Do human activities cause landslides?
A War Zone in Kinnaur
The HRTC bus, which had been on its way from Reckong Peo to Haridwar via Shimla, was hit by the boulders on national highway number five in Nigulsari area of Nichar tehsil.
Nine tourists were killed after heavy boulders fell on their tempo traveller in a landslip near Basteri in Kinnaur district on July 25.
Hangrang valley in upper Kinnaur, consisting of eight villages, has successfully blocked thr
Response to new notification
National highway (NH) 5—a stretch of 10 km from Powari to Ralli in Kinnaur district, on the right side of the Sutlej river looked like a war zone. Vehicles kept skidding on its mucky surface. That the edge of the road was lined with grey muck and debris, made it particularly vulnerable to road accidents.
Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh staring at negative impacts of altered land use
The study, Impacts of Hydropower Development and Compensatory Afforestation on forest ecosystems in the high Himalayas by Manshi Asher and Prakash Bhandari, environmentalists associated with the Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective, an advocacy and research group working on issues of environmental justice and forest rights in the Himalayan region, has been recently published in ScienceDirect – Elsevier. The business of hydropower has been changing hands in Kinnaur as well. The two biggest hydel projects in the region--300 MW Baspa II and 1,091 MW Karcham-Wangtoo--went from Jaypee Group to JSW Energy for Rs 9,700 crore. Jaypee group was burdened by a huge debt.
An audit report found that the Himachal Pradesh government failed to levy Rs 209 crore fine on Jaypee for installing turbines that exceeded the approved capacity. R. Sreedhar of Environics Trust, who conducted a cumulative impact assessment of hydropower projects in Kinnaur, says while the state government justifies these projects in the interest of the public and the nation, it invariably sides with private developers who flout rules. “Despite mounting losses, the developers always end up with good profit. It is by now common knowledge that most promoters in India pad up initial costs, get loans, skim off the money and flee by making good money at the first instance,” he adds.
This study conducted between 2012 and 2016 uses information from government data and ground research to examine the extent, nature and impact of forest diversion for hydropower projects in Kinnaur. “Our study found that not only have construction activities for hydropower projects impacted existing land-use, disturbed forest biodiversity and fragmented the forest landscape, but the related compensatory afforestation plantations are also ridden with problems. These include abysmally low presence of surviving saplings [up to 10%], inter-species conflict, infringement on local land usage and damage by wildfires and landslips. The study critically examines the role of state-led institutions and global green growth policies in driving and legitimising these developments in the name of ‘mitigation’, ultimately causing more harm to fragile local ecosystems and communities dependent on these,” said Ms. Asher. It is time that the Himachal government wake up from its long slumber, because these events are not freak accidents, they are the result of sheer negligence in the construction of hydropower projects in the state. This negligence is evident at two levels – firstly the failure in ensuring compliance to environmental and safety norms by project authorities and the government. The second, is the negligence towards the very impacts of unregulated hydropower development. In both cases the project authorities have shown sheer callousness, continuously ignoring the issues raised by local people and environmentalists.
Now the geological, ecological and hydrological impacts of these projects, especially in fragile zones like Kinnaur are emerging clealry. The government has not just overlooked these impacts but justified each and every project making excuses and even trying to cover these impacts. For instance, the issue of slope destabilisation and landlsides in Kinnaur has been blamed on rainfall fluctuations, floods or other natural factors without conducting any independent studies. The project authorities have gone to the stupid extent of saying that these landslides are occurring naturally in the area. If that is the case, is it not all the more reason that the construction in these regions has to be controlled and regulated rather than allowing disastrous projects like Karchham Wangtoo to come up here?
As far as issues of safety regulations and monitoring goes, there are an ample number of incidences vis a vis hydropower projects that have occurred in the last couple of years apart from the ones that happened in the last two weeks in Kinnaur. The seepage in the Chamera III project that washed off Mokhar village’s habitations, the reservoir of the Aleo-II project in Kullu in its first testing, burst washing off the labour camps (with no fatalities); the seepages in the Karchham Wangtoo tunnel which were noticed in 2011 – are indicators of a disaster waiting to happen. Despite it being mandatory as per the Hydropower Policy 2006 that there will be a safety monitoring authority in the state that will look into the safety quality monitoring for hydropower projects, no such authority existed till recently. As late as August 2013, the Department of Power and MPP issued a notification about the creation of such an authority. Now the government should immediately make public all the work that has been done by this authority in the last two years. The people have a right to know, how often this committee convened its meetings, which are the projects it has monitored and what action has been taken in the cases of negligence and accidents. Has any punitive action been taken against power companies for negligence?
