Recently, the responsibility to clean Ganga is given to HNB Garhwal University, in the presence of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. This is a good decision by the Government to keep the Ganga alive.
But life of the Ganga is primarily determined by her unrestricted flow. “The purity of Ganga is generated by its continuous flow” said by four Shankaracharyas (attached here). But Garhwal University is favor of constructing the hydropower projects over Ganga and thus destroying her life. On one side, the university is interrupting her natural flow by favoring the construction of Dams over Ganga, while on the other side they are signing the MoU for cleaning the Ganga.
EIA report of Kotlibhel B1 project, done by the University is a clear example of the role for the University in killing the uninterrupted flow of Ganga. According to the report, Professors of Forestry Department of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, say that there is no harm to the environment of Uttarakhand by the construction of Hydro-Power projects:
“The water environment of river Ganga and Nayar due to proposed project will have minor impact on the water or quality and aquatic fauna of temporary nature. The project is going to receive silt-free water from upstream reservoir and also the project is run of the river HE projects.”
Thus the University ignores the statement of the Shankaracharyas.
Attempts have been made by the University to hide many environmental, economic, water, human, atmospheric losses caused by this project. In the report, we can see that the Department of Forestry has not mentioned the following impacts of the project:
- Impacts on grazing from common and forest lands to be submerged are not assessed.
- No assessment of potential landslides due to creation of reservoir is given. No geological assessment of sandy flanks of River Alaknanda is given.
- Likely reduction in water flow due to recession of glaciers and global warming is not given.
- Reduction in oxygen content of water of River Alaknanda consequent to making of storage reservoir is not given.
- Contribution of Kotlibhel 1B reservoir to carbon emissions is not given. (Detailed information is present in the report)
It is the responsibility of the Garhwal University to study all the losses by the hydropower projects on the Ganga and tell people the right thing. In the table given below, we can see the status of hydropower projects approved in the Alaknanda River.
Dams proposed on River Alaknanda
| Name of Dam | Type of Dam | Capacity in MW | Length of reservoir | Length of Tunnel | Length of River Affected due to tunnel diversion | Total Length of River Affected |
| Badri Nath | Not Known | 260 | 1* | 10* | 13* | 14 |
| Vishnu-Prayag | Run of River | 400 | 1 | 11 | 14* | 15 |
| Vishnugad-Pipalkoti | Run of River | 444 | 1 | 13 | 18* | 19 |
| Bowala Nandprayag (under survey) | Run of River | 132 | 1* | 10* | 13* | 14 |
| Karn Prayag (under survey) | Run of River | Not known | 1* | 15* | 18* | 19 |
| Utyasu (under survey) | Not known | Not known | 1* | 15* | 18* | 19 |
| Srinagar (under survey) | Run of River | 330 | 5* | 15* | 20* | 25 |
| Kotlibhel-1B | Reservoir | 320 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 28 |
| Kotlibhel-II | Reservoir | 520 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 26 |
| Total | 63 | – | 116 | 179 |
From Badrinath, to Kodiyala, in distance of 270 km, the distance of 179 km will be covered by hydroelectric projects, and more other projects are also proposed for the future.
On one hand we are giving the responsibility of cleaning the Ganga to the University; on the other hand university professors are damaging the Ganga by promoting hydro power projects.
