Releasing details secured by means of RTI from the NHPC, the Brahmaputra Board and the Ministry for Environment and Forest, Khataniar told reporters here today that the state sector power giant gave "misleading advertisements" in newspapers and media regarding the project.
"In newspapers advertisements, NHPC claimed to have secured statutory and regulatory clearances for the project from ten bodies, including the MoEF, the Ministry of Power, the Brahmaputra Board, Central Water Commission (CWC), Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and so on before beginning construction.
"However, when I filed an RTI seeking information in this regard from the Brahmaputra Board, I was given a reply that no such clearance has been given," he said.
The Brahmaputra Board, in its reply, said: "...It is to state that there is no information regarding requisite statutory and regulatory clearance of the Subansiri Lower Hydro Electric Project issued by Brahmaputra Board to NHPC prior to the starting of the construction works of the project."
The activist, who is also an engineer, conducted on-site inspections at the site in Assam-Arunachal border said, "around Rs 7,000 crore has been spent there since 2003-04, despite violation of clearance rules."
The Subansiri project is an under construction gravity dam on the Subansiri river on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. MORE