A couple of proposed special economic zones (SEZs), both in private and government sectors, in Uttarakhand may not see the light of day mainly due to unfavourable market conditions.

Though Parsvanath and other private players have discarded their SEZ proposals, the state government is also not too keen in this regard. Officials here claimed that private players are not finding market conditions conducive to setting up of SEZs. Parsavanath was building SEZ at Sahastradhara Raod here. [more]

Suresh Bhai, a Dalit social and environment activist, is the founder and chairperson of Himalya Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan, Uttarkashi. He is involved with various campaigns that demand a reconsideration of the plan to build over 300 hydel projects in Uttarakhand. Bharat Dogra spoke to Suresh Bhai as protests against the projects gain ground:

How did you get involved in the issue of dam construction?

We were involved in the protection of trees movement called Raksha Sutra (symbolised by women tying sacred threads on trees) and preparing a protective water policy for the newly created state. We had a forum called Jal Sanskriti Manch and teams of street theatre groups performed in various parts of the state to highlight the need to protect water. Projects like Tehri and Maneri Bhali had caused great damage in our vicinity. We noticed that at the time of the earthquake most people perished in those villages where land had been destabilised by explosions done for dam construction. So when dam construction work escalated, the issue became a priority for people and, therefore, for us. [more]

Uttarakhand politicians have been gradually earning the reputation of degrading the level of politics in the state. The region that has produced stalwarts like Gobind Ballabh Pant and Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna has been witnessing mudslinging over the past decade since its inception and such mudslinging bouts are being carried out in the name of political battles. [more]

AN INDEFINITE fast and protests are back at Loharinag Pala dam site on the Bhagirathi river, a key tributary of the Ganga in Uttarakhand, as the government decided to revive a 600 MW hydroelectric project on the recommendations of a Group of Ministers (GoM).

The GoM said the dam, when complete, should operate only for six months in a year and release 16 cubic metres (cumecs) of water into the main river. Construction of Loharinag Pala dam began in 2007 and was suspended last year. [more]

Munsyari in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand is the last small town before the Nepal-Tibet border. It is here that Malika Virdi, a well-known mountaineer, social worker and sarpanch till January 2010, has chosen to live amongst the local folk.

It needs courage, character and idealism to forsake urban comfort and move to such a beautiful, but harsh place. Yet coming as an outsider to a remote village, Malika has taken up women’s and environmental issues and is working towards bringing a change in the lives of the womenfolk.

Claude Arpi and Abha Tewari discover a lady who left the city for the mountains and is tackling the problems confronting the locals as her own. Continuing our series on Extraordinary Indians. [more]

In a pine-scented Himalayan valley, Sushila Devi is a reluctant soldier in India’s new war over water. Her village, Pipola, sits just southeast of the Tehri Dam, which bestrides one of the precursors of the Ganges River and is India’s largest hydropower project. Since the dam was completed in 2006, the natural spring that once fed Pipola has dried up. Several times a day, Devi drapes a red sari above her blue eyes, hoists a 2.5-gal. (10 L) brass vessel atop her head and walks to the nearest hand pump. There, she and the other women of Pipola spend two or three hours a day, sometimes more, locked in low-intensity combat. “We have to go to the next village,” she says. “Oh, how angry they get. They fight. We wait.” [more]

NEW DELHI: More than 100 hydroelectric projects planned by the Uttarakhand government are in jeopardy. The Union environment and forests ministry’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has decided not to give forest clearance to any of the proposed projects until the National Ganga River Basin Authority conducts a cumulative impact assessment study of all proposed dams.

Uttarakhand has planned to build 300 small and large dams on the various tributaries of the Ganga to tap the hydel potential of the state. The FAC has decided not to allow even one dam to proceed unless the total impact of all proposed dams is studied. [more]

Uttarakhand may be the perfect getaway for those wanting to escape the scorching summer.

But the state’s chief minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, is feeling the heat even in the cool climes of the hill state.

He is under the scanner for allegedly changing the land use of a 15- acre industrial plot worth Rs 400 crore and handing it over to a real estate developer close to the ruling BJP for a paltry Rs 13 crore. In addition to this, the chief minister is understood to have waived the land- use change fee. [more]

After not finding favours in his home state, Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has now decided to discuss the concept of Special Agriculture Zones (SAZs) with the Centre.

With the state government showing little enthusiasm to declare the new agriculture policy, Rawat has now decided to send a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh detailing about the benefits of SAZ, which was conceptualised to protect farmlands and achieving food security. The Uttarakhand agriculture and horticulture departments are implementing SAZ as a pilot project in three blocks —- Raipur in Dehra Dun district, Pokhra in Pauri and Kotabagh in Nainital. [more]

DEHRADUN: Rampant quarrying along rivers — in wilful violation of Supreme Court directives in 2009 — is threatening Uttarakhand’s fragile ecosystem. After the SC directive, the Union environment ministry had set conditions for all states before quarrying along riversides, which included permission for doing so from the ministry. The Uttarakhand government sought permission in June 2009 from the environment ministry, was denied, and so took the issue to the SC. The SC referred the matter to the Uttarakhand HC, which is yet to pronounce a judgement but has imposed a stay on all quarrying. [more]