Lives of 701 families are being threatened by the proposed Kishau multipurpose dam project in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand. If constructed, it will be Asia's second highest dam.

The 660 MW dam will be constructed on river Tons that flows along the border of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand for part of its length before entering the plains and finally joining the Yamuna. This entire stretch is covered with forests and rich in biodiversity – rural communities living in the area continue to adopt a traditional and sustainable way of life.

The project will be constructed at an estimated cost of 11,500 crore rupees (as of 2018). While the project had first been conceived in 1963, it did not receive approval for fifty years on grounds of seismic safety and economic unviability. It received a boost in 2013 with the Union Government’s decision to bear 90% of the cost, with the rest being borne by the states benefiting from the project. 

The Kishau dam, once established, is expected to submerge 2950 ha across Uttarakhand (on the left bank of the river) and Himachal Pradesh (on the right bank). Nine villages in Uttarakhand will be affected by the dam. 

The residents of the affected villages have been protesting against the project as the displacement it will cause will negatively affect their livelihoods and traditional lifestyle. The families practice agriculture with livestock rearing. The most fertile land in the area is the flat land adjoining the river which will be submerged. This is a highly productive land and allows for several crops in a year, including cash crops such as ginger. Livestock use common lands and forest area in the region for grazing. Loss of access to this fodder-rich commons will drastically affect the livestock and the livelihoods that depend on those animals. Landless individuals (including members from the Dalit community) who carry out fishing and gather non-timber forest products also stand to lose at least part of their livelihood and an important protein source in their diet.

The local communities claim that the compensation offered cannot replace the loss of fertile lands as well as of commons land. With the loss of the forage lands, resource stress on existing lands will increase. The fear conflicts between the present users of this land and the ‘new’, displaced grazers might also arise. The landless Dalit families of the area who practice tenant farming will lose their livelihoods completely.

Many Dalit families who do not have land entitlements practice tenant farming in the affected villages. If the land holders are resettled as per the government plans, these landless families will be completely deprived of their livelihood and home. 

The local residents have witnessed the trauma and upheaval experienced by those displaced by the Tehri, Renuka, and Lakhwar dams. This has raised concerns about the process and the impact of displacement, despite the compensation offered. The residents on the Himachal side have organised themselves as the ‘Kishau Bandh Sangarsh Samiti’. A report detailing the impact of the dam on the local communities has been also been prepared by Himdhara, a civil society organisation based in Himachal Pradesh.

The Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh governments jointly formed Kishau Corporation Limited in 2017 to implement the project. The task of preparing the revised detailed project report has been awarded to Tracktowel. They were expected to complete the report by January 2024, however, as of May 2024, it was still in progress.

Meanwhile, the project appears to be facing funding constraints. In 2015, the governments of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh signed an MoU to contribute 10% of the cost of the power and irrigation components, while the Centre would provide the remaining 90%. In 2023, an Amar Ujala article stated that 10% of the project cost would be borne by six partner states. However, in January 2024, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh announced that he has requested the Centre to fund the power component on a 90:10 ratio between the Union and the State Governments or an interest-free loan for 50 years.

According to the Kishau Corporation, approval for signing of the agreement among beneficiary states is under progress.

The main objections to the dam include rehabilitation of the displaced communities, loss of biodiversity, and the safety of constructing a 236-metre tall gravity dam in a seismically active area (Srivastava, Vaibhava et al. 2015). Experts say that whether these aspects have been adequately addressed can be determined only after the detailed project report (DPR) is made public.