NEW DELHI: Power Minister RK Singh today, January 17,said that NTPC's Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project has nothing to do with the land subsidence issue being faced in Uttarakhand's Joshimath town, the issue is with the area's land. The minister also ruled out review of the ongoing hydropower projects in hilly areas.

Singh also said that hydropower projects in the nation won't be stopped, despite growing concerns over out-of-control buildings in hilly areas. He said this in an interview with a media source on the sidelines of the recent Davos World Edonomic Forum (WEF) meeting.

The minister said that the problem in Joshimath was found in 1975 and the following year a committee of top geologists was formulated, which found that the town was an unplanned habitation that had come up on a landslide and the ground below had gravel instead of rocks.

Joshimath has sunk at a rapid pace of 5.4 cm in the last fortnight owing to land subsidence since January 2, 2023.
Singh added that because the community lacks sewage, the drainage system as a whole has seeped into the ground, loosening the rocks underneath.  Another committee was set in 2010 and provided the same inputs.
The minister spoke about the Tapovan Vishnugad project, noting that it has been running since 2009 and is located 15 km from Joshimath.

He said there are other settlements in between. In fact,  the minister said, there is a community just above the project, and neither it nor the other communities situated between that 15 km stretch have suffered any harm.
The problem is, therefore, with Joshimath's land, the minister noted.

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