RFSTE Statement on the Supreme Court Ruling on Tehri DamFrom Water Wars To Water Democracy on1st Sept. 2003

The Tehri dam has been getting constructed in spite of a Supreme Court case challenging the construction on the grounds of social justice and environmental sustainability. The Supreme Court decision of the 1st September 2003, to clear the dam in spite of all the evidence of human rights and environmental violations, means a white-washing of these violations. The judgment by the Bench of Justice S. Rajendra Babu, D.M. Dharmadhikari and G.P. Mathur was not immediately made available. The court, by a 2:1 majority verdict, said petitioner N.D. Jayal had neither established nor placed any material to show that the project work was carried out without complying with the environmental norms and guidelines.

There are 5 reasons why the dam construction should stop:

No Rehabilitation

Over 1 lakh people already displaced, especially women and widows, have yet to be rehabilitated and compensated. Members of the Mahila Vishapit Morcha were in Delhi on the 9th and 10th August to inform the media and peoples’ representatives about the failure of the rehabilitation.

Displacement for Privatization

The tragedy of displaced people is a double tragedy because not only have they been uprooted from their ancestral homes, the benefits of the Tehri Dam will go to Suez. Suez is the world’s biggest water MNC, and is building the Sonia Vihar plant. This water treatment plant will receive 635 million liters of Ganga water daily, which they will sell in Delhi.

Killing of the Ganga

The Tehri Dam impounding the Ganges water has already lead to a decline in flows of the river during the lean session. The Har-ki-Pauri ran dry in this summer and in Banaras one could cross the Ganga on foot during the summer. This decline of flow has serious implications for increased pollution load and slowing down recharge. It also threatens spiritual and cultural heritage of India.

Inducing Earthquakes

Seismicity (earthquake) due to the dam is a real threat given the amount of stored energy in the Himalayas. The earthquake of 1991, with its epicenter near Maneri Dam on Bagirathi River, upstream of Tehri, should serve as a warning to us all. The majority ruling has ignored the precautionary principle, and has turned a blind eye to the available evidence on dam-induced seismicity.

Inducing Floods

Even without earthquakes, the Tehri Dam poses the threat of flooding disasters. The Dam will become a mechanism for creating floods, just as the floods in Orissa which have submerged 3,50,000 villages were caused by the release of water from the Hirakund Dam.

The Prime Minister announced from the Red Fort on Independence Day that work on the 2 river links, Ken and Betwa, Parvati Kalisindh and Chambal, will begin by the end of 2003.

The river linking will not solve India’s water needs for many reasons, including:

The proposed river-linking project is supposed to reduce floods and droughts, but connecting river across basins will disturb the drainage and aggravate both floods and drought. The Ken has only 342 Million Cubic meters of water compared to the 1020 Million Cubic meters assumed for diversion. 10 villages have been displaced, inside the Paana National Park where the dam is been constructed on Ken for diversion. Banda will be denied water by the Ken-Betwa link, and 1,00,000 hectare of irrigation will suffer.

The failure of rehabilitation in Tehri, creation of floods in Hira Kund, and the false assumption of increased water availability through the river linking project demands the government rethink its policies related to dams and river linking.For all the above reasons the decision of Supreme Court in the Tehri Dam case must be reviewed.