International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

Renu Lata ¹, Madhuri S. Rishi ², Rajkumar Herojeet ³, Konchok Dolma ⁴

Affiliations
1 G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, Himachal Unit, Mohal-Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, IN
2 Department of Environment Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh, IN
3 Department of Environment Studies, Government College, Chandigarh, IN
4 E.J.M. College, Leh, IN

Abstract

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) with its major river systems has vast potential for hydropower development. Recognizing this potential, the Government of India in its recent initiative for 50,000 MW power generation proposes to develop several hydropower projects formulated by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for preparation of preliminary feasibility reports of 162 new hydroelectric schemes (47,930 MW) and out of these 162 schemes, 133 are in IHR because of the available water resources and favourable topography. No doubt hydropower projects have made an important contribution to local communities but such developments had significant impacts on local livelihood and the environment. Due to the fragile nature of topography and delicacy of ecology of the Himalaya, it results in a lot of disturbances because of high degree of human interferences like construction of major hydropower projects. The increased extent of geological hazards, such as landslides, rock fall and soil erosion, have mainly due to developmental interventions in the natural ecosystem. So understanding and analyzing such impacts of the hydropower projects have mainly been on the environment in various forms but natural hazards have been frequent ones. Present study, therefore, focuses mainly on the major hydropower projects in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. Based on the quessennaire survey of the local communities frequent natural hazards and resultant loss to the local communities due to upcoming construction of hydropower projects have been analyzed. There is an unfavourable perception and a negative attitude towards hydropower projects among the people of the study area. This is mainly because the local residents do not perceive any direct benefit in terms of employment opportunities or improvement in infrastructure rather they believe that these projects are damaging their social setup.

Keywords

Mountain Ecosystem, Hydropower, Natural Hazards, Environment, Landslides, Soil Erosion and Infrastructure.

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