What is tehri dam andolan?
The Tehri Dam is constructed over the Bhagirathi River, the main tributary of the Ganges in the hills of Uttarakhand, India. Tehri Dam is the biggest dam in Asia. Tehri Hydro Development Coorporation (THDC) was formed in 1988 to manage the dam.
Benefits: This is the first multipurpose river. The dam storage capacity of 35.40 billion cubic metres and It helps not only to provide irrigation benefits to 2.70 lacs hectare area besides stabilization of irrigation in 6.04 lac hectares and generating hydropower of about 3568 MU annually.
It also produces approximately 15000 tons of fish from the reservoir.
It also provides the drinking water supply of 300 cusecs to Delhi which will benefit 4 million population and 200 cusecs of water to UP benefiting 3 million population of that state.
Concerns: Andolan is Hindi and means “movement”. This dam has been the object of intense protests from environmental groups and the people of Tehri and surrounding areas
Mainly the relocation of more than 100,000 people from the area has led to protracted legal battles over resettlement rights.
If the dam fails, it can crash the densely populated valleys of Rishikesh, hardwar, Meerut, Bijnor etc. within hours