NGOs call for ban on mega infra projects in Himalayas

Shimla, March 30

The People for Himalaya Campaign has demanded a complete moratorium on all mega infrastructure projects like dams, hydro projects, railway, four-lane highways, tunneling and transmission lines along with a review of the impact of the existing projects on environment.

Sixty-eight NGOs, working in the field of environment protection and climate change, adopted a demand charter ‘Towards Securing Himalayas from Disasters’ after an online brainstorming session on issues afflicting the Himalayan states and UTs of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Assam, Aruanchal Pradesh and Manipur.

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk addressed the participants, while seeking immediate measures to save the fragile Himalayan ecology form the ill-effects of mega projects.

“A top-down model of development and governance cannot work for the region, which has its unique topography, culture and lifestyle,” said Wangchuk who recently concluded his 21-day climate fast in Ladakh. He put forward the issue of marginalisation of the Himalayan voices at the national level and the need for Himalayan solidarity to raise the demands around decentralisation and democratisation of decision making for the well-being of mountains and its communities.

Guman Singh from Himalaya Niti Abhiyan and Atul Sati of Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti demanded a complete halt on mega infrastructure works like large dams, railway and four-lane projects, given the underground invasion and muck generation. “Be it the Beas floods or the land subsidence in Joshimath, these are all not natural disasters but man-made and policy-led disasters,” said Guman Singh.

The demand charter adopted laid thrust on democratic decision making through referendums and public consultation on large infrastructure projects. This, the participants, said could be done only by strengthening the Environment Impact Assessment Notification 1994 (Scrapping the EIA 2020 Amendments and FCA 2023 Amendments). The consent of Gram Sabhas should be to be mandatory for developmental projects, they emphasised. The activists demanded that terrain-specific disaster and climate risk studies and land susceptibility assessments be made mandatory for land use change for urbanisation, commercial development and public infrastructure construction.

Another demand was on the just implementation of the 2013 Right to Fair Compensation and Rehabilitation Act to ensure the participation of locals, civic bodies and Gram Sabhas in monitoring pollution and land use change works.

TOP-DOWN MODEL CANNOT WORK

A top-down model of development and governance cannot work for the region, which has its unique topography, culture and lifestyle. — Sonam Wangchuk, Climate activist