While Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to stress on the need for achieving a balance between development and environmental conservation, companies involved in construction of hydro electricity projects in Uttarakhand continue to flout norms to the detriment of the environment. One such company— the Hindustan Construction company working on the Pipalkoti-Vishnugad power project, is openly dumping debris in the Alaknanda river at Helang while the authorities turn a blind eye. Locals point out that continued dumping of muck in the river by the company has altered the channel of the river which would prove detrimental to the river ecology and increase the risk of disaster. When questioned about this, the Nanda Devi national park divisional forest officer questioned the reason for the media focusing on anomalies in construction of power projects. It is pertinent to mention here that various companies involved in construction and implementation of different power projects across the State are often accused of flouting various norms, especially by dumping muck and debris into the river in stead of dumping these at the designated site. The dumping of debris in the Alaknanda at Helang by the Hindustan Construction company has narrowed the width of the river channel at this place however the authorities have not yet taken any concrete action against this serious violation. It will be recalled that the Rithwik Projects Private Limited handling the construction of barrage and de-silting chamber (balancing works) package for Tapovan Vishnugad HEP was penalised in the past by the Forest Department for dumping debris in the Dhauliganga river. However, in most cases it has been observed that the authorities take some action against the violations only after reports are published in the media. This correspondent phoned the Nanda Devi national park DFO, Rajiv Dhiman to question him on the dumping of debris in Alaknanda. The DFO questioned the correspondent as to why the media was focusing only on power projects when even the Border Roads Organisation is dumping debris in rivers. When the Joshimath sub divisional magistrate AK Nautiyal was informed about the dumping of muck in the Alaknanda, he did talk of taking action against the company. However, as seen in the past, the officials limit such action to penalising the company in question without bothering to ensure that the violation is not repeated.