![Destable_land_Chagaoun[1].jpg](https://sandrp-files-wordpress-com.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/AW/s/sandrp.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/destable_land_chagaoun1.jpg?w=663)
It needs to be put on record, in the context of the 100 Mw Sorang Hydro-Electric Project that the villagers had brought to the company’s notice that there were leakages in the penstock pipe at an earlier date on 8th May 2015. This indicates that there was some technical fault in the project despite which the testing was carried out. Further, it needs to be raised that on the night of the testing (when the accident occurred) no warning was issued by the project authorities while carrying out the testing of the penstock pipe.
Today, the Burang village is nothing less than a danger zone with rock and debris just hanging above heads of the residents. We wonder how the company even had the audacity to carry out construction in an area where there was habitation – even if temporary/ for part of the year. In event of heavy rains or tremors of any sort there will be additional damage and fatality which should be avoided at any cost. All families who are residing in Burang need to be protected so that they do not become victims of yet another accident which will be caused due to sheer negligence of the company as well as the administration, who is now responsible for the safety of the people.
The failure is of the central and state monitoring and regulatory authorities who have ignored the several incidents of landslides, massive erosion, drying up of water sources, sudden reappearance of water sources, deforestation leading to soil erosion, illegal muck dumping etc. Despite the impact of these on the horticulture, local vegetable cultivation, day to day life and safety of the people the government has not taken any action whatsoever on project proponents and have been blind to the issues raised by the affected people time and again.
Ms. Asher said hydropower is considered renewable because of the nature of its power source — water. “However, this fails to take into account that this source is a part of a river basin environment that comprises land with forests, flora, fauna and people — all of which, in some form or another, are instrumentalised and disturbed by this development. The surface construction involved in these projects comprises construction of a high concrete gravity dam, approach roads, a powerhouse, colony and labour camps, as well as a submergence area and the installation of towers for transmission lines. The building of underground tunnels and powerhouses, also have repercussions on the surface.”
She said studies show that the tunnelling in mountain areas will result in the risk of more landslips as large amounts of water percolates into surfaces. “The use of dynamites for blasting through the surfaces and underground components of the projects disturb existing slopes and the fragile geology.”
‘Climate change is visible’
Shanta Kumar Negi, president of the Kinnaur-based environment conservation organisation — Hangrang Sangharsh Samiti, told The Hindu that over the years climate change is visible. “We have young mountains stretch here, which is ecological very fragile.. the conditions of Kinnaur they are not favourable for hydro power projects. Construction activities include blasting, which has to be done in scientific manner, but the ground reality is that there’s hardly any check on the frequency of blasting. We are not against development, but Kinnaur is environmentally fragile, and this fact should not be ignored. Development at the cost of human lives is not acceptable,” said Mr. Negi.
Much of the muck had been excavated out of the mountains lining that road, for building a hydroelectric power generation tunnel. Of late, there had been frequent landslides which brought down rocks and boulders.
To see a detailed interactive map of Hydroelectric Projects on the Sutlej basin go to http://www.himdhara.org/sutlej-river-basin/
The road was lined with trucks, dumpers, mixers, diggers, crane, pipes and cables. A massive terminator like machine with two elongated arms was parked at the entrance of one of these tunnels. Called a “boomer”, this powerful hydraulic machine reportedly drilled hundreds of deep holes into the mountain face in a span of a few hours. Explosives were then used to blow up the target area to make way into the mountain forming tunnels that were 12 diametres in size. Signs intermittently warned of “danger” from “shooting stones” because “blasting” was in progress. The signs had been put up by Patel Engineering, subcontractor for Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL). This mammoth operaration was for the construction of the company's 450 MW Shongthong Karchham project.
