Risks and Constraints in Rehabilitation of People Displaced: A Case of Tehri Dam

Annually lives and livelihoods of nearly ten million people across the globe are affected by forced displacement from dam construction and many infrastructure project sites. Hydroelectric dam projects have an enormous potential to provide electricity, to increase agricultural productivity through irrigation and to control flooding, all with the goal of improving people’s well-being. Tehri dam is 260m height situated on the Bhagirathi River in the highly active Central Himalayan Seismic Zone of North India. The construction of Tehri dam started in 1972 and completed in the year 2002. It is designed to withstand earthquakes of up to 7.2 on the Richter scale although experts predict that earthquakes of magnitude 8.5 or more could strike this region. If the dam were to burst, several major towns downstream of the dam with a total population of over half a million people could be wiped out. Landslides are common on the steep slopes above Tehri’s reservoir. A major landslide into the reservoir could cause a huge wave, which could overtop the dam and cause massive damage downstream. The dam was expected to generate 2400 megawatts of electricity with the capacity to irrigate a quarter million hectares of land. Despite the anticipated benefits, more than 125 villages and one town, Tehri, involving a total of approximately 100,000 people who were mostly peasants, had to resettle due to construction activities and water impoundment.

Although land acquisition started in 1979, resettlement of affected people is far from complete. There was no master plan for rehabilitation nor even a clear estimate of the number of people affected. Construction of a dam affects people in many ways, from displacing them because of water impoundment to creating new habitats around the dam, water reservoir, and irrigation canals. The existing resettlement policies around the world have primarily focused on the issues of land and housing compensation and to some extent, providing basic amenities for project-affected people but not considering other socio-economic factors. The economy in this region is primarily agrarian, with approximately 85% of the adult population practicing intensive agriculture. Although most are farmers, only 10.3% of the land in the region is arable and soil fertility is significantly good along the narrow river valley due to alluvial soil deposits. The remaining cultivatable land consists mostly of narrow strips on hilly slopes and is used for dry terrace cultivation. More than 90 % of arable land is used for food grains. Animal husbandry is also an important economic activity, in most cases supplements agricultural produce. The availability and accessibility of forest land and grazing grounds determines number of livestock and other animals. Goats and sheep are the main herding animals, most people keep cows, oxen, and buffaloes for milk and plowing and chickens for eggs and meat. Other economic activities include horticulture, forestry and cottage industries.

These resettlers were forcibly displaced from their mountain homes to plains in foothills of the Himalayas. This region was already very densely populated and poorly developed with unhygienic conditions, including an inadequate sewage system and polluted drinking water. In addition, the region’s hot and humid climate makes this area a fertile breeding ground for various vectors of parasitic agents due to these high cases of fever, malaria, typhoid, measles and gastrointestinal ailments, were reported. They had many health problems. Several initiatives were taken by Government, NGOs and SHGs to provide to improve health of resettlers.