Gangtok:It's day 35 of an indefinite hunger strike by Sikkim's Lepcha community led by duo Dawa & Tenzing and there's no end in sight. Protests against the imminent influx of a series of dams on the river Teesta and its tributaries in the remote mountain regions of North Sikkim district have gathered steam over the past month, but with chief minister Dr. Pawan Kumar Chamling taking stand in favour of implementing hydel projects in larger public interest and in interest of development for Sikkim, talks with government are deadlocked. An appeal was made yesterday to ACT for calling off hunger strike by the All Sikkim Students Union in a meeting held to discuss the issue where they welcomed the move of state government to develop North Sikkim by setting hydel electric projects for sustainable economic development.
Two months ago, Dawa Lepcha was desperately loooking for means to rouse his fellow Lepchas against the "irreparable damages" that the proposed dams would cause to North Sikkim's ecosystem. He had been working at it for three years-gathering information, travelling to distant villages and talking to local people-but just couldn't make much headway.
"It's a really, really uphill job," a frustrated Dawa had said then. "No one listens."
But now, people are paying attention.
Two months ago, Dawa Lepcha was desperately loooking for means to rouse his fellow Lepchas against the "irreparable damages" that the proposed dams would cause to North Sikkim's ecosystem. He had been working at it for three years-gathering information, travelling to distant villages and talking to local people-but just couldn't make much headway.
"It's a really, really uphill job," a frustrated Dawa had said then. "No one listens."
But now, people are paying attention.
On June 20, Dawa, who's a 33-year-old documentary filmmaker and Tenzing Gyatso Lepcha, a student, went on an indefinite fast, demanding all six mega-hydel projects in the Dzongu Lepcha Reserve be scrapped.
They've also demanded the state review the impact of all 27 hydel projects proposed. Protesting under the banner of Affected Citizens of Teesta (act), Dawa's group is getting overwhelming support from different local outfits and from across the country and abroad. Lepchas from Darjeeling and Kalimpong have been gathering in front of the Bhutia-Lepcha house in Gangtok where the ' satyagrahis ' are ensconced.
Several are even joining the fast for a few days. Dawa, despite being on liquid-only diet, is inSTNM Hospital along with Tenzing with deteriorated health conditions due to long and continuous fast. "Initially, we were a bit apprehensive but the overwhelming support that we have been getting has reassured us," he says.
There are plans for 27 projects on the Teesta and its feeder rivers and tributaries. Contracts for three of these, including the Teesta Stage v project at Dikchu in North Sikkim that is nearing completion, have been awarded to the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (nhpc), a public sector unit. The rest are to be set up by private developers. So far, Teesta Stage v is the only project under construction. The rest are in various stages of clearance.
Plans for taming the Teesta, which flows through almost the entire length of Sikkim before entering north Bengal, are not new. A proposal has been in place for harnessing the river since the 1970s. More recently, in 2001, the Central Electricity Authority calculated the state had a hydel potential of 8,000 mw and identified 21 possible dam sites. In 2003, Sikkim launched an initiative to harness 5,000 mw of this potential by the end of the eleventh Five Year Plan.
"Sikkim will get 12 per cent free electricity from each of these projects, which it will sell to other states," says A K Giri, chief engineer with the state energy and power department. Sikkim at present has a 35-mw power deficit, which it makes up by importing power from the central sector generating stations. After the projects are completed, officials estimate that Sikkim could expect around 2000 crore by selling the surplus power generated.
However, the proposed projects have raised concerns among environmentalists and peoples' activists regarding their cumulative impact on the landscape and its people. Teesta is a highly volatile, flood-prone river. The river and its tributaries constitute a basin, which with its deep forest cover and rich biodiversity, is considered an integral part of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hot spot, one of the 25 such hot spots in the world.
The Teesta River Valley system sustains a host of indigenous communities, including the Lepchas, Bhutias, Sherpas and Nepali ethnic groups, who have traditional natural resource-based livelihoods. The area is also earthquake-prone and includes a series of landslide and landslip zones.
Moreover, the Teesta has one of the highest sediment rates in the world, with an annual load of about 3.5 to 4.5 million tonnes. Yet so far, there's been no study done on the cumulative impact of dams on the ecosystem in this geologically unstable region
They've also demanded the state review the impact of all 27 hydel projects proposed. Protesting under the banner of Affected Citizens of Teesta (act), Dawa's group is getting overwhelming support from different local outfits and from across the country and abroad. Lepchas from Darjeeling and Kalimpong have been gathering in front of the Bhutia-Lepcha house in Gangtok where the ' satyagrahis ' are ensconced.
Several are even joining the fast for a few days. Dawa, despite being on liquid-only diet, is inSTNM Hospital along with Tenzing with deteriorated health conditions due to long and continuous fast. "Initially, we were a bit apprehensive but the overwhelming support that we have been getting has reassured us," he says.
There are plans for 27 projects on the Teesta and its feeder rivers and tributaries. Contracts for three of these, including the Teesta Stage v project at Dikchu in North Sikkim that is nearing completion, have been awarded to the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (nhpc), a public sector unit. The rest are to be set up by private developers. So far, Teesta Stage v is the only project under construction. The rest are in various stages of clearance.
Plans for taming the Teesta, which flows through almost the entire length of Sikkim before entering north Bengal, are not new. A proposal has been in place for harnessing the river since the 1970s. More recently, in 2001, the Central Electricity Authority calculated the state had a hydel potential of 8,000 mw and identified 21 possible dam sites. In 2003, Sikkim launched an initiative to harness 5,000 mw of this potential by the end of the eleventh Five Year Plan.
"Sikkim will get 12 per cent free electricity from each of these projects, which it will sell to other states," says A K Giri, chief engineer with the state energy and power department. Sikkim at present has a 35-mw power deficit, which it makes up by importing power from the central sector generating stations. After the projects are completed, officials estimate that Sikkim could expect around 2000 crore by selling the surplus power generated.
However, the proposed projects have raised concerns among environmentalists and peoples' activists regarding their cumulative impact on the landscape and its people. Teesta is a highly volatile, flood-prone river. The river and its tributaries constitute a basin, which with its deep forest cover and rich biodiversity, is considered an integral part of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hot spot, one of the 25 such hot spots in the world.
The Teesta River Valley system sustains a host of indigenous communities, including the Lepchas, Bhutias, Sherpas and Nepali ethnic groups, who have traditional natural resource-based livelihoods. The area is also earthquake-prone and includes a series of landslide and landslip zones.
Moreover, the Teesta has one of the highest sediment rates in the world, with an annual load of about 3.5 to 4.5 million tonnes. Yet so far, there's been no study done on the cumulative impact of dams on the ecosystem in this geologically unstable region
(based on a article from Down to Earth Feature )
