Alarm bells ring for Ganga Glacial River Alaknanda Drying Up Due To Power Projects D S Kunwar | TNN Nainital: What price for electricity? Alaknanda,

Alarm bells ring for Ganga
Glacial River Alaknanda Drying Up Due To Power Projects
D S Kunwar | TNN

Nainital: What price for electricity? Alaknanda, the majestic glacial river from the high Himalayas that gives Bhagirathi its immense volume and turns it into the Ganga, is drying up in large swathes (from six to 26 km) even before it meets the Bhagirathi at Devprayag, raising deep concerns about the future of India’s holiest river.
Alaknanda, which once sliced through the Lambagar area, just below the 400 mw Vishnu Prayag hydroelectric power project in Chamoli, doesn’t flow there any more. Reason: Heavy construction work for a hydroelectric project has forced it to change its course.
Environmentalists warn that a delicate ecological balance in the area has been gravely imperilled and say that at least 30-km-long riverbeds along the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi have begun to dry up.
In the case of Alaknanda, the tragedy unfolded soon after the Uttarakhand government cleared the construction of a 12-km-long tunnel and a four-storeyed hydro-electric project in Chamoli about two years ago.
Apparently, the explosives used to build the project in the nearby river area and the debris of the construction material played a major role in the drying up of the riverbed.
“This is killing the flora and fauna of the region,’’ says Dehradun-based senior scientist, N Ravi Chopra, who conducted a detailed research on the major causes of the drying up of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi riverbeds.
The story at Maneri Bhali village in Uttarkashi district, which Chopra has identified as seriously damaged and dry, is no different.
The fate of its 10-km stretch along the Bhagirathi riverbed was sealed by large quantities of debris of construction material for constructing a power-house and other buildings for another 400-mw project.
“These dry stretches run for at least 20km from the construction site. The river thereafter begins to revive when other streams and rivulets join it,’’ said Chopra.