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BJP seeks PM’s help to save ancient shrine
Vibha Sharma/TNS

The Dhari Devi shrine is said to be facing threat of submergence due to the Srinagar hydroelectric project

New Delhi, July 7
The spiritually-driven environmental tussle over the proposed hydroelectric power plants on the Ganga and its tributaries in Uttarakhand reached the highest political echelons with the BJP today seeking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in saving the ancient Dhari Devi shrine, said to be facing threat of submergence due to the Srinagar hydroelectric project.

Led by BJP Parliamentary Board chairman LK Advani and president Nitin Gadkari, the delegation urged the PM, who is also the chairman of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), that work on the project be completed in a manner that the security and sanctity of the ancient temple does not get affected.

Uttarakhand’s former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was later quoted as saying that the PM assured the delegation that the historic shrine “will be protected and not be allowed to be submerged. The Srinagar dam will also be made and Dhari Devi will also be saved”.

Nishank said that the PM also asked Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan to look into the matter and get a fresh detailed project report (DPR) prepared so that the Dhari Devi shrine is saved.

The delegation, which included Leaders of Opposition in both Houses Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, Uma Bharti, BC Khanduri and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, also demanded that the state be given 2,000 MW of free power from the Centre to cater to its needs as many hydel projects could not be built on the river and its tributaries.

However, the agitation against hydel projects led by environmental groups and sadhus is now threatening normalcy across the power-starved state.

Following reports that the Centre was contemplating closing down the 320 MW Srinagar project at Pithoragarh, which is almost 80 per cent complete, persons who were to benefit from the Srinagar hydel project are taking to the streets in protest.

Recently, the Congress-led Uttarakhand Government warned the Centre against closing any more hydroelectric power projects in the state, threatening mass agitations if the step was repeated in the future under “saintly advice”.