SHILLONG, Feb 1: Scores of people on Tuesday protested the Brahmaputra Board’s Kulsi Dam project that is feared to affect 35 villages along the disputed border between the Kamrup district of Assam and the West Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi districts of Meghalaya.
Rambrai Jyrngam MLA Kimfa Marbaniang said altogether 35 villages spread across 15.55 sq. km in Assam and 5.5 sq. km in Meghalaya could be wiped out by the project.
“The villagers in that area held a peaceful protest to show their apprehension about the project. They will submit memorandums to the government,” he added.
Marbaniang said that the Brahmaputra Board had drawn up a master plan in 1966 and the Centre approved it in 2005. The detailed project report (DPR) was prepared thereafter but the board has not been able to go ahead with it due to the agitation of the local people and NGOs, he said.
He said Assam had also written to the NHIDCL for realigning the Nongstoin-Rambrai Kyrsai-Chhaygaon road project. But it was declined.
“The Assam government is insisting on it (realignment) and wants a NOC from the Water Resource department, which conducted a survey recently on its feasibility,” the MLA said.
He asserted that the people were strongly against the project. “We have been objecting to this project since 2019. I will take it up with the chief minister so that the Assam government cannot go ahead,” he added.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma had earlier said the state government will take a call on the proposed construction of the Kulsi Dam, deemed a national project along the border with Assam after examining the detailed project report.
He said in the Assembly that vast tracts of land would be submerged and people of both the states would be affected if the dam was constructed.
The state government is yet to issue the no-objection certificate to the Assam-based Brahmaputra Board, which carried out the survey for the Kulsi Dam.
