gundya hydel dam is back in the news.

this project has been facing huge protests from local people over its impact on thousands of people and western ghats forests.

as usual, it looks like the eia (environment impact assessment) is rigged to clear this project. from the link,
The Vriksha Laksha Andolana (VLA), an environmental organisation in the Western Ghat region, termed the environment impact assessment report as "tailor made" as it was prepared only to support the hydel project without looking into serious environment and forest related issues.

but when the focus is on developedment, supplying electricity to india's urban needs is very important than crucial western ghats forests. karnataka t&d loss is a staggering range of 25 to 40% and considering its production of 6000mw, around 2000mw easily goes waste.

by improving its t&d situation alone lot of new destructive projects can be avoided.

on top of this you can conservation of electricity, mandatory solar water heaters in urban areas, solar garden lights, green building codes, conversion to CFL, etc - you have a huge picture that the govt refuses to see because they are focussed on the crazy 10% gdp growth come what may.

(project site for the gundya dam amidst crucial western ghats forests)

(locals, environmentalists, ngo, etc protesting against the dam)

(quiet flows gundya river - picture copyright hindu)