The South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP) a network of organisations working on issues related with water sector has rejected cumulative impact assessment of the Ganga basin hydropower projects done by the Alternative Hydro Energy Centre of the IIT Roorkee. In a letter written to Jairam Ramesh, minister of environment and forest (MoEF), Himanshu Thakkar of SANDRP says the report has not really done cumulative impact assessment.

Thakkar further writes that the report has shown bias in favour of hydropower projects, which is inappropriate for the task at hand, has given many unfounded conclusions and recommendations, has made factually wrong assertions, has shown non seriousness towards even some of the welcome recommendations and has done far from objective assessment of the performance of the projects.

The report also has not looked at the poor quality of EIAs-EMPs done for these projects and almost universal noncompliance of environment norms in the implementationof  of these projects.

Thakkar says the shoddy report is a lost opportunity and needs to be rejected, even while following up on some of the half-hearted but recommendations in the report.

He also says that one of the key part of the CEC order that led to this report still remains unimplemented. The CEC report said, "the CEC of the view that it would be prudent that the reconstituted FAC reviews these projects after considering the findings of the studies regarding...effectiveness of the mitigative measures and compliance of the stipulated conditions on which various projects have earlier been cleared."

He says this urgently needs to be done and till this is done, even the Supreme Court order of Feb 2009 will remained unfulfilled and the FAC recommendation of Forest Clearance for the Kotli Bhel 1A Project will remain untenable and legally challenged.