Sikkim’s Lepcha community is divided into pro- and anti-dam groups

The once close-knit Lepcha community in North Sikkim is being torn apart over the issue of hydel projects on the Teesta and its tributaries. The rift within this Himalayan tribe has worsened in the wake of the scrapping of four projects in the Lepcha Protected Area of Dzongu.

Following a year of protests and hunger strikes by Lepcha activists, the state government in June agreed to cancel four projects in Dzongu. But Chief Minister P K Chamling refused to call off two larger, more controversial projects, saying the “majority of the people want it”.

Dawa Lepcha of the Affected Citi-zens of Teesta (act), the group leading anti-dam protests, termed Chamling’s decision to cancel four projects a “bold green” one, but pointed out that they fell within the Kangchendzonga National Park and could have been challenged in court.

	“If the government takes our land our future will be dark. If the projects are scrapped then the division between our people too will end." Likden Lepcha, President of Dzongu’s monk body
	“A lot of us feel that the state should go slow on these projects, but few want to speak out because there’s no room for healthy discussion.” Chukie Tobden, Member, Concerned Citizens of Sikkim

Dawa said act would continue its “satyagraha” until the 300 mw Panan project and the 495 mw Teesta IV project were also stopped. (These projects are yet to be cleared by the Central Electricity Authority, which returned Teesta IV’s detailed project report in June, citing inadequate investigation into the project’s feasibility.)

Anti-dam activists have been demanding the state government review its plans for 27 hydel projects in the state and at the very least cancel six projects in and around Dzongu, the last bastion of the Lepchas.

But not everyone in Dzongu wants the projects gone and differing opinions have soured relations within the community. “Dzongu isn’t what it used to be. Our families are fighting each other,” said Gyatso Lepcha, a young act activist. “When my uncle who’s pro-projects walks by, we don’t even look at each other. It’s painful.”

Pro-projects villagers say the dams will bring development to the area and improve their lot. “Our children need jobs. Already our boys are getting unskilled jobs at project sites. Dzongu can’t remain in darkness forever,” said Choden Lepcha, Dzongu’s milk board chairman. “I don’t know much about environmental impact, but the government has assured us that the dams will be safe,” said Kadzangmu Lepcha, a panchayat member in Dzongu’s Pasendang village. “The projects will only do us good.”

Anti-projects villagers say many people don’t speak out against the dams because they fear reprisals from the Sikkim Democratic Front that has been in power for 14 years. “Almost every family in Sikkim has a member who’s a government employee and few want to put their jobs at risk,” said Loden Lepcha, who runs a primary school in Dzongu.

The mostly run-of-the-river projects proposed on the flood-prone Teesta and its tributaries—part of the Indo-Mayanmar biodiversity hot spot—have raised concerns among environmentalists regarding their cumulative impact on the landslide- and earthquake-prone Himalayan landscape. The Teesta River Valley system sustains several tribal and indigenous communities, including the Lepchas, Bhutias, Sherpas and Nepali ethnic groups, who have traditional natural resource-based livelihoods.

“The state should go slow on these projects. Why not first study how the new Teesta Stage V dam at Dikchu works?” asks Chukie Tobden of the Concerned Citizens of Sikkim, a group that campaigned against the Rathong Chu hydel project in the 1990s and is now supporting the act initiative. The Dikchu dam in North Sikkim, inaugurated last year, is in trouble. The protection wall of its reservoir collapsed twice in June following incessant rain and silt build-up and the project had to stop operations for seven weeks.

Environmental concerns aside, Lepcha activists say the projects in Dzongu, their sacred land, are a threat to the Lepcha identity. They worry the projects would lead to an influx of outsiders and that would marginalize Lepchas in this last bit of land reserved for them. But with the current rift within their community it seems the Lepcha sense of identity also stands threatened from within.