NGO ups the ante against Luhri project

Tribune News Service

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Shimla, August 26

Even as the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVNL) claims that it has taken NOCs from the panchayats affected by the Luhri power project, the Himdhara Collective, NGO, on Sunday asked the expert committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) to consider a Cumulative Environment Impact Assessment (CEIA) for the individual project on the the Sutlej before it grants environment clearance to the 219 MW Luhri stage-I project.

As the MOEF is taking up the matter of environment clearance to the Luhri stage-1 on August 28, the NGO has upped its ante against the SJVNL.

Its chief managing director NL Sharma termed the NGO’s demands as baseless, saying, “Now, no tunnel is being constructed in the projects. Three power projects have been planned. So there is no chance of the river going dry all NOCs will be acquired as per norms”.

But Manshi Asher and Yogesh Upadhyay from the NGO demanded that the MEOF should study the over-all impact of the three projects put together rather than considering each project in a singular way.

It further claimed the SJVNL would acquire 654.02 hectares, which is twice the size of the land that was being acquired for the 750 MW Luhri project, which was abandoned on the ecological concerns.