livestock-rearing,and earn approximately Rs 40,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh per bigha from our fertile land. The dam will cause huge livelihood losses,besides destroying the social and cultural fabric of the Giri valley villages. More than 2,200 hectares of land in four tehsils of Sirmour district will be acquired for the project and almost 60 per cent of this will be submerged. Guman Singh of Himalya Neeti Abhiyaan said: The state governments talk of environment protection seems a farce,as it has not questioned the need for supplying water to Delhi by submerging its own forests,fertile land,sanctuary area and displacing wildlife.
