Fateh Singh from Jaunsar-Bhabhar here points to a valley on the brink of losing its serenity. If a cement company finalises its plan to set up a plant in the valley, land in 10 villages nestling in it will be acquired. The people in these habitations believe that if the plant comes up, they will lose their sole vocation, agriculture, and water source, a stream that flows into the Tons river. Last December, the State government announced that UltraTech Cement would invest Rs. 5,000 crore to set up a plant at Tyuni in Dehradun district and another at Someshwar in Almora and issued a letter of intent to the company. The government and the company are yet to sign a memorandum of understanding. “UltraTech has been given three years to survey the land in the two regions … The initial survey is going on. Only after the survey will the company know if cement units are feasible in the proposed areas,” Sanjay Rawat, Additional General Manager (Civil), State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand, says. The local people, activists and environmentalists have objected to the plan. “A cement plant will be detrimental to the fertile land, water and ecosystem of the region and the health of the people,” says Chetan Singh Chauhan of Kalsi tehsil at Jaunsar-Bhabhar, who leads a movement against the plant. An application filed by Chandrashekhar Kargeti invoking the Right to Information Act last December got the reply that the company would require 1,926 hectares of land at Tyuni and 519 hectares in Someshwar. “After hearing about the cement factories, we submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Harish Rawat in February, requesting him to cancel the plan for the cement plants,” says Shamsher Singh Bisht of Almora, a member of the Chipko Andolan and the Uttarakhand Andolan. “Water flow in the Kosi river [which flows through Someshwar] reduced from 780 litres per second in 1995 to 70 litres per second in 2012,” the memorandum says. The upper catchment area of the river falls in the place where the cement plant has been proposed. Dr. Bisht says 350 villages and more than 12 towns depend on the Kosi for water. “Officials from the cement plant visited our village a few months ago. They spoke to all families that would be affected by the plant,” says Chand Ram of Kistoor, a village in Tyuni tehsil. The officials promised jobs and compensation in exchange for land, he adds. An UltraTech source, who does not wish to be named, says the company will provide employment to 1,000 people from Tyuni and Someshwar. Mr. Chauhan and Dr. Bisht allege that the company had put some local people on a payroll to influence others and gather support for the factories. If a cement company finalises its plan to set up a plant in the valley, land in 10 villages nestling in it will be acquired