Five people were killed as heavy rains pounded Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, triggering landslides and flash floods, damaging houses and paralysing normal life with authorities ordering the closure of schools and colleges for two days.
Two landslides in Kinnaur last summer which claimed 22 lives have made the local population more aware of the ecological dangers posed by hydropower projects, such as the proposed Jangi Thopan Powari project.
No means, No is a powerful slogan coined by the locals in Kinnaur supported by some social and environmental groups to stop sanctioning of any new hydel projects, almost on the lines of Uttarakhand’s famous “Chipko anadolan” – a mass movement to save the forests there .