From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: After they had succeeded in bringing the construction at the NHPC’s 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro-electric Project at Gerukamukh in Dhemaji district of Assam, the anti-dam brigade comprising several organisations were on Thursday called for negotiation by Assam government in Guwahati.
The anti-dam agitation has brought the construction to a grinding halt at the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) at Gerukamukh in since last month by blocking transportation of construction materials, and turbine parts to the dam site.
The five-member group of ministers of Assam government today held negotiation with Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS),All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and several tribal organisations who are opposed to construction of Mega dams on rivers flowing through Assam apprehending catastrophic downstream impact on lives and property in Assam valley.
Coming out the discussion with Assam government ministers and senior officials the KMSS general secretary Akhil Gogoi who is the spearhead of the anti-dam movement said though the Assam government ministers did not agree to the decision to continue with blockade against movement of construction materials, machinery and turbine parts to the NHPC dam site and neither assured not to use police force to crush the democratic movement against dams.
He said, “The KMSS and its allies will continue to block movement of construction materials to the NHPC dam site but will allow transport of food stuff for NHPC officials and their families, limited quantity of diesel to light up residential quarters and offices in NHPC site at Gerukamukh.”
The Assam government also expressed its inability to facilitate a dialogue between the anti-dam agitators bodies and the NHPC authorities though the government expressed concern about proposed construction of over 150 dams in the upstream of rivers in Arunachal Pradesh.
The KMSS leader said it would not allow further construction of the mega dam at Gerukamukh unless the NHPC carry out advance cumulative assessment of downstream impact of the project that is being constructed in a seismically sensitive location.
It also demanded a cost-benefit analysis regarding the project and a detail basin study.
An Assam government spokesman informed that it was just beginning of the process of negotiation with the ant mega dam organisations.
There will be a series of discussion on the issue till it is resolved.
Earlier, an expert group comprising experts from Indian Institute of Technology (Guwahati), Gauhati University and Dibrugarh had recommended against construction of a mega dam at Gerukamukh along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary in view of geological and seismological sensitivity of the area.
The eight member expert group was entrusted with the responsibility to carry out detail downstream impact study of the 2000 MW hydroelectric power project where construction of the main dam had been started by the NHPC without carrying out the downstream impact study.
The expert committee in its recommendations on the feasibility and the safety of the dam said, “The selected site for the mega dam of the present dimension was not appropriate in such a geologically and seismologically sensitive location. The seismic design parameter is not properly chosen for the project. Therefore, it is recommended not to construct the mega dam in the present site.”
Further, the expert group suggested not to consider the geologically young and tectonically unstable Himalayan foothill areas to the south of the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) for construction of any mega hydropower project.
It may be mentioned that not only the mega dam in question, but also all the 165 dam projects that are proposed to be constructed on rivers in Arunachal Pradesh hills are located in the seismically unstable Lesser Himalayan region.