Centre tells Supreme Court no new hydel projects should come up in upper Ganga

📌 Summary:

• The Union government has told the Supreme Court that no new hydroelectric projects should be permitted in the upper reaches of the Ganga — the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river basins in Uttarakhand

• A common affidavit filed on May 19 by the Ministries of Environment, Jal Shakti and Power presented a single, restrictive position; the Power Ministry's concurrence is notable as, through a committee, it had argued for as many as eight projects as recently as November 2024

• Only seven already-commissioned or substantially-built projects (total capacity just over 2,150 MW) will be allowed to continue — including the 1,000 MW Tehri pumped-storage project, 520 MW Tapovan Vishnugad, 444 MW Vishnugad Pipalkoti, 99 MW Singoli Bhatwari and 76 MW Phata Byung; four are commissioned and three are 74-80% complete

• Rationale for letting these seven continue: they have absorbed substantial public and private investment, none falls within the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone, and none was flagged by the expert bodies — halting them would strand sunk costs without commensurate environmental gain

• The Centre has declined to accept even the five projects (Bowala Nandprayag, Devsari, Bhyundar Ganga, Jhalakoti, Urgam-II) that a committee chaired by Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan had cleared as being in national interest

• Grounds for rejection: the cumulative impact of bumper-to-bumper dams, seismic fragility, and a string of disasters — the 2013 Kedarnath cloudburst, the February 2021 Rishiganga flood and the August 2025 Dharali flash flood

• Background: the case originates in the June 2013 Kedarnath floods (at least 5,000 deaths); Expert Body-I led by environmentalist Ravi Chopra (2014) found 23 of 24 projects examined would severely harm the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi basins; Expert Body-II under B.P. Das (2020) took a permissive view recommending 26 projects, but the Centre accepted only seven

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 (Environment) — environmental governance and the hydropower-versus-ecology trade-off in the fragile Himalayan zone; also links to GS1 Geography (Himalayan disasters) and GS3 Disaster Management.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• The Alaknanda and Bhagirathi are the two headstreams of the Ganga; they meet at Devprayag

• The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone covers the Gaumukh-Uttarkashi stretch in Uttarakhand

• Tehri is a pumped-storage hydroelectric project on the Bhagirathi river

• Expert Body-I (2014) on Uttarakhand hydel projects was headed by environmentalist Ravi Chopra

🔑 Key Term: Pumped-storage project — a hydroelectric facility that stores energy by pumping water to an upper reservoir during off-peak hours and releasing it to generate electricity during peak demand.