Renuka Dam in troubled waters

Delhi’s water scarcity problems were supposed to be solved after the completion of Rs 2700-crore Renuka Dam in Himachal Pradesh. However, the project is running in troubled waters after the affected families have rejected the compensation being offered to them by the Himachal Government.
The residents feel that the compensation is “too meagre” and even local NGOs in the area are resisting the present structure of the dam. For a 24-kilometre long water reservoir a 148-m high and 430-m wide dam is being built to store water from Giri Ganga river in Himachal. If deadlines are met then the dam, which is primarily being built for storing water in the reservoir so that Delhi’s drinking water needs are taken care of, will be complete by 2014.
However, if the state government of Himachal falters in acquisition of the land, then the project can get delayed for years altogether. The state government has allocated the ambitious Renuka Dam Hydro Electric Project to the H.P. Power Corporation for execution in a time bound manner.

The Agitation
The affected families have now formed an organization Renuka Bandh Sangharsh Samiti (RBSS), and are now protesting the land acquisition. The organization alleges that project is being implemented keeping the local people in the dark. Convener of RBSS, Yogendra Kapila says, “The state government has just given a lollypop in the name of compensation. They haven’t built a resettlement colony for the displaced families. How are we supposed to leave our homes? Moreover, around 80 per cent of farmers have areas that are less then five bighas, means compensation package of roughly Rs 10 lakh. The local farmers can hardly buy a land to build a house there, if you go by market rates.”
Kapila also feels that, “if we are leaving our land so that people of Delhi can drink water, we should be given compensation according to the land rates prevalent there.”

Himachal Optimistic
HP Power Corporation MD Tarun Kapoor, however, is optimistic that the issue will be resolved with the affected people and the dam work will be awarded to the contractor by June 2009.
"We are in talks with the Sangharsh Samiti and those affected by the project. The process of land acquirement is on and some people have already given their land," he said.
The government if offering a price of Rs 50,000 per bigha of uncultivable land, Rs 1.5 lakh per bigha of un-irrigated cultivable land and Rs 2.5 lakh per bigha of irrigated cultivable land. The samiti is very cooperative in talks and we are hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon," Kapoor said.
After the work is awarded in June 2009, the work should start by September/October, he said.
Regarding people transferring land, the RBSS Convener says, “These are only local property dealers who, eyeing an opportunity, had bought land at cheap rates long time back. Since it would be of no use to them now, they transferred the land.”
The RBSS is holding its meeting on January 10, where villagers from all 32 villages are coming together. “On this day we will discuss the strategy and chalk out a roadmap regarding our agitation. We will hold a huge rally and then start a countrywide agitation,” says Kapila.

Delhi keeping fingers crossed
However, Delhi government is hopeful that the local government in Himachal would be able to resolve the problem. "The Renuka Dam project is right on track and it should get ready by 2014," Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta told Metro Now.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests has already given its clearance and work on the dam will start soon, he said.
Wherever there is displacement, there is protest. But not many people are being displaced by the Renuka project. Those few hundreds being displaced are being suitably rehabilitated, he said.
The Himachal government is making the displaced people aware that they are not at loss. "For this they need some time. The protest should not be a big problem. We will meet the officials in Himachal by April again," Mehta said.
The dam, on Giri Ganga River, will offer a storage capacity of 542 million cubic meters of water and an installed capacity of 40 MW of power and will supply Delhi with an additional 275 MGD of water. The dam has been planned keeping in mind the requirements of the Master Plan for Delhi -2021.
Water from the Dam will be brought into the Yamuna through the Giri; it will then be released at the Hathni Kund barrage and from there passed into the Munak Channel and finally brought to the Capital.

Families affected
The protest of these displaced families can take gigantic proportions as according to local panchayat register, only 450 families in 32 villages covering 1,630 hectare of land are registered, however the actual number of families in these 32 villages is much more than 1,600.
The villagers are also protesting about the construction of three tunnels near the holy Renukaji lake. “For the construction of the tunnels, blasting will take place. The tunnels just 350-metre away from the lake and thus the holy lake as well as shrine of Lord Parashuram can be in danger. Even the dam is being built very close to the lake. It can be a disaster,” adds Kapila.

