The controversial 2400 mw Tehri Hydro Electric Project has run into fresh trouble with VHP and other groups threatening to block work on the mega project following Uttaranchal government's proposal to shut down two main tunnels that may submerge the Tehri village completely, on March 31.
In a new twist to the on-going controversy over the rehabilitation of 12,000 people living around the dam, Chairman of Tehri Municipal Corporation (TMC) Vijay Singh Panwar and dissident MLA from the area Lakhi Ram Joshi have threatened to disrupt the work to shut down tunnels three and four which are required for operationalising the first phase of the mega project next year.
"We will oppose tooth and nail any attempt to shut down two tunnels on March 31 that would submerge Tehri village completely," Joshi and Panwar, who are leading the campaign for the cause of people living around the dam, said in Dehradun.
The government must first start building infrastructure required to rehabilitate the people still living around the dam, they said immediately after a high-level meeting of the Centre and the State govt over the issue here on Saturday.

With less than a week left for the state government's deadline to shut down the two tunnels on March 31, VHP has also chipped in with its opposition to build Tehri dam. Its president Ashok Singhal has threatened to go on fast unto death saying the dam would pollute the holy Ganga river. Bureau Report