On August 17, 2009, a number of persons and organisations sent a letter to TERI and chairperson and members of jury panel that decides the award, saying that NHPC does not deserve the TERI 2009 award for environment excellence that was given to NHPC by the President of India on June 5, 2009. Two main reasons were cited in the letter: in case of URI project, where NHPC claimed to have achieved excellence in environment management, an
earlier independent evaluation showed that NHPC had not even completed works as required under statutory and prudent environment requirements. Moreover, NHPC has poor track record on environment issues. Some facts were also included in the letter only by way of illustration and not as exhaustive listing. The case made out in the petition was substantiated when on August 21, 2009, the Himachal Pradesh High Court asked NHPC to stop work on the Parbati II hydropower projects for violation of environment norms. We are giving here the contents of the letter in the interest of transparency and participation by others.