Hydel power project threatening fresh water Wullar lake.... Srinagar, June 26 (KNN): In occupied Kashmir, villagers in the Bandipora district are apprehending a major disaster due to construction of the controversial Kishenganga hydel power project by India’s National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) in the area, says a report published in a local daily. So far the project, which is being implemented by Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), has polluted the waters of some of the major streams in the district rendering them unfit for drinking and unlivable for fish. The villagers said that apart from noise and dust pollution, the project is threatening one of Asia’s largest fresh water lakes, the Wullar Lake. A senior official at the HCC endorsed the villagers’ charges, saying that the construction is polluting streams and water resources of the district. “The HCC uses chemicals for a process called mucking which help in the construction of 23.50 km headrace tunnels to take water to three turbines (110 MW each) for generating 1,350 million units of energy a year. These chemicals are then disposed off in Madumati stream which flows directly in the Wullar,” the official said on the condition of anonymity. “It doesn’t matter in which stream they (HCC) are dumping these chemicals because every stream ends up in Wullar Lake. Just go and take a look, the waters of Bonyar stream are opaque, unfit for drinking and there is hardly any fish in it,” the villagers said. Meanwhile the Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to return power projects from NHPC to the Kashmiris. In a meeting chaired by Chairperson Professor Hameedah Nayeem, KCSDS members conveyed their profound dismay to the government of India (GOI) against massive exploitation of water resources of the territory by NHPC without having any regard for basic power requirements of the local population.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 06:07:01 +0000
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