They demand resumption of work on power projects in Uttarakhand by May 20

Three Padma Shri awardees on Friday threatened begin a fast from May 21 if the government did not resume work on power projects in Uttarakhand by May 20. The announcement has become all the more important as several women on dharna at the Vishnugad–Pipalkoti project site have threatened self-immolation if work is not resumed immediately.

A group of villagers, affected by the stalling of the Him Urja Vidyut Pariyojna at Nandprayag and Vishnugad Vidyut Pariyojna at Pipalkoti, staged a symbolic chakka jam on the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway at Pipalkoti on Sunday, threatening self-immolation if the government didn't order the resumption of construction work there.

Unhappy with the government for first promising power and revenue generation opportunities to the affected villagers while taking away their lands, and later scrapping the projects at the instance of some environmentalists, the villagers — mostly women — threatened self-immolation if work wasn't resumed by May 10.

The government expressed willingness to halt all power projects coming up in the Ganga’s Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river basi-ns as part of its concessions to 80-year-old Prof. G.D. Agarwal (Swami Gyansw-aroop Anand) to persuade him to break his prolonged fast at the AIIMS here on Friday.

These include the 330MW Srinagar hydroelectric po-wer project, Singoli-Bhat-wari and Phata-Byung on the Mandakini, Khotibhal IA on the Bhagirathi, Vish-nugad-Pipalkoti and Alakn-anda-Badrinath on the Ala-knanda and Devsari on the Pindar.

Dehradun Power major NTPC today said it is implementing three big hydel projects with a total capacity of 942 Mw in Uttarakhand.

These three projects include Tapovan Vishnugad (520 mw), Rupsiyabagar-Khasiabara (261 mw) and Lata Topovan (171 mw) in the state, NTPC’s regional executive director (Hydro) Malvinder S Soin said.While Tapovan and Lata are situated on river Dhauliganga in Chamoli district,

The Rishikesh-Badrinath Highway was blocked by landslips near Joshimath, while the Kedarnath route remained disrupted at Sirobagad by boulders that slipped downhill. The Rishikesh-Gangotri National Highway has again been struck by landslips at Sukhitop and Bhatwari.

Rain claimed four lives in Uttar Pradesh and forced officials to issue an alert in Uttarakhand as the monsoon remained fairly active in North India on Wednesday.

Monsoon active in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

At least seven persons died in rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand as the monsoon remained active on Wednesday bringing moderate showers at many places in North India.

Lightening, landslips

Five persons, including two women, were killed and four injured after lightning struck them in Fatehpur and Mahoba districts of Uttar Pradesh, while two labourers belonging to Border Road Organisation got buried after landslips on the Joshimath-Malari motor road in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district.

Dam proposed on the Alaknanda

The Uttarakhand Infrastructure Project Company (UIPC) will develop 180 MW capacity small hydro-power projects in the State. A 71 MW capacity power project is being developed in the first phase. The State Government will receive a premium of `36 crore from this in addition to which investment in Uttarakhand will also increase.