Earlier the glacier was near Gangotri, but now it is 19 kms away. It has receded 800 metres in just four years. Bahaguna feels that any exploitation of the rivers should be to serve the people in the area. On the plains the well off use 246 litres. This is legalized robbery.
Water is a national resource.
What is dividing us is that we are asking that water should be taken to the people, whilst they want the opposite. The district centre for the Tehri, instead of being in Tehri, will end up in Meerut on the plains, hundreds of miles away. I see no justice in taking the water to grow sugar cane, or to fill swimming pools. Spending money on big dams is another blunder, he says. If the planners have their way, the Ganga as you see it in the hills today will disappear either by being dammed or in tunnels.