NGOs too join in
The agitating farmers too have got support from a Himachal-based NGO Himalaya Niti Abhiyan whose Chairman is Kulbhushan Upmanyu. Upmanyu who started Chipko movement in Himachal and a close confidante of Sunder Lal Bahuguna, says, “We are not opposing the dam. The dam is of national importance. However, the compensation that has been decided is very nominal. With that money, farmers won’t be able to buy land elsewhere. Even if a villager gets Rs 2.5 lakh per bigha for fertile irrigated land per bigha, the minimum rate to buy an unirrigated land in Himachal is Rs 10-12 lakh.”
Upmanyu is opposing the height of the dam. “If you keep the height of the dam below 100 metres, lot of flora and fauna would be saved. We demand a study to be conducted on the ecological destruction of the region due to the dam’s construction. Moreover the destruction of forest wealth due to the reservoir will harm the survival needs of the local residents,” he says.
The NGO is also of the viewpoint that farmer’s income is in perpetuity through farming. However, once he gets the money after selling land, after sometime it will finish and they won’t have any source of income. Farmers are not trained money managers. And with the amount of money they are getting, they won’t be able to become farmer’s again.
“We’ll wait and see what happens on January 10, when the agitating farmers ups its ante against the local goevrment,” said Upmanyu.

Out of tihar, arms dealer shoots babes

Flamboyant playboy, who also dabbles in multi-crore-rupee arms deals, Abhishek Verma is finally in his element — in the company of playgirls. Verma, who till recently kept residence in Delhi’s Tihar Central Jail, can now be found in the company of gorgeous blonde models. It may seem as if he is having fun, but this time, it is all about work.
Verma, who is well known for his love for alabaster-skinned blondes — remember he was engaged to a former Miss Universe runnerup from Greece — is working hard to find the right beauties to feature in his calendar. That is right, the maverick son of literary and politician parents who gained notoriety for his suspect business dealings and love for fast cars and hot chicks, now wants to be like Vijay Mallya, who in turn is accused of being a Richard Branson wannabe. Verma wants a calendar to beat Mallya’s Kingfisher offerings.
Two of the shortlisted models, Nicoleta Macarencu and Susana Musat, are from Romania. Work is in full swing at a suburban hotel where the two girls are showing their mettle — and skin — near the pool. They have already finished shooting in Kolkata.
For starters, 22-year-old Nicoleta is no novice to covers and centre-spreads having graced the covers of lad mags Playboy and FHM. Susana has also done some campaigns in Europe for upmarket designers and editorials in fashion magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Tatler.
The calendar will be produced by Abhishek’s company Atlas Group and will be launched and distributed by invitation only to the company’s corporate clients and VIPs after its launch in January 2009. The 2009 Atlas swimsuit calendar will be shot in Delhi, Kolkata and Goa.
Nikhil Oberoi, from the Atlas Group, said, “Six international models will feature in this calendar which will be shot by renowned fashion photographers Gilles Gagnan from France and Rana Bose. Bose has already shot the two Romanian models this weekend in Kolkata.”
He also explained the choice of Romanian models as the company does good business in that country. The company has a joint venture in telecom sector in Romania hence the two Romanian models for the first stage of the shoot. The Atlas Group is trying to rope in models from countries where it has a presence.
This is not Verma’s first foray into the world of bikini babes. He had tried his hand at calendars in 2005 with Delhi photographer Rohit Chawla. But now, he wants the exclusive and exotic calendars to be a regular feature every year. “For 2009 calendar, the theme is swimsuits. And we have models coming from Sweden, Czech Republic and Ukraine in November. After Kolkata and Delhi, Goa will be the next destination for the shoot and the French photographer Gilles too will be flown in then,” says Oberoi.
Taking inspiration from the Pirelli calendar, Verma’s company is aiming to break the barriers next year and take the shoot to more exotic locations abroad. And well, next year the theme would be different from this year’s swimsuit version.
On their first trip to India, the two models are thrilled to be here. Nicoleta, who is pursuing her degree in Journalism, says, “At 22, I am too old for modeling now, so I need to focus on my career after modeling and hence a course in journalism. In our country we start modeling pretty early. I started at 14.”
Last year Nicoleta was Romania’s Miss Bikini of the Year and after that she shot to fame with her picture on the cover of the Playboy magazine in Romania. Having walked the ramp at the Milan and Paris fashion weeks, Nicoleta finds India beautiful and the weather too good in contrast to the cool climes of Bucharest. She is dying to see the Taj Mahal.
About the shoot, she says, “I loved the pictures which Rana took in Kolkata. It’s very good stuff and I want to be featured in the summer months in the calendar as I love summers.”
Although she couldn’t meet any Indian models, Nicoleta finds Indian women beautiful. “I love the way they wear a saree, and I too have shopped quite a bit of sarees to wear back home,” she adds. The only thing she that did not agree with the model was the food – being too spicy. This is for the first time that Nicoleta is shooting for a calendar.
Unlike Nicoleta, Susana has modeled in many calendars. She too, had started early, becoming a pro at the age of 14. “I had a nice experience shooting in India. I found the people involved in the project very talented and professionals to the core,” she said.