Shongthong Karchham project's tunnel construction area on NH-5 and the landslides. (Sumit Mahar, Himdhara Collective)
However this operation gave no indication of the resistance of the people in Kinnaur to hydroelectric power projects, promoted for long as “clean” energy, is breaking. The past decade has seen a spate of developments in this Schedule V district of Himachal Pradesh. The most significant has been the construction of hydroelectric power projects like the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam-promoted 1500 MW Nathpa Jahkri, Jaypee Group’s 300 MW Baspa and 1200 MW Karchham Wangtoo projects.
Severe damages were caused to the project power house construction site during these floods.
Remnants of houses damaged by the landslide at Pangi. (Sumit Mahar, Himdhara Collective)
The 450 MW Shongtong-Karchham project which is now under construction had been impacting 5 villages. Its tunnel was being constructed in a landslide-prone area—no wonder then that fresh landslides are being reported from the area with alarming frequency. The people of one of the affected villages, Barang, had brought to a halt the construction activities for the project in 2013 to negotiate their demands. Last year the work on the project’s tunnel began in full swing and led to caving in of private lands belonging to four families.
Similar was the case of the neighbouring Mebar village. In April 2015, a section of the national highway, where the tunnel construction was going on, was blocked as a mass of rocks just collapsed. This area called Laal dhank (rocky cliff/over hang) has the village Barang situated right above it. It took close to 48 hours to fully clear the road as vehicles and travelers lined up at both ends of the road.
Perhaps the one striking case which managed to get some coverage over the last year is of the Urni landslide. “Urni is sitting precariously above the junction of the flushing tunnel, Head Race Tunnel and Adit tunneli of the newly operational 1200 MW Karchham Wangtoo project. In July 2014 the Urnidhank collapsed blocking the national highway,” said Ramanand Negi of the village.
Urni landslide has blocked NH-5 since June 2014. (Sumit Mahar, Himdhara Collective)
Kinnaur Remains Cut Off
The main highway connecting Kinnaur is still a spectacle. For the last one and a half year the administration has not been able to restore connectivity to nearby towns and villages. Locals complained that they have had to bear an extra carriage cost coming to Rs 20 for every carton of apple they took out of the area. A small culvert was built a couple of months ago through a barely flowing Sutlej river on which the vehicles were plying. This month with an increase in the river flow, the culvert too got damaged.
However, the more disturbing part of the story is that with the rock-face coming down, the apple orchards of almost 13 families in Urni village were sliding down as well. When asked about the response of the administration to this, Negi, who also lost a couple of bighas of his orchards added, “The state Geological Department did a site investigation and they said that the slide was because of flood irrigation for the orchards or some other seepage.”
Ramanand Negi from his house near Urni which has developed cracks. (Sumit Mahar, Himdhara Collective)
He further added that an older water source, that was thought to have gone underground, re-emerged after the landslide. While he remembered that he had heard from the older village folk that there used to be a chashma (natural water source/spring) in that location there was no water source or spring in that area for several decades.
The drying up and re-emergence of water sources (in rare cases) in different locations has been seen in all the 5 panchayats sitting above the Karchham Wangtoo tunnel. Tunnels were built using blasting which have caused hydro-geological changes which could have disturbed the underground water aquifers.
Old water sources may have emerged but there has been depletion of current water sources as well. The Irrigation and Public Health department has been monitoring the water discharge of 167 water sources in 5 panchayats since 2005. Data revealed that by 2009 almost 43 out of 167, ie 26% of water sources had dried up and in 67 sources, ie almost 40% of the discharge had reduced. This impacted the regular supply of drinking water in the area, especially in the summers.
Government Apathy and Negligence
While destabilisation of slopes and disturbance of water sources seem to be emerging as the two major impacts of tunnelling and construction activity for hydro projects, there is no effort whatsoever, by the state government or the Ministry of Environment to recognise that there exists a linkage between depletion and rampant construction, that needs to be studied rigorously by scientific and independent agencies.
In the case of landslides, which are being linked to an increase in rainfall or irrigation methods, the government has been providing relief packages. “The demand that we have been making, especially in cases like Pangi or Karchham Wangtoo, is that the affected people should be given compensation, not relief. Had there been no project activity the impact of even a natural calamity or heavy rainfall would not be so drastic,” said R S Negi, a senior citizen of Kinnaur and member of Him Lok Jagriti Manch, a forum that has been raising issues of local rights over resources.
