ABSTRACT
The first hydropower project was set up on the river Cauvery, in India, which started transmitting electricity in 1902 to gold mines owned by the consortium of British Companies that were 90 miles away from the power station. The power developers in the public sector failed miserably in the implementation of benefit-sharing mechanisms and taking the local community into confidence in the initial phase. The MoU between the government and NHPC for Teesta V was signed in the year 2000. It enlists all the environmental safeguards stipulated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. About 43" of the upstream/downstream respondents observed that hydropower developers carried out the road construction and electrification in the project areas, in the NHPC colony in Raley and LANCO in Samardung Byasi. Increased rate of pollution due to ever-increasing vehicular movement; traffic congestion; accidents; the impact of tunneling on local water bodies, such as springs; structural damage and cracks to private homes; land subsidence.
