Expressing displeasure over environment ministry’s dilly-dallying tactics, the Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the Centre three months to conduct a thorough feasibility study for construction of six hydropower projects on the Alaknanda and Bhagirath river basins in Uttarakhand.
The six projects are THDC’s 08-MW Jhelum Tamak, NTPC’s 171-MW Lata Tapovan, Super Hydro’s Khironi Ganga and Bhyundar Ganga, NHPC’s 195-MW Kotibhel-IA, and GMR’s 300-MW Alaknanda Badrinath.
A bench, headed by Justice Dipak Misra, rejected the government’s plea for six months’ time for the feasibility assessment after senior counsel Amarender Saran, appearing for the state government, Vikas Singh, appearing for NTPC, and others objected to the time-frame.
The court, however, said it will not allow any project till the Centre clears its stand. “They are not clearing their projects… we will not pre-empt them. We will allow them to do further enquiry… The Union of India has to take a stand on liability, sustainability, acceptability and environmental clearances,” the bench said.
It also asked the government to clarify its stand on viability of the projects within three months and asked it to file an affidavit by June 23 to apprise the court of the progress made so far.
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