More news of the dam-scam of Karnataka still keeps trickling out. The latest to leak out from the weirs of secrecy and dubiousness is that of one single dam in Gulbarga district which is masquerading as two distinct small hydel projects (SHEPs).
On paper, the 24.75 MW Mouneswar Small Hydel Project and the 24.75 MW Basavanna Hydro Project are discrete and unconnected projects on the Krishna river. The two projects have separately applied for credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What has now come to light is that both projects have requested separate registrations with the executive board of the UNFCCC on the latter’s website, even though both will be using the same dam, the same intake/power canal, and also the same tail race canal.
These details are not a bunch of stray allegations by anyone, but specific data that have been mentioned in the respective project design documents (PDDs) submitted to the UNFCCC. The Mouneswar and Basavanna SHEPs have been built across river Krishna in Benchagaddi village of Shorpur taluk of Gulbarga district of North Karnataka. The impropriety is prima facie corroborated by images taken from Google Earth.
This irregularity is uncannily similar to the one exposed by dna in December 2013. The 24MW Perla Mini Hydel Project and the 24 MW Shamburi Mini Hydel Project on the Netravathi river too had the same intake, the same power house and the same tail race, but were being projected by proponents as distinct and different hydel projects.
The Basavanna project was registered as a CDM project with the UNFCCC on December 28, 2012, and its crediting period was fixed as March 1, 2013, to February 28, 2023. The Mouneswar project has applied for registration, but has not been granted credits yet.
Neither of the PDDs mentions the other project. On the other hand, the PDDs refer to the same geographical coordinates: 16°19’52N, 76°33’48”E. Even the lengths of the intake canals in the PDDs are exactly the same at 2771m.
The project proponents of the two are different, according to the PDDs. In case of the Mouneswar project it is Lakshmi Jalavidyut Limited, and that for the Basavanna project is Krishna Hydro Energy Limited. Incidentally, the registered office of both these firms is the same, according to the documents that have been filed with the UNFCCC.
Both projects have also claimed to have organised ‘local stakeholder consultations’, which is mandatory when applying for CDM credits. According to the Mouneswar PDD, stakeholder consultations were held on December 21, 2011. The Basavanna project consultations were held on September 26 the same year. This is where it begins to become dubious: both PDDs mention exactly the same people asking exactly the same questions with exactly the same answers being given.
Both the project proponents could not be contacted by this correspondent: neither have websites worth the name. The names/numbers mentioned on the website of the water resources department of the state government were of no use either. The Narayanpur zone chief engineer’s number was either switched off or unreachable. The superintending engineer, when finally reached, said that he had already retired from service.
All hydel projects in the 2-25MW range are classified as small hydel projects (SHEPs) by the Union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE). These projects are exempt from environmental clearance, impact assessment, public consultation or any monitoring from the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). Besides, they receive subsidies from MNRE and are eligible to apply for carbon credits from UNFCCC.
According to the South Asian Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) which has filed objections with the UNFCCC, “Since the projects use a single dam and are essentially a single project of 49.50 MW, they qualify for a full environmental clearance process, including EIA, public hearing, and environmental appraisal by the state or central EAC and an environmental management plan. However, the projects have illegally escaped all this (by projecting themselves as separate identities).”
A SANDRP official said, “These issues need to be addressed urgently by all concerned including the MoEF, the Karnataka government, UNFCCC, MNRE and KREDL (Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd: the nodal agency for hydel projects in the state). Such frauds are giving a bad name to the all these institutes.”
