The government seems to be taking one step forward and two backwards when it comes to conservation of the Ganga.

Far from moving ahead on cleaning up the river and maintaining its natural flow, the much delayed meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority on Tuesday provided a forum for pushing the case of hydroelectric dams.

Experts attending the meeting were shocked when Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna batted for construction of more dams on the river and even restarting work on three hydroelectric projects shelved in 2010. The demand was made by him in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was presiding over the meeting in his capacity as chairman of the authority.

The construction work on three dams - Loharinagpala, Bhairoghati and Pala Maneri - on Bhagirathi was stopped following agitation by social and environmental groups in 2010. The decision of the government was ratified in the last meeting in November the same year. Ironically, ratification of this decision was the first item on Tuesday's meeting.

Bahuguna, who is ex-officio member of the Authority, argued that closure of the work on the dams amounted to immense loss to the state, which could not do without hydroelectric projects on various streams of the Ganga. He wanted work on three projects to be restarted. The state, in his view, would become ' unviable' if enough power was not generated through construction of hydroelectric projects on the river.

Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, an environmental engineer himself, asserted that "we can't ignore development" while trying to conserve the river. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said sewage treatment should be taken up on priority irrespective of costs.

In his opening remarks, the PM blamed states for tardy progress on sewage treatment despite availability of adequate funding for creation of additional treatment facilities. States are also poorly performing when it comes to operation and maintenance of existing treatment plants. There is absence of connecting sewerage networks such as branch sewers and house sewer connections.

The two-hour meeting ended abruptly without taking any decision on the listed agenda.

Bahuguna said in a statement that the state cabinet had passed a proposal in support of hydropower projects. It is also opposed to declaration of 135-km-long area between Gomukh and Uttarkashi an eco-sensitive zone.