With the Congress Party back to power with a comfortable majority, there now appears a shift in Assam government’s position vis-a-vis the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro Electric Project (LSHEP) of NHPC Ltd, which is facing fierce opposition in Assam for perceived threat to downstream areas.
The Congress government, which prior to assembly elections had tread a cautious path, has now come out in favour of the project in unequivocal terms, although it said experts should look into the concerns raised.
On Thursday, Assam’s power minister, Pradyut Bordoloi, said the project will be commissioned by 2014 and the state government will “facilitate” bringing back the turbines, which were sent back last year due to opposition from various groups and organisations in the state.
Bordoloi had in 2010 said that “only when we (government of Assam) are fully convinced and comfortable that the proposed dam will not have any adverse impact on downstream Assam, we will sign the MoU with NHPC.” But today there was change in tone a tenor of Bordoloi. When Business Standard asked if the position of the state government was the same as taken last year, Bordoloi On Thursday said: “We are working on power-sharing agreement with NHPC and when we arrive at it, we will sign the MoU.” He also added that even if Assam government did not sign the MoU, NHPC Ltd. could go ahead and construct the dam in Assam as the state government had given it NOC (no objection certificate) in 2000-2002.
“The government of India and the NHPC have told us that the project will be ready for commissioning by 2014,” said Bordoloi. He added that the work on the project was progressing at a good pace.
He dismissed charges that the state government was working hand in glove with the “dam lobby”. “We are not slaves of Bandh lobby. We are working for the betterment of the state and had neither and will never surrender to Bandh lobby,” said Bordoloi.
Bordoloi cited examples of various mega dams worldwide, including the Grand Coulee dam on river Columbia in the US, to support the premise that dams had been constructed worldwide and thus should not be objected in Assam or North-East if constructed scientifically. He said the Planning Commission has constituted a two member ‘technical expert committee’ on 12 January 2011, to look into the concerns raised by a state level expert committee last year. Chandrakant Damodar Thatte and MS Reddy, both former secretaries of Union water resource department, will be the members of the committee. However, Bordoloi could not give any satisfactory answer as to why the state government could not ask for suspension of work at the site till experts allayed all fears. The state level expert committee had last year expressed concerns and reservations over mega dams being developed in upper reaches of river Brahmaputra and particularly against Lower Subansiri Project, following which the state say widespread outburst against the project. LSHEP is being developed on river Subansiri at Gerakamukh along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. Substantial part of the project is located in Arunachal Pradesh and rest in Assam.