The official and non-official members of the committee have given separate reports showing a clear division on the proposed action to save the temple and enforce environmental rules to allow the increased scope of the 330 MW Srinagar Hydroelectricity Project. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh got the construction of the Alaknanda river dam stopped after Bharti wrote a letter against submergence of the temple to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and PM Manmohan Singh.
He constituted a three-member inquiry panel with two ministry officials S Das and Sanchita Jindal, and a Delhi University professor, Nayanjot Lahiri, to suggest measures to save the temple and submit a compliance report on environmental conditions imposed when the project was cleared in 1996.
Lahiri's report took a contrary view to the official members' report, who agreed with project proponents that the temple can be elevated using concrete pillars and said there was no need to review it. Read the full report here.
Source: Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times, New Delhi.
