A conference of non-government organisations pursing environment issues at Reckong Peo has called for a moratorium on all hydro power projects proposed to be constructed in the geologically fragile Kinnaur district. The conference was held in the wake of the disaster caused by heavy rain in June this year. Those attending it asserted that massive construction activity being carried out for power projects was responsible for aggravating the scale of disaster in June. A memorandum was finalised and endorsed by hundreds of people from across the district. They demanded that Kinnaur district should be declared a disaster-affected area in view of the massive destruction caused by heavy rain and snow. They expressed concern over the reckless and unplanned development being undertaken in the tribal district. The memorandum would to be submitted to the Governor and the Chief Minister. The conference was organised by the Him Lok Jagriti Manch, a local environment and rights group, in collaboration with the Himdhara, a Palampur-based environment research and action group. Ranjit Singh Negi of the manch said Kinnaur was affected by unprecedented rain and snow like Uttarakhand, but the government failed to declare the area as a disaster-affected area like the neighbouring state. The memorandum demanded parity in the quantum of relief and compensation being provided to victims with Uttarakhand. It was pointed out that the relief provided in Uttarakhand was almost thrice compared to the relief in Himachal Pradesh. Soumya Dutta, a climate change expert from Delhi, said scientific studies had indicated that such extreme climatic incidents would increase in frequency and intensity in the future and the government and the public had to be prepared to cope with disasters. The memorandum suggested a survey of landslide-affected areas by a team of geologists, immediate repairs of damaged roads and making controlled blasting mandatory for all road and hydro power projects. The memorandum pointed to the grave risk to national security posed by the construction of power projects on the Sutlej close to the Chinese border. Such projects would be soft targets for the adversary and contribute to making the road network unsafe for traffic, it added.