Tension prevails in the remote Saal Valley of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been turning a blind eye at repeated attacks on villagers protesting against the Hul hydropower project. All attacks have been allegedly carried out by goons hired by the Hyderabad-based Hul Hydro Power Private Limited (HHPPL).
The attacks were carried out in the backdrop of the people of eight panchayats of Saal Valley, under the banner of the Saal Ghaati Bachao Sangharsh Morcha (SGBSM), organising a rally at Chamba town on August 12. This was the culmination of a four-month dharna protesting the company's attempts to enter the villages and start work on the power project.
On August 15, when SGBSM members gathered at the dharna site for Independence Day celebrations, an HHPPL manager along with 15 staff members arrived at the spot and started abusing the villagers. The altercation resulted in a melee in which the manager was injured. The locals kept him hostage and called in the police. In the presence of the police, both parties reached an agreement that neither would lodge an FIR against the other, and that the company will not start the work without the consent of the Jadera gram sabha, according to Prakash Bhandari, who is associated with the movement.
However, on August 25, company goons attacked Man Singh, Pradhan of Jadera Panchyat, near Chamba town while he was in sitting in a bus. Since other passengers came to his rescue, Singh escaped with minor injuries. He later filed a complaint with the police, Bhandari said.
Since then, the situation in the area has been tense.
The current Saal Valley agitation dates back to 2003 when people started opposing the construction of the 4.5 MW Hul hydroelectric project due to its adverse impacts on local forests, water resources, and environment. The company involved, HHPPL, had signed an MoU with the government of Himachal Pradesh in 1996 for the construction of a hydel plant to be built on the Hul stream of the Saal river, a tributary of the Ravi.
Since then, the project-affected communities have used peaceful protests as well as engaged directly with the local administration and submitted innumerable petitions raising their concerns. Despite this, the state government has turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the situation a state of apathy and paralysis that the August rally sought to confront and change, according to Ratan Chand, a leader of the SGBSM.
The Hul project is being opposed since the smaller rivers and streams are seen as lifelines as they are support, much more than bigger rivers, local livelihood. The total length of the Sal river is only 28 km, and over this short stretch as many as seven hydel projects have been planned. This, say local communities, will adversely impact the ecology, the geology, besides the socio-economic and the cultural status of the area. This project will disturb approximately 5 km, or one fourth of the catchment of the Hul stream.
The Hul stream has been supporting the livelihoods of approximately 6,000 people directly or indirectly, by being sources for irrigation, drinking water, fishing and running water-mills. The projects coming up on the Hul are planned in some of the most pristine oak forests of the valley and are set to destroy these, and people’s livelihoods based on livestock rearing, and the create a scarcity of milk, ghee and honey for Chamba town.
According to the Micro Hydel Policy of the Himachal Pradesh government, the consent of the affected gram sabhas is mandatory before the construction of any project. However, the state government has been trying to push this project despite all the local gram sabhas having passed resolutions against the project. Several memoranda have been submitted to government officials, including the Chief Minister, but there has been no response. Three MLAs from Chamba region had raised the issue in the state Assembly in 2007 asking for the cancellation of the project. While assurances to review the project were given by the government in power, no such action has been taken yet, according to the SGBSM.
The state government’s silence on the issue encouraged the company so much so that on February 14, 2010 its contractors and goons attacked SGBSM members in Chungah village while they were conducting a peaceful meeting. Five people were severely injured in the attack.
As a response to this incident, a public hearing was conducted at the behest of the Deputy Magistrate of Chamba. Around 1,500 villagers placed their written objections against the project, and a report was submitted to the state government in April 2010 by the DM’s office. The government kept the report under wraps. The morcha managed to procure a copy of this report and found that the committee had stood by the concerns of the local communities. It had concluded that “wishes and aspirations of people in the area should be honoured, but the act and the conduct of the project authorities in whole of the episode (shoot-out) is found to be suspicious and doubtful indulging the persons of criminal background.”
The company is still trying to start work on the project on the basis of a High Court judgment which held that the police should provide all necessary and effective protection to the company. The judgment has also said that the public could record their protests in a peaceful manner without creating any law and order problem at the site, Chand said.
The BJP government, however, is refusing to take any action.
