This was stated by union minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh in a letter to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati, who is on indefinite fast at the holy city of Haridwar seeking conservation of the Ganga river against all kinds of pollution.
In the backdrop of the growing opposition against hydel projects that had led to the scrapping of three major projects last year, Ramesh said IIT-Roorkee had been entrusted with the task of making an assessment report of both Bhagirathi and Alaknanda basins. “This assessment report has been completed recently and will be made public in the next one week," Ramesh said.
Ramesh also assured Bharati that Centre will make it mandatory for all hydel projects to maintain a flow which is three to four times more than the required environmental standards. Read the full report here.
Source: Shishir Prashant, Business Standard, New Delhi/Dehra Dun.
