The government says a dam is necessary to provide drinking water in an era of rising temperatures and climate change. Activists say it’s another corrupt government project.According to ICIMOD, the rockslide on a nearby mountain melted the ice and snow in its way, smashing through two hydropower plants in its path: the Rishi Ganga plant, near Reni, and the under-construction Tapovan Vishnugad further down river.
“That flexibility is very crucial to the long-term move of India in a green energy space,” said Harsh Shah, chief executive of IndiGrid, a KKR-backed investment trust that owns transmission lines transporting power from Himalayan plants. “Hydro is critical in India’s renewable energy mission.” Road building has proved similarly controversial. India is currently building a 500-mile project known as the Char Dham Highway, linking several Hindu pilgrimage sites in Uttarakhand.Authorities say the project, which involves widening narrow mountain roads to 10 meters, will bring pilgrims, tourists and economic benefits, while allowing ready military access to India’s border with China.
Some of the world’s most combustible geopolitical boundaries run through the mountains, from India and China’s 2,000-mile border to the Line of Control separating India and Pakistan in Kashmir. Many Himalayan nations suffer chronic water shortages. While the U.S. has nearly 9,000 cubic meters a year of renewable freshwater resources per person, China has 2,000, India 1,000 and Pakistan less than 300, according to the World Bank.
“It’s only likely to be a worsening point of tension,” said Kyle Gardner of US advisory firm McLarty Associates, and author of a book on the India-China border. “I don’t think either side sees much reason to co-operate. China has the upper hand, literally. So the incentive, from a practical, realist international relations perspective, is pretty low.”In India, Modi’s government has sought to take a leading role in the fight against climate change.