On the directions of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF), in 2014, Himachal Pradesh government had commissioned a Cumulative Environment Impact Assessment (CEIA) study of hydro-projects in Sutlej valley Thinking Boxx. The shoddy study, thereafter, conducted by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), further fuelled the existing local opposition. This became evident in the public consultation conducted on 12 December 2014 in Kinnaur where hundreds of local people articulated sharply, their critique of the study as well as hydroelectric power development in the Sutlej valley. The locals termed the report as biased and pro hydroelectric projects (Himdhara 2014).
The report refuted the drying up of water sources by calling it a temporary phenomena. They have also said that in the long run the sources would re-emerge. However that was not found to be true—in the socio-economic impact studies of the Baspa and Natha Jhakri projects, much older than the Karchham Wangtoo project. The study revealed that close to 70% of the locals still reported that water sources remain impacted in the area. The study had also overlooked the impact that the already constructed projects have had by way of damage to houses situated in the vicinity of the areas where blasting operations were undertaken. This is despite the fact that 67% of the respondents for under construction projects have reported damage to houses due to blasting operations for construction.
Local Sentiment
With these developments, there has been a definite shift in the mood and local acceptance to hydropower. In the Pooh region, gram sabhas have also passed resolutions against the proposed Sumla Yangthang, Yangthang Khab and Chango Yangthang projects. D K Negi of Khadura village which is now sitting on a huge landslide added, “The (2013) calamity brought disappointment but it also brought hope that at least now people will begin to understand what kind of development this region cannot take,” referring mainly to the unplanned and massive hydroelectric project proliferation in the region.
Rajan Devi, Prem Devi and Daleep Kumar, all residents of Urni, narrate tales of loss and destruction. (Sumit Mahar, Himdhara Collective)
Rarang, Khadura, Jangi, Akpa villages on the right bank of the Sutlej were clear that they would not issue no objection certificates (NoCs) to new projects. Two projects were being planned there—phase three of the Integrated Kashang project and the other, Jangi-Thopan-Powari. In fact, these villages would be impacted by tunnels of both these projects.
What has given new momentum to the local resentment, especially in lower Kinnaur, is that of the Jaypee Union workers. “This is a company that has won many awards for its performance in generating electricity but has no respect for its workers and their safety,” said Bihari Seugi, secretary of the union. About 50 workers packed in their tiny union office at Tapri narrated horror stories, some their own and some of their fellow workers who were injured during work or lost their lives in return for little or no compensation.
Of the 1800 people employed by JPVL (Jai Prakash Ventures Limited) in the Karchham Wangtoo and Baspa projects, close to 1364 are part of the strike, which has now crossed over a 100 days, and are demanding fair and minimum wages, housing facilities, and implementation of other provisions for workers under the Factories Act. For the last two years workers had been trying to negotiate with the management on their demands. When they were not heard they registered the union in 2014. They started the negotiations as a union since 15 October 2014. The fact that Jaypee has been trying to sell the project (both this and Baspa II) gave an impetus to the workers from both projects to organise themselves. While the sale to the Jindal group has yet to be finalised, the workers issue remains unresolved.
Interestingly, in a large mass gathering organised by the union on 19 March 2015 the call that was given was “Kinnaur Bachao”. They demanded that 1% royalty be paid to all families of the project affected areas as one of its top demands. That was a strategic move to gain local support which the workers did manage to garner. “On 18th March a day before the rally the District Administration imposed Section 144 in the worker’s colony and the main ground. As result people could not return to their camps for close to 15 days. About 500 to 700 workers had to seek shelter in caves and forests around the area to protect themselves. The local villages contributed with rations and cash to support them. In fact, on the day of the rally too, populations from several of the affected villages showed up as a sign of solidarity. The movement was not possible without support of the locals,” added Rakesh Singha of the Communist Party of India (CPI) which has been lending support to the JWU since February 2015.
Of course, there are many who are skeptical about the role of the worker’s agitation in the long run, especially vis a vis local impacts and other projects. “Our fight against the Karchham Wangtoo project dates back to 2005 and has raised a spate of issues especially the one of forest and livelihood rights. Hundreds of local people affected by the Karchham Wangtoo project have been engaged in long court battles which has exerted enough pressure on the company to pay the compensation as well as release Local Area Development funds. But what about the new projects which are being pushed? None of the political parties are concerned about the local people or the environment,” said N S Negi, a senior resident from Peo.
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