BMW: Being rich a bane for Sanjeev Nanda

Is Sanjeev Nanda paying for the crime of drunken driving committed nine years ago on a foggy Delhi winter morning or is he being punished for being rich, driving a BMW and first trying to buy forgiveness and then the entire justice system? The collective middle class conscience may say he is being served his just desserts but for those who know him, it is simple a case of really bad luck.
Grandson of former Naval chief Admiral SM Nanda, Sanjeev is one of the two children born to Suresh Nanda. The fact that he was born with a silver spoon became his nemesis as he became the target of the media.
A regular Delhi lad, Sanjeev studied at the Modern School and then moved to University of Pennsylvania to do his graduation. He shifted to Paris to do his masters in Business Management at Insead, one of the world's leading graduate business schools.
Unfortunately he couldn't complete the course as just days before returning to his university, Sanjeev and his friends met with the accident.
The German automaker must thank him as BMW, after this accident, became a household name in India. In 1999, only a select few could buy a BMW. The fact that a rich kid was driving it made it all the more a high profile case. Had he been driving a Maruti or an Ambassador car, he would have just got a passing reference in the list of road accidents. As the case progressed, Nanda become synonymous with the Bollywood rich kid image of being a spoilt brat, partying all night and drinking while driving.
Up close, his friends paint a different picture altogether. People who know him, just can't believe it. "He is such a well-behaved, soft spoken boy and a perfect gentleman. What has happened to him is too harsh. In hindsight, it seems, that since the accident, he has changed. He quit drinking after the accident and in all the parties that he attends, he kept to himself and always maintained a low profile," says a close friend on conditions of anonymity.
Sanjeev was first arrested in January 10, 1999 and he spent nine months in Tihar Jail. Obviously he couldn't complete his MBA from Insead, but that did not make him bitter. During his nine-month stay in jail, Sanjeev acted the good Samaritan and volunteered to teach computers to inmates. By the time he got bail, he was labeled the 'Computer Master' at Tihar.
The nine-year-long case took its toll on Sanjeev. He lost the youthfulness of a 20-year-old. Although the Nandas paid hefty compensations to the victims, his "rich-kid and spoilt-brat" image made him a villain. For nine years, he tried hard to shake off his identity as Sanjeev Nanda, the BMW guy.
According to his family members, "Sanjeev became recluse because every time people addressed him as a 'BMW' guy, he felt he was being punished. The conviction may have come today, but Sanjeev Nanda has been punished everyday for nine years. If you see his images in the year of the accident – you will see a Sanjeev with a full head of hair. Nine years later, he has lost it all."
Being rich, a bane
Coming from an affluent family, the Nandas tried all the machinations and intrigues to win the case. However, it proved futile as the rich and the mighty in this country cannot be set free. Sanjeev 's affluence and the imported car that he was driving turned out to be his nemesis. Whoever has met Sanjeev, believes that he has been punished more than enough. He was in Tihar for nine months and after that for nine years the case hung over his head as a sword, prohibiting him from leading a normal life.

Naresh Iyer rocks!

Although a year late, but it was worth the wait for young singing sensation and AR Rahman’s protégé Naresh Iyer. The ‘Super’ singer was chatting on the internet catching up with his friends at his Matunga flat in Mumbai when the news broke in that he has won the National Film Awards, 2005 for best playback singing for Rang De Basanti’s ‘Roobaru’.

