In a setback to an answer to Delhi’s water problems, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has rejected the Renuka dam project in Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh, although the ministry had cleared this project in 2009.
Ministry of Environment and Forests Declines Clearance to Renuka Dam Project in Himachal Pradesh
New Delhi (Delhi, India), October 05, 2015
In a setback to the Delhi Government’s solution to Delhi’s water problems, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on Wednesday, October 13, 2010 rejected the Renuka dam project in Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh, although the ministry had cleared this project in 2009.
The Renuka dam project could have met twenty-five of the Delhi’s water needs, providing 275 million gallons of per day (MGD).
The Renuka dam project was to be built on the Giri Ganga, a tributary of the Yamuna River with a capacity of 542 million cubic meters of water storage.
The Renuka dam project was waiting for the necessary approval from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, as it would entail the cutting of trees in a 990-hectare area.
To construct the Renuka dam project, the Himachal government had applied for a go-ahead to the Ministry of Environment and Forests’ Forest Appraisal Committee (FAC).
Initially, the Forest Appraisal Committee gave its permission to proceed after necessitating that the impacted forest area be reduced to 775 hectares instead of 990 hectares.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, in a letter to the Himachal Pradesh government, wrote, “The government has declined to accept the recommendations of the Forest Appraisal Committee as the proposal involves high-density forest area requiring felling of a very large number of trees”.
The Renuka dam project was to be build at an estimated cost of Rs. 3,600 crore. It was feared that construction of the dam would lead to the submergence of wildlife habitats and a deer sanctuary in an eco-sensitive area of the lower Himalayas.
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