HC Cracks the Whip on Shanan Project, ‘Silt Assault’ on Uhl River, Upheld Rs 12 Lakh compensation ...
Shimla, April 8
In a stinging indictment of reckless hydropower practices, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has come down hard on the Shanan Hydroelectric Project at Barot, calling out the “unscientific dumping” of silt into the Uhl River that has choked its fragile trout ecosystem.
Incidentally, Himachal Pradesh government has already sought return of the project to state from the PSEB, Punjab government, its current owner as its ownership right has long ended.
Hearing CWPIL No. 01 of 2025 (Court on its own motion vs State of Himachal Pradesh & others), a Division Bench of Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi painted a grim picture—trout trapped in what it described as a “perpetual sandstorm,” struggling to breathe and breed in highly turbid waters.
The court noted that desilting was brazenly carried out during the critical breeding season—November to February—despite clear expert warnings and earlier court directions.
The Uhl, a designated cold-water trout habitat of national importance, has suffered repeated ecological shocks due to such violations.
What shocked the Bench further was the scale of pollution. Total Suspended Solids (TSS) downstream spiked from a negligible 3 mg/L to a staggering 2812 mg/L, far breaching the permissible limit of 100 mg/L—effectively turning clear mountain waters into a silt-laden hazard for aquatic life.
The court didn’t hold back. It flagged a pattern of defiance, noting that similar violations had been detected in 2018, when authorities had assured compliance.
“Undertakings have been blatantly violated,” the Bench observed, pointing to systemic negligence and a knee-jerk approach to desilting after years of inaction.
Equally alarming was the failure to maintain even the minimum environmental flow. The project authorities were found not releasing the mandated 15% water downstream, leaving stretches of the river virtually dry and obstructing fish migration during spawning.
Invoking the “polluter pays” principle, the High Court upheld an environmental compensation of ₹12 lakh, directing that the amount be used for ecological restoration, including systematic restocking of Brown and Rainbow Trout in the river.
But the order goes much further—laying down a strict regulatory framework:
No desilting before March 1 each year
Installation of real-time sensors to monitor TSS levels downstream
Mandatory release of at least 15% environmental flow
Constitution of a River Monitoring Committee under the Deputy Commissioner
Time-bound trout restocking programme, with periodic reporting to the court
The Bench made it clear that economic gains cannot trump environmental rights, stressing that power generation cannot come at the cost of rivers and biodiversity.
It also blamed years of neglect in routine desilting for the sudden, large-scale flushing that wreaked havoc downstream.
With the matter now listed for compliance on July 31, 2026, high Court makes it clear that Himachal’s rivers are not dumping channels, and fragile mountain ecosystems will not be sacrificed at the altar of short-term power gains.
#HimachalHighCourt #UhlRiver #SaveTrout #EnvironmentalJustice #HydropowerCrisis