Get eco-friendly micro hydro units on board: Lok Vahini

BDKasniyal

Pithoragarh, December 30

Welcoming the Centre’s affidavit presented before the Supreme Court on not constructing mega hydro-electricity projects on Uttarakhand rivers, Uttarakhand Lok Vahini, a group of public activists in the state, has said the Centre should come forward with an idea to generate electricity from micro hydro units owned by local communities that do not have any adverse effects on the environment of the Himalayas.

In a letter sent to the Union Environment Minster on Sunday on behalf of the Uttarakhand Lok Vahini, the Vahini spokesperson Rajiv Lochan Shah has said electricity generation in the state, which has abundant hydro-electric capacities due to a rich river network, can be had by constituting producer companies at village or block level and making these capable by financing these to produce 1 MW or 2 MW of electricity which could be sold to grid by these companies in the villages. “In this way, each company can make a sum of Rs 5,000 for each family among the 200 in the village,” said Shah in the letter.

According to Vahini, it has managed registration of two micro hydro electricity schemes of 1 MW each owned by local village communities, one each in Almora and Tehri districts respectively on Saryu and Balganga rivers, as model schemes for future mode of electricity generation in the state. If these schemes could be successful in generating electricity, villagers from the entire state would come forward to adopt the model.

“But non-cooperation from the state government to these schemes has indicated that the state government is more concerned about ensuring profit to private companies rather than generating electricity and strengthening local communities,” said the letter.

Lok Vahini, in its letter, has expressed the hope that with pro-people line of thinking on electricity generation methods on Uttarakhand rivers to avoid Kedarnath-like disasters in future, the Centre could get the state government to pave way for micro hydro-electricity schemes owned by local communities in the state rather than inviting private companies to construct mega hydro-electric projects.

“In this way, the capacity of generating over 20,000 MW electricity in the state can be harnessed and the prosperity could percolate down to the common people rather than the wealth accumulating in the capitalist hands of a few companies,” said the Lok Vahini.