One can well imagine the sentiments of the present and past residents of Tehri Town at this moment of its death. It is indeed a sad moment, for, in a few months, the Capital of the erstwhile State of Tehri Garhwal, and many of its villages, will disappear forever in the waters of River Bhagirathi, never to be seen again. People of this ancient town are coming from all over the country and even from outside, to have a last glimpse of the town, perhaps to see for the last time the house they were born in, the rooms they knew so well, where they slept in the comfort of their mother’s and grandmother’s arms, and the courtyard they spent their childhood playing in, disappear for ever in the watery grave, leaving only their memories to them. Sad! But then life itself is such.

We must not, however, dwell too much on the past, but look to the future with hope now. In a few months time the area will become a vast expanse of water, surrounded by mountains. The huge reservoir being created by the Tehri Dam, many square kilometers in area, surrounded by these beautiful mountains, will become an ideal place for development into a tourist haven in the years to come. There will be infinite scope for water sports like boating and sailing, boating excursions, angling, and such other recreational activities, besides, of course, trekking and mountaineering. For the easy going, it will be just the place for leisure and relaxation in the salubrious clime of the hills, overlooking the vast expanse of water, or on a luxury boat on the lake itself. The possibilities are endless. An added advantage is that the area falls almost at the centre of the pilgrimage routes to Gangotri, Yamnotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, and it can serve ideally as a base for the devout to visit these shrines. But in the end, dreams will remain just dreams unless work is done to realise them.

The weakest part of all our development work lies in indifferent planning and careless implementation. New Tehri is an example of this. Along with the aim of relocating Government offices and quarters from Tehri town, and rehabilitation of the Dam oustees in the new location, thought should have been given to its holistic development as a well-planned beautiful township, but that was not thought of. It has no parks, no tree lined avenues, no malls, no walkways, no playgrounds, no gardens, and no open spaces. For the amount of money that has been spent in its development, a small hill station with all requisite infrastructure and facilities could have been easily created, instead of the solid concrete jungle on a denuded hillside, devoid of any aesthetics, as it is now.

This must not be allowed to happen in the case of the development of the Tehri Dam lake area. With all its potential, there are many things that need to be planned first for the development of the area. The foremost among them is restoration of the forest cover on the hills in the area, and the creation of infrastructure to facilitate its development. Right now the hills around the developing water body are generally bald, devoid of forest cover, which deprives them of their natural beauty. Required infrastructure has to be created in the whole area around the developing reservoir, such as roads, power lines, water supply, etc, for its development, and for attracting the necessary investment from the tourism industry. The whole concept will take, at a conservative estimate, anything from 10 to 30 years to come up. To make it happen within the estimated time, however, survey and planning will need to start right away so that a detailed blueprint can be ready in the near future for work to commence. The planners would need to be visionary, imaginative and realistic. They would need to keep in mind a holistic development of the area - encompassing the social, economic, cultural, and geological aspect as well, such as planning of run-off water drains on the hillsides to stabilise them where townships are planned. It would be a sound idea if the Government of Uttaranchal forms a cell in the administration to act as a think-tank for the development of the Tehri Dam lake area. It can be given the task of studying all aspects of development of the area, and for preparing a feasibility report based on its study.

The Tehri Dam has caused immense injustice, suffering, and grief to the people of Tehri Town and poor villagers of Tehri Garhwal, who have sacrificed their ancestral lands, properties, and homes to the waters of the Bhagirathi, all for the sake of the country. The Governments, both at the Centre and the State, owe it to the people of the area to give them back something beautiful, beneficial and worthwhile in return. It is within their power to do so, and they must not spare any effort to see that this is done.