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Deep Waters - The Untold Story of Tourism and Dams
Deep Waters - The Untold Story of Tourism and Dams
One of the underlying principles of responsible travel is Carbon offsetting is an attempt to counter-balance the effect
to take fewer overseas trips by plane. But make your stay of your carbon emissions. A carbon offset negates the release
longer. By taking fewer trips for longer periods you are of carbon dioxide by avoiding the release of, or removing
responsible for lesser pollution. When a plane takes off and from the atmosphere the same amount of carbon dioxide.
lands, it emits much carbon. A flight does more damage to Now you can calculate the amount of carbon emission being
the environment than any other aspect of your travel. generated by your air travel and purchase carbon credits to
offset it. Your carbon credits fund various renewable energy
If you are concerned about climate change, don’t be part projects, such as wind farms and reforestation.
of the problem. Offset your carbon emissions by using a
carbon calculator. You can offset your carbon dioxide
emissions through organizations like, Carbon Clear,
C-Change Trust, Climate Care, Future Forests, Sustainable Philip Mathew is the chief editor of Asia Pacific Ecumenical News.
He was formerly Communications Secretary at the Christian
Travel International, Tree Flights or the World Land Trust. Conference of Asia (CCA) and was associated with The People’s
Reporter.
Large dams are no longer ‘just’ electricity-generating projects; they have become
holiday destinations. Tourists stay oblivious to the fact that entire villages were
sacrificed and forced out in order to construct the idyllic and peaceful waterfront
resorts.
T
ourism relies on and is increasingly being located in Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that after people are
natural areas that are ecologically fragile. Dam sites displaced, tourism is developed on the watery graves of
have always been popular destinations for tourists in people’s homes and lands. What were once thriving villages
India – providing an often idyllic natural setting. and hamlets, where people had lived for centuries and
contributed to the regeneration of forests and its biodiversity
Dams are a manifestation of a kind of development which are now reduced to endless lakes. The pleasure-seeking
denies some people access to justice (largely in rural and tourist is often oblivious to the tragedy that rests beneath
poor parts of cities) while favoring the growth of others and to what may have transpired before a dam was built;
(largely the urban middle class and elite). People in before a community was displaced.
indigenous and rural areas have been repeatedly asked to
sacrifice for the ‘greater common good’; a notion first used Is tourism as harmless as it seems? What are the ethics and
by the State soon after independence, calling upon people values being communicated by the institutions of the State
to contribute to the nation-building process. However, 63 when they promote tourism at dam sites?
years after independence, the State continues to make the
same demands on its people.
Submerging future
Uttarakhand – a state famous for its natural beauty,
snowcapped mountains, valleys, pristine rivers, is also
where innumerable dams are being constructed. With the Entire villages are sacrificed to clear the way for construction
damming of a river – a river no longer remains a river. The of dams.
once-free flowing waters now pass through tunnels. The
construction of the dams have also resulted in building sports. A master plan for development of the region was
roads, barrages and colonies across the state – all at the cost commissioned. The plan suggests that investments to the
of the environment and the lives and livelihoods of local tune of US$23.8 million could be brought in.
communities dependent on them.
The latest and the most ironic situation is that the government
The Uttarakhand Vision Document positions the state is planning to start underwater tourism at the dam site - to
as the most competitive supplier to the Northern Grid by show tourists the submerged town, the lost homes of the
harnessing at least 50% of the state’s hydroelectric potential people and the desolate streets.
by 2012. The push for hydroelectricity has resulted in the
construction of dams on almost all rivers including the In both cases of the Sardar Sarovar Dam and the Tehri dam,
Bhagirathi. On the Bhagirathi, four projects have been there have been vibrant struggles by the local communities
commissioned, four more are under construction and nine resisting the construction of these dams in the context
more are proposed. of the development paradigm that is being promoted.
The construction of the dam and the resulting tourism
The once bustling town of Tehri in the Uttarkashi district of development is testimony to the State’s insensitivity to its
Uttarakhand is today under water. The construction of Tehri people who once lived in these regions, the majority of
Dam resulted in the complete submergence of the entire whom are now living in poverty in what for them are ‘alien
Tehri town along with 40 villages and partially submerged lands’.
72 villages; displacing nearly 100,000 people. The main
reservoir, formed as a result of the dam, comprises an area Kevadia, Terhi and many more such places dotted across
of nearly 42km2. the map of India, each have their own story to tell. They are
all promoted as desirable ‘must see’ places, but they are all
For the State, the construction of dams is not only about also proof of tourism’s ability to create or exacerbate serious
producing more electricity; it is also about drawing more conflict. So is there no hope? Tourism can contribute but for
tourists to the dam sites. On the one hand, the number this to be possible one must engage with the reality, the
of tourists visiting the state has reduced because in the history, and the aspirations of those in the places visited.
process of constructing the dams the natural beauty and
wealth of the state has also been destroyed. This has hugely
impacted the local economy in many places, especially in
the large number of locals whose livelihood is dependent
on tourism. Equitable Tourism Options (EQUATIONS) is a research, campaign
and advocacy organisation studying the social, cultural, economic
and environmental impact of tourism on local communities (www.
However, the State tourism board has plans for the equitabletourism.org).
development of Tehri dam as a water-front resort for water