India, May 21 -- No new dams will be built in the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river basins in Uttarakhand, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has stated in its counter-affidavit filed in a Supreme Court case on May 19, 2026.

Alaknanda Hydro Power Company Limited is the appellant in the case, and Anuj Joshi and others are the respondents.

In the wake of the Kedarnath tragedy of June 2013, the Supreme Court, in its landmark decision on August 13, 2013, barred the grant of environmental or forest clearance to any hydro project in Uttarakhand and directed the MoEFCC to form an expert body. Following the court's direction, Expert Body-I and then Expert Body-II were formed.

"The central government rejected big...