Act of Terrorism against Nature by State

Hydro electric power projects - generating electric power by building dams against rivers, is what becomes an act of terrorism against nature when common sense beats sense…

common sense says we all need developments.. all states want to be developed. make more money, improve their economy, satisfy their energy needs…

sense asks.. well, fine.. but at the cost of what ?

Unfortunately, the government of the state of Sikkim seems to have lost sense.. look at the beautiful picture below

This is an amazing view of river Teesta which is the life line of the state of Sikkim, India.

Now the government of Sikkim is planning to build seven (not one, not two, seven) mega hydro electric power projects on this river at Dzongu in North Sikkim, and there are more than 22 dams in all being considered on river Teesta..

What does common sense say? this project will meet the state’s energy needs generating 2 billion rupees every year..

Sense asks, at what cost? Dzongu is a protected area. It is a reserved area for the Lepcha tribal people. The ecology of the Khangchendzonga national park which is just a kilometer away from the project site and is also the home for Himalayan snow leopard and the red Panda will be irreversibly damaged by the hydel power project. Forget the 2 billion rupees.. can any amount of money compensate this large scale destruction of nature?

[NOTE: Khangchendzonga and Kanchenjunga are all one and the same. Mt Kanchenjunga in Sikkim is the third highest peak in the world.]

When it comes to hydel power projects there are two issues that have to be considered.

A) The human population that needs to be relocated.
B) The destruction of nature

The human population can be compensated for their land and relocated to a different zone, provided the natives are happy to relocate and are provided adequate compensation and relocation facilities. Nothing should be forced on those people. There will be sentiments attached to a place by the people. How will the chief minister feel if he is thrown out of the house where he was born and brought up and the house was flooded with water?

To quote Ann-Kathrin Schneider, from International Rivers Network, a US-based campaign group. “The displacement of indigenous people is even more difficult and there are practically no examples in the world where the resettlement of indigenous people has not destroyed their culture and social cohesion, as well as totally destroying their ability to economically support themselves.”

Next, and more importantly, destruction of nature.. No development projects should be considered at the cost of nature. No amount of money or the so called development can bring back the natural wealth. Do we need development by submerging our forests, killing millions of species (remember there are millions of insects living in those forests). Obviously most of the innumerable birds, animals, insects are going to be killed by such stupid projects, when their habitat will be flooded by the dam waters..

As I have been saying repeatedly, the nature belongs to the future generation, we just inherited it from our ancestors so that we safely pass it on to the future generations..

Mindless destruction of forests, bio diversity.. what will happen to the snow leopards and red panda in Khangchendzonga? Many of them might escape to higher altitudes, but many more would get killed. Isn’t it a crime against nature? An act of terrorism on those innocent animals, insects and birds. While we humans are known to prosecute and punish other humans on charges of war crimes (like Saddam, Milosevic, etc), which basically is a crime against humanity, have we ever prosecuted humans for crime against nature?

An 18 kilometer tunnel is planned in the project in which the river Teesta is planned to be diverted into.. and then use the high altitude downstream to generate power! What a stupid engineering.. making an entire river go underground! Already there have been land slides, dried up water sources, cracks have appeared in the nearby houses, dust pollution.. all thanks to the tunnel construction that has started.

The Lepchas of Sikkim have formed an organization called Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) to fight against the implementation of this 280 mw project, and its members are currently on a hunger strike (See below)

The Buddhist monks of Sikkim in a similar attempt earlier, were able to stop similar projects at Rathongchu in western Sikkim that had endangered their sacred lands.

And this is what Sikkim Chief Secretary N Chingapa blabbers on the above mentioned hunger strike, “Either they should withdraw the fast or we will be compelled to move against them,”, little does he understand that he will be moving against his own grand children who will be denied the beautiful views of the natural landscape of a part of their state. The environmental impact assessment report of the project does not even mention the name of the national park which is just a kilometer away! So one can imagine as to what kind of impact assessment might have been done by the government.

We humans who cry foul and go to police, court and what not when unexpected bombs explode in cities, calling it an act of terror, which definitely is..

Doesn’t the same standard apply to those innocent animals? those who have no police no court, when unexpected destruction is imparted on their habitats by the most uncivilized species evolution has ever produced, the humans, especially a sub species called the politicians..

Hope that the Sikkimese youth who have migrated to the other parts of the country, especially those in IT are doing something concrete to protect their nature back home. They know Sikkim better and the rest can back them in their efforts..

The beauty of Western Sikkim