Friday, September 15, 2017

Himalayan Day observed as ‘Pancheshwar Dam Protest Day’ in Kumaon

PITHORAGARH: Even as functions were organised to mark Himalayan Day on Saturday, there were many protests throughout Kumaon on the issue of Pancheshwar Dam. Uttarakhand Parivartan Party marked the day as 'Pancheshwar Dam Protest Day.’

Demonstrations were held in a number of towns like Almora, Bageshwar, Haldwani, Ramnagar and Tanakpur. “In 2010, when in Dehradun, along with Sunderlal Bahuguna, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Anil Joshi and many other senior environmentalists and activists of Uttarakhand, we had decided to celebrate 'Himalayan Day', we thought it will help us raise the concerns of the Himalayas,” PC Tiwari, president of Uttarakhand Parivartan Party, told TOI.

He added that “since the past few years, the government has grabbed this day for its propaganda only.” “On one side, oaths are being taken to save the Himalayas and on the other side, the Himalayas are being subjected to anti-people and anti-environment projects like Pancheshwar Dam,” Tiwari said

A number of seminars were also organised on the issue at Nainital, Pithoragarh and Rudrapur. In the seminar titled 'Himalayan Day and Pancheshwar Dam' at Press Club in Nainital, Girija Pandey, director of School of Social Sciences, Uttarakhand Open University, who is studying the technical and sociological aspects of Pancheshwar Dam, said, “From what we have seen of the project, this dam is going to adversely affect the local community and environment by many ways.”

In Jauljibi, an area which will be severely affected by the dam’s construction, local people burnt the state government’s effigy and accused politicians of “having double standards.”

TOI

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