GUWAHATI, Oct 25: The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) staged a protest in Upper Assam on Monday demanding immediate stoppage of construction work on the 2000-MW Lower Subansiri hydro-power project near the Assam-Arunachal border at Gerukamukh in Dhemaji district.
Members of the students’ organisation took out a rally from the Old Government Boys High School playground in Dibrugarh, holding banners and shouting slogans against the mega dam project.
“The panel of experts has already warned against the threat posed by the project to the people in the downstream areas of the Subansiri river in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts. However, the incumbent government has not paid heed to the warning and has allowed construction activities to go on. We therefore demand that the government should immediately stop construction work of the dam,” a member of the Dibrugarh district unit of AASU told mediapersons.
It may be mentioned that AASU and other frontline organisations such as the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti have over the years been strongly opposing construction of the mega dam given the adverse consequences it could have in the downstream areas.
In 2003, the Centre had approved the mega project of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).
Construction at the project site began in 2005 while the project was earlier scheduled to be completed in 2014.
However after completion of 60 percent of work, including the tunnel, dam, power house and other civil work, the project came to a grinding halt in 2011 following stiff opposition from various quarters.
