Tehri Project : Disconcerting Findings

Disconcerting Findings Folklore has it that soothsayers warned king Sudershan Shah way back in 1815 that the capital he had built on the banks of the river Bhagirathi that year, Tehri, would not survive more than 200 years. Shah had won his kingdom back from the gorkhas in the battle of Khalanga then, and his descendants continued to rule Garhwal until 1949, when it merged with India. Though imminent for some time now, the submergence of Tehri and its surrounding villages was stalled due to prolonged and resolute protests against the Tehri dam and the incomplete resettlement and rehabilitation of dam oustees. However, with heavy rainfall swelling the waters of the river Bhagirathi, Tehri finally went under on July 30, as water in the reservoir rose past the danger level. Then the collapse of a part of the dam