In fact Roobaru was his debut song and as a debutant he boasts of sharing the credits for the song with AR Rahman and now this song has won him a national award. Due to litigation in Delhi High Court, the announcement of the 2005 National Awards were on hold until it was finally cleared and announced in August 2007, almost a year late.

“News was in the air that I was getting it. But I was anxiously waiting for announcement. Main thing for me was that the song was doing well. I was confident that I will get the award, but with this official stamp on the song, I can say that mission is accomplished. There’s a sense of completeness in this song now,” he says.

The 26-year-old, however, doesn’t forget to share the credit for success of his song. “I thank AR Rahman sir who has guided me throughout my journey. Also I want to thank Raakesh Omprakash Mehra and lyricist Prasoon Joshi who banked on a debutant like me for this song. Actually all credit should go to them, as they were the one to tolerate a newcomer like me.”

Recalling the incident of him accidentally getting to sing Roobaru, Iyer says, “It was at 4.20 am after almost 12 hours of tiring recording session, that Rahman sir asked me to sing Roobaroo. I never knew that my version would be used for the movie. I was dead tired, but who would miss such an opportunity? I recorded the song but made a mistake in two lines. Though Rahman sir was supposed to sing the whole track himself later, when the film's music was released, I came to know that he had used my track. The part where I had made a mistake was sung by him and thus I got to share credit for this song with him. This was my first Hindi film and I can just thank my stars for this."

However, stardom for Naresh has mostly come in the southern parts of India as being a Rahman protégé, Naresh is mostly involved in regional language films. “In Hindi, I would be singing for the movie Woodstock Villa and I have sung couple of hindi songs for Rahman sir’s upcoming movie, although I don’t know the name of the movie,” he says. “Last one year has been quite busy. I have been traveling a lot meeting a lot of people and I hardly get time to spend with myself and my family members. Me and my mum both miss each other,” he says.

In fact Naresh was doing a course in Chartered Accountancy before being spotted by AR Rahman in Channel V’s Super Singer talent hunt. Although Naresh didn’t win the show, but Rahman found his protégé in him and the rest as they say is history.

“I should thank my family as they supported in my endeavours. They were very cooperative and showed no resistance at all when I ventured out to become a singer. Success is not easy in creative field but they stood behind me. Moreover, my granny wanted me to become a singer. Had she been alive, she would have been happy.”

Being a playback singer has its own disadvantages since visibility is nil or very less. But Naresh seems to be lucky enough. “Down South, I get called up for lots of television shows. I make it a point to be visible enough for people to recognize me. But visibility or no visibility, one has to take all in your stride,” he quips.
However, what may surprise you is despite being a singer, Naresh Iyer hardly listens to music. “I am not an ardent listener at all. I just listen sometimes to catch up with the latest style of singing and music. Although I love MLTR,” he says.

Wagah-Attari: Celebrating 60 years of Freedom

After a successful launch of his second album – Jhoomo Re — singer Kailash Kher is gearing up for another musical spectacle at the Wagah-Attari border as part of celebrations for the 60 years of India and Pakistan’s independence.

“I would be performing along with AR Rahman. Rahman once sang Gurus of Peace along with the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. This time I would be jamming with Rahman for the rendition of this song,” says Kailash Kher. Apart from the two, Sivamani would be performing in the concert.

The concert is being organized by Friends Without Borders in conjunction with Routes to Roots. The main attraction of the concert is that singers will perform from two stages — one in India and one in Pakistan — to be set on either side of the border on August 14.

Among the Pakistani musicians, great Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shafqat Amanat Ali and Atif Aslam would be performing from across the Wagah border. The concert would be hosted by celebrities include Bollywood great Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Wasim Akram and Shainne Malik.

“It’s a novel concept and I am honoured to be a part of it,” says Kher. “This concert is an effort to bind the two countries together with music. When there is no line in the hearts, then why should be there on land. If there’s a line on one’s heart, then the person gets a heart attack. Just think what will happen to land when people draw line on it to divide it,” he adds.

In fact, Kher is excited about singing rendition of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, as he idolizes him. “I am greatly inspired by his selection of the lyrics. I am a sufi singer too, but when it comes to listening it’s just Nusratji. I don’t listen to other singers. I am happy that Sufi has gained much acceptance now. It is the newest flavour of music and has a blend of spiritual as well as entertainment.”