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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Judgment reserved on Tashiding hydroelectric project

GANGTOK, 28 Apr: The verdict of the High Court of Sikkim will now decide the fate of the contested Tashiding hydro power project. The judgment on the writ petition filed by Sonam Lama and others challenging the construction of the hydel project on the Rathong Chu in West Sikkim has been reserved by the court.
The 97 MW Tashiding HEP in West Sikkim is being developed by Shiga Energy Private Limited. It has been 2 years since the petition was filed in the courts challenging the project on the primary grounds that it was an affront to the religions and cultural values and sentiments of the Sikkimese Buddhists. The petition is being supported by SIBLAC and NASBO. The main petitioner is Sonam Lama, originally of NASBO, who is now the Sangha candidate for the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha.
The petition has come a long way and, among others, has also seen a change in petitioners with one of the original petitioners, Tenzing Chewang, having died in a car accident during the pendency of the petition. It was taken to the Supreme Court which returned the matter to the High Court here since it had to do with local concerns.
It is also this petition which led the High Court to direct the Ministry of Environment & Forests to issue a notification on the extent of buffer zone or ecologically sensitive zone for the state of Sikkim. In February this year, the MoEF reduced this zone from the previously accepted 10 km radius to just 50 m to a maximum of 200 m radius of notified wildlife parks and sanctuaries.
What is interesting apart from the religious attachment and weight surrounding the Tashiding project is the investment put into the project by Shiga Energy, the private developer. The High Court had earlier made it known that the company would be liable for its own losses should the court come to the conclusion that the project was not viable or tenable. However Shiga Energy went on with the project construction and till date has invested crores of rupees into it. The final arguments on the petition were heard last week and now the judgment has been reserved.

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