MoEF rejects Renuka Dam project plan now (Indian Express 14 October 2010)

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has rejected the Himachal Pradesh government's proposal to divert 775 hectares of forest land for the Rs 3,300-crore Renuka dam in Sirmaur district, saying a large number of trees would have to be felled for the project.
The project, for which an agreement was signed in the early nineties, is basically aimed at meeting Delhi’s water needs, besides generating 40 MW of hydel power.
The states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, besides Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, are major stakeholders in the project. The Delhi government already released Rs 300 crore to Himachal for the project.
Tarun Kapoor, Managing Director of Himachal Power Corporation, which is executing the project, said: “Yes, we have received the letter of the ministry, written on August 31, 2010, informing the state government about the issue. We have already started a fresh process to do a new survey and exclude certain areas. The process may take another two months. Work is in full swing and we will approach the ministry again with a new proposal”.
In its letter, the ministry informed the state Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) about its decision to reject the proposal for land diversion since the area had a high density of forests and the project would involve felling of a very large number of trees.
NGOs opposing the project have termed the move as “path breaking” and feel lakhs of trees would be saved.
The Renuka Bandh Sangharsh Samiti and many other groups recently met Union Minister for Forests and Environment Jairam Ramesh and Delhi CM Shiela Dikshit, saying approval for land diversion would spell havoc on the forest and rights of locals.
Tarun Kapoor, however, said the ministry's environmental appraisal committee had given its in-principle approval and now it was a question of reducing the number of the trees that would be felled or get submerged in the dam.
Renuka dam, on Giri river, will offer a storage capacity of 542 million cubic metres of water and an installed power capacity of 40 mw, and will supply Delhi with an additional 275 million gallons of water per day, Kapoor explained.