plans of the Himachal Pradesh (hp) government to set up the 100-megawatt Sainj hydel project has kicked up a row. Environmentalists feel that the proposed project in the ecosensitive area of Kullu's Great Himalayan National Park (ghnp) would pose the threat of damage to its rich biodiversity.

The national park stretching over 1,170 square kilometres (sq km), houses many endangered species such as the musk deer, blue sheep, snow leopard, Himalayan tahr, goral, Himalayan bear and koklas pheasants. All these will be under tremendous ecological risk due to construction of underground tunnel and link roads cutting through the park.

Although advertisements calling for bids by independent power investors for the project are being brought out, the project has not been given the go-ahead by the departments concerned. Besides, no environmental impact assessment of the proposed project has been conducted so far.