Disaster tourism in Tehri

UTTARAKHAND ELECTION 2007

Amitabh Shukla

New Tehri (Uttarakhand), February 5

This is perhaps the only town in the country which has been built afresh after the historic town of Tehri gradually submerged in the waters of the Bhagirathi river to pave the way for Tehri Hydro Development Corporation.

People in the new township climb on the top of the hill and take a nostalgic trip. “That was the place where my house existed not so long ago,” said Narendra Bhandari, a local who has been allotted a house and has opened a grocery shop for survival.

Some of the Tehri refugees have found a new vocation – guides in disaster tourism. They take the tourists to vantage points just above the dam and show them where the streets of the town were located. They point out where the temples were and where the houses and the markets

existed. In the 61 sq km dam, it is difficult to imagine what existed where at one point of time.

Bhandari was lucky to relocate and get a house, thousands others have not. Many have been settled to far away places like Dehradun and Rishikesh. The locals allege that while some privileged few with strings to pull at the right places got compensation twice, many were left behind in the march of modernisation and have become refugees of a project which would not benefit them all.

Then some lost their agriculture land and left only with houses. The pain was all the more evident in those people who have lost their means of livelihood.

No wonder, rehabilitation is the main issue of the assembly polls. The complete submersion of the old Tehri has ensured that the voter strength in the constituency has come down to 76 thousand from 86 thousand in the last polls.

“I agree that there have been some hiccups in rehabilitation. It is a long process and even the courts have intervened,” local MLA Kishor Upadhyay told the Hindustan Times. “But, then we have created the only hill town based on a Master Plan,” insisted Upadhyay of the Congress.

The MLA goes on: “Soon we would start adventure sports and boating facilities providing employment to the locals”. His party swept the last polls due to a wave against the BJP. This time, the locals are not so sure. “We are waiting and watching,” was the terse comment of Puneet Singh, a first time voter. (2007)