Tribunal asks Centre to do impact study of Hydro project

Pulling up the Centre for giving clearance to a hydroelectric plant in Uttarakhand, National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked it to set up an expert committee to prepare a cumulative impact assessment (CIA) of the Vishnugad-Pipalkoti project.

The tribunal said that the assessment must integrate physical, biological and social effects of the dam to avoid unforeseen environmental and ecological threats and asked the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to constitute the committee of experts from Indian institute of Technology (IIT) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

"The MoEF shall set up an appropriate committee of experts drawn from IIT and WII in the preparation of CIA report of the projects considered in WII report (submitted earlier)to integrate the physical, biological and social impacts in making comprehensive CIA report and frame appropriate conclusions and recommendations within a reasonable time frame for consideration and final review by the MoEF to avoid any unforeseen environmental and ecological threat," a bench of NGT headed by Justice C V Ramulu said.

The tribunal passed the order on a plea by Vimal Bhai and two othere environmentalists challenging the Forest Clearance granted by MoEF on June 3, 2011 for deforestation of 80.5 hectares of government forest land for construction of the 444 Megawatt Vishnugad-Pipalkoti Hydroelectric Project across river Alakhnanda in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.