NGT halts Tawang hydro power project

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has suspended the Union Environment Ministry’s clearance for the Rs. 6,400-crore hydro power project in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. The clearance by the centre was granted in 2012.

Why?

This move was particularly aimed at protecting the vulnerable black-necked crane in the region.

Background:

The project was planned on the Nyamjang Chhu river and was the largest of 13 hydro power projects to be built in the Tawang basin.

About the species:

• Black-necked crane is a species that breeds on the Tibetan plateau and migrates to Tawang for the winter.
• The bird, most commonly found in China, is legally protected in Bhutan and India and is considered sacred to certain Buddhist traditions.
• It is rated as ‘vulnerable’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of endangered species.
•  It is also listed in India’s Wildlife Act as a Schedule 1 species, which gives animals and birds the highest legal protection.

Other species that are found in the region include the red panda, the snow leopard and the Arunachal macaque Macaca munzala, a recently-described primate species in the area.