The Supreme Court today slammed Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) and Uttarakhand government for their failure to take adequate rehabilitation measures for the people affected in Bhagirathi river valley with the raising of water level up to 830 meters in Tehri dam.
 
The apex court was anguished as the state government and THDC, a joint venture between the Centre and the state for development of power generation, was playing a blame-game and ignored several projects like construction of connecting bridges at various places for the benefit of the affected population.
 
It had on August 27 allowed THDC to raise the water level from 820 to 830 meters in view of unprecedent rains and its likely adverse impact on downstream in Haridwar and Rishikesh.
 
The court had asked them to place before it status reports about the steps taken by them for fulfilling the pending claims on relief and rehabilitation of the affected families.
 
While pursuing the affidavit filed in this regard, a Bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and H L Gokhale, said "it is unfortunate and evident that there were differences on the issue between the state government and THDC and it is unfortunate that each of them is trying to shift the blame on other".
 
It noted that the state government has blamed THDC for not providing the funds for relief and rehabilitation measures.
 
However, it said "even if THDC has not provided funds to the state government, relief and rehabilitation should not have been stopped and authorities should have continued with it and money could have been recovered from THDC at a later stage".
 
"Non receipt of money was not a ground for not carrying out rehabilitation," the bench said.