NGT exposes serious lapses in Bijli Mahadev ropeway project in Kullu

In a significant hearing that casts serious doubt on the environmental and procedural propriety of the Bijli Mahadev ropeway project in Kullu, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has flagged alarming violations in the proposed 2.4-km ropeway project during hearing of the case on December 9. The tribunal’s observations, based on two combined Original Applications (OAs), reveal a project marred by the absence of critical assessments, disputed forest clearances and the stunning revelation of a forged no-objection certificate.

The NGT bench, chaired by Justice Prakash Shrivastava, took serious note of the project’s setting in a region of extreme environmental vulnerability. Then, the respondent authorities made a startling admission before the tribunal. When questioned about the Detailed Project Report (DPR)—a fundamental document for any infrastructure project—the counsel for the state of Himachal Pradesh and HP SPCB stated that there is no separate DPR, claiming the feasibility report itself serves as one.

The NGT noted that this very feasibility report is incomplete. While it lists various appendices from page 407 onward, these critical supporting documents have not been placed on record. This renders the project’’s planning and impact assessment grossly unclear and incomplete, a grave regulatory failure.

The most damning revelations concern the forest clearance process. Contradicting earlier claims by project authorities, the applicants presented evidence that the settlement of forest rights under the Forest Rights Act is far from complete. While the rights of 14 villages are affected, proceedings indicate only four villages have been settled.

Shockingly, the NGT was informed that the No Objection Certificate (NOC) related to forest rights is forged. A police report has already been filed in this regard, a fact documented on the OA. This allegation of document forgery strikes at the heart of the project’’s legitimacy and suggests a brazen attempt to bypass mandatory legal protections for forest-dwelling communities.

The tribunal referred to the project’s own feasibility report, which admits that the location is in Seismic Zone-V, highly prone to landslides, and with the valley station adjacent to the Beas, requiring special flood protection.

The counsel for the applicants highlighted that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has classified the region under the even higher-risk Seismic Zone-VI. Despite these self-admitted and updated red flags, the NGT found that the requisite detailed assessments, structural stability plans and safety measures to mitigate these natural occurrences have not been adequately carried out or presented.

Faced with these serious allegations — the lack of a proper DPR despite seismic and landslide risks, an incomplete feasibility study, unresolved forest rights, and a forged NOC — the NGT has directed the state of Himachal Pradesh to examine and respond to all issues within three weeks.

The case, now listed for January 13, 2026, has escalated from a routine environmental challenge to a probe into potential procedural fraud and gross negligence.