In one of the first signs of an industrial strife, street protests have begun in the key industrial estate of Haridwar in Uttarakhand which has been plagued by heavy power cuts in the past few days.

After the two-days blackout as a result of grid collapse on July 30-31, the government has resorted to heavy rostering in the industrial areas, a move which is being seen as a measure to avoid its heavy dependency on the northern grid. A group of industrialists at Haridwar held a protest demonstration to highlight their anger against what they termed “complete power breakdown.”

The state-run power generation company Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam (UJVN) has decided to renew a loan of Euro 103 million from KFW, a German financial institution, for modernisation and renovation of six old hydel projects.

The terms and conditions of the loan had expired in 2010, company officials told Business Standard. “Our chairman Subhash Kumar held talks with the Union power secretary P Uma Shanker to renew the loan from KFW,” said UJVN Director (Operation) B C K Mishra.

With the mercury going up in the hills, the momentum of protests are also going in the same direction in Uttarakhand over the issue of hydel projects.

India’s top Public Sector Undertakings and private companies like L&T, Lanco, GMR, GVK, NTPC, THDCIL and UJVN are constructing hydel projects on the Ganga and its tributaries in Garhwal region with potential to generate 10,000 megawatts (mw) of power. These days, there are two different and contradictory protests going on in the hill state — one led by Avdhash Kaushal, a social activist, who wants the early completion of all dams on the Ganga and its tributaries where clearances had already been made.

Jairam Ramesh On World Environment Day today, the central government said it was committed to a

Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (UJVNL) has received nearly 1,000 applications in response to its invitation of bids for micro, mini and small hydel projects under the new power policy.

After the announcement of the

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