Stabbing the mountains

In May 2003, the Centre launched the 50,000 MW hydroelectric initiative as a step forward to tap the near 78 per cent unutilised hydropower potentials in the country. In all 162 new hydroelectric projects across 16 Indian states were proposed and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation was identified as the nodal agency for execution.
The North-east topped the list with 76 hydroelectric projects proposed across Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, which on completion would alone generate 31,885 MW power.
The ten projects proposed in Sikkim, as estimated, would yield 1,469 MW energy. All these projects were envisaged in the river Teesta and its tributaries. The Teesta, with a 7,755 square km catchment area, traverses a 414 km distance cutting across Sikkim, parts of Darjeeling hills and the plains of Jalpaiguri before submerging into the mighty Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.
Four years down the line, now in 2007, of the ten proposed hydroelectric projects, the Teesta stage-V is near completion, Teesta stage-IV is under survey and investigation, while another five projects in north Sikkim have been stalled due to agitation by the ethnic Lepcha community.
Two other hydroelectric projects in the Teesta basin, located in Darjeeling district bordering Sikkim - the Teesta Low Dam Project-III & IV - are under construction. Both the TLDP III & IV are coming up alongside National Highway 31A that connects Sikkim with the rest of the country, via Siliguri.
As is the case with big hydropower projects elsewhere in the country, conservationists had vehemently opposed the river taming projects in the Teesta. They demanded scrapping of the TLDP III & IV at the very conceptual stage, arguing that the hydropower projects would result in large-scale damage to the natural environment and would put an adverse impact on the lives of surrounding habitants.
However, giving a damn to the environmental concerns and twisting the rules and norms, the NHPC ultimately managed to get the go-ahead signal from the Union ministry of environment and forests.
As was apprehended by conservationists, construction of the two hydropower projects, coupled with other factors, have now started taking their toll on the overall natural environment, both in Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills.

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