September 2, 2011
India

Windmills in Rajasthan blowing sand dunes, affecting tourism

The Indian Express, www.indianexpress.com 2 September 2011

Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan on Friday expressed concern over the installation of “cobweb-like” windmills for power generation in their constituencies as these were blowing away sand dunes and driving away tourists.

Addressing their concern, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said during Question Hour that a windmill atlas was being formed and asserted that there was no danger to sand dunes in Barmer region as it had enough sand.

However, Bikaner member Arjun Meghwal, Barmer MP Harish Chaudhary and others were on their feet saying the minister’s contention is wrong as there are not enough sand dunes in the region. They insisted that the windmills were blowing away sand making the place less attractive for tourists.

“We are not here to destroy tourism…. We also want to improve environment,” Abdullah assured the House, and promised to look into the issue.

Jaswant Singh, who belongs to the Jaisalmer region of Rajasthan, told Abdullah that the “huge cobweb-like windmills” in the region were destroying the beauty of the place and affecting tourism.

“There is no power deficiency in the region as the Rampur power plant is supplying enough electricity. We are, in fact, exporting power from there,” Singh said, adding the windmills were not required.

Abdullah assured Singh that no more windmills would be installed in the region.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/02/windmills-in-rajasthan-blowing-sand-dunes-affecting-tourism/