Haryana shelves dam project
By Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 26 — The decks have been cleared for the construction of Amravati Enclave on the banks of the Kaushalya choe, near Chandimandir, with the Haryana Government deciding not to go in for a mega dam on the Ghaggar.

The Haryana Government's decision was conveyed to the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently in a case filed by the promoters of Amravati Enclave, which would be the first residential colonisation project to be undertaken by a private promoter in the vicinity of City Beautiful.

The Haryana Government informed the high court that the Ghaggar dam was not the interest of the state. Instead the Irrigation department has been asked to examine the viability of raising low-cost smaller dams for flood protection and providing drinking water to Panchkula.

However, the department has also been asked to keep in mind while preparing the feasibility report of the smaller dams that the Chandigarh-Kalka railway line and the national highway as well as the existing population is not dislocated.

In the first week of October last a high-level meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, to take the final decision about the Ghaggar dam.

Among others who were present at the meeting were the Minister of State for Public Health, Mr Jaswant Singh Bawal; the Financial Commissioner, PWD, Mr L.M. Goyal; the then Financial Commissioner, Public Health, Mrs Komal Anand; the then Commissioner, Irrigation, Mr S.Y. Quraishi, and the Commissioner and Secretary, Town and Country Planning, Mr S.C. Choudhary.

The Engineers-in-Chief of the Public Works department, the Public Health department and the Irrigation department were also present besides the Chief Town Planner of the state.

Mr Quraishi, who initiated the discussion, told the meeting that the Ghaggar dam was originally conceived in 1850 and the survey of the project was carried out by the Irrigation department of Punjab before the formation of Haryana.

The present cost of the project would be Rs 500 crore. While the dam, he said, would provide irrigation and drinking water to Chandigarh and Punjab besides controlling floods in the Ghaggar basin, no benefit of irrigation had been envisaged for Haryana.

The Commissioner, Town and Country Planning was of the view that the project would submerge 4,161 acres of land besides the population of 13 villages and other colonies numbering nearly 50,000. The proposed canal for carrying water to Chandigarh would have to pass through Chandimandir cantonment for which prior approval of the Defence ministry was required. The project, he said, would also dislocate the Ambala-Shimla national highway and the Chandigarh-Kalka railway line. For this dislocation as well prior approval of the Ministry of Surface Transport and the Ministry of Railways was required.

Perhaps what clinched the issue against the dam was the assertion made by the then Engineer-in-Chief, Public Health, Mr S.S. Bola, that the Ghaggar water was not fit for drinking purposes.

He said the Ghaggar water, highly polluted by the effluent of industries located in Himachal Pradesh, would be a costly proposition to make it fit for human consumption.

It was pointed out at the meeting by Mr Quaraishi that in view of all these aspects and the fact that no formula had yet been worked out for sharing the cost and benefits among the three participating governments of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, the project might not take off. He said the experience of the SYL canal was a pointer in this regard.

The Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation, Mr M.G. Thukral, objected to the dam by saying that it would affect adversely the water availability for irrigation purposes from the Ottu distribution head in Sirsa district.

The Chief Minister said the state was not in a position, nor it should, go in for mega dams because it was a costly proposition to shift and relocate a large population and public utilities. He directed the Irrigation department to examine the viability of low-cost smaller dams.

Residents of the villages which would have been affected by the dam have heaved a sigh of relief after the government decided to abandon the project. The sarpanch of Chandimandir, Mr Dyal Singh, said the government had removed the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. It was no longer practical to implement a project envisaged nearby 150 years ago. The ground reality had undergone a sea change since then. He said the construction of a residential colony in the area would go a long way in its development.

The Haryana Government had granted a colonisation licence to the promoters of Amravati Enclave in 196. However, the promoters were asked to stop construction by the Bansi Lal Government, compelling them to move the high court.

When contacted Mr Kul Bhushan Goyal, Managing Director, of the Amar Nath Aggarwal Investments Private Limited, the promoter company of the colony, said the development work of the colony had started following the withdrawal of notices in the high court by the government.

Mr Goyal said the company was building a bridge over the Kaushalaya choe at a cost of over Rs 1 crore which would be an all-weather passage to the residents of four marooned villages of Bhagwanpur, Islam Nagar, Pallowal and Rampur Sheori, besides indirectly benefiting several villages.