Activist Subodh Abidi of Jan Ekta Samiti, HP had questioned why the study had been ignored while giving clearance to the project which is under construction in the state.
The ministry of environment and forests had given clearance to construction of Renuka Dam in Himachal Pradesh without studying a crucial parameter — the emission of Green House Gases from its reservoir.
The data from studies in similar projects in the past showed negligible methane emissions and hence the environment impact study and green house gas emissions from this reservoir had been dispensed off with, the ministry admitted before the Central Information Commission where a plea by activists came up for hearing recently.
Activist Subodh Abidi of Jan Ekta Samiti, Himachal Pradesh had questioned why the study had been ignored while giving clearance to the project which is under construction in the state.
Not getting satisfactory reply from the ministry, Abidi argued before the Commission that dams in India are contributing nearly 28% of cumulative methane emissions from all the large dams of the world, which is "more than the share of any other country in the world."
"The concern of the appellant (Abidi) is not unfounded but rather justified and is in the larger public interest. The commission urges the ministry to take into consideration the concern of such environmentalists, scientists and NGOs working in this field in studying the impact of large dams proposed to be constructed in future," information commissioner Annapurna Dixit held. The dam built on Giri Ganga River in Himachal Pradesh, close to Renuka Sanctuary had got the nod of supreme court in 2005 which, after getting replies from Wildlife Board, allowed the diversion of about 50 hectares of sanctuary land and about 700 hectares of reserved forest towards submergence.
It will produce 40 mw of power and will provide about 275 million gallons of water per day to the National Capital after completion in 2014.
In his plea, Abidi had said felling of trees will leave lot of root stock and other organic matter which will become a source of green house gas emission.
The ministry, while replying to Abidi's plea had said there was nothing on record about the reason for not considering the report on Green House Gas emission from dams by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) when the issue was discussed in the EAC meeting.
"The commission, while noting that the environmental clearance for the project in this particular case has already been given and that no information in respect of the instant case as sought by the appellant is on record because of the reasons given...directs that appellant be allowed inspection of all files on similar past projects in India which have been given environmental clearance based of scientific studies," Dixit ruled.
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