In a breather for GVK group company Alaknanda Hydro Power Co (AHPC), the Supreme Court has allowed the construction of the R3,675-crore Srinagar hydel project in Uttarakhand without any hindrance.
A bench headed by justice Dalveer Bhandari, while seeking reply from Anuj Joshi and Bharat Jhunjhunwala, the petitioners before the Uttarakhand High Court, said: ?We make it clear that the construction of the dam may go on without any hindrance. However, during the interregnum period, public hearing by the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) as directed by the high Court, shall remain stayed.?
GVK, which wants to raise the height of the dam from 63 metres to 90 metres, was given the task of completion of the Srinagar hydel project by the previous Congress government in 2006 after the project remained suspended for around 25 years.
Challenging the Uttarakhand High Court judgment that asked the MoEF to give a public hearing on this issue, AHPC said that the high court had ignored the two other important aspects of the project ? that it was mooted way back in 1981 by the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board and all the clearances for 200 MW and 330 MW were already accorded.
?The delay of the project has very wide ramification on public exchequer as the project originally envisaged with the estimate of R144.18 crore had substantially increased to a tune of approved project cost of R3,675 crore as on date,? it said.
The high court had also asked GVK not to construct the dam beyond 63 metres, for which the ministry had given the approval in 1985.
Joshi and Jhunjhunwala had moved the high court alleging that AHPCL did not seek necessary environmental clearance from MoEF for enhancing the capacity of the project from 200 Mw to 330 MW.
They had argued that the changes could pose a serious threat to the villages and the religious centers in vicinity of the dam.
