A tripartite meeting on the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project in Arunachal Pradesh today decided to have expert discussions on the project and a study done on its downstream cumulative impact.
The meeting was held here today among the Central government, Assam government, AASU and other students organisations, AJYCP and KMSS opposing construction of the dam as it was in a highly seismic zone with adverse downstream impact.
It was decided that expert to expert discussions on the project would be held this month as various organisations had expressed their apprehension on the safety of the project and of 168 other proposed dams in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi told reporters after the meeting.
Officials from Central Power Ministry, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and Assam government officials led by him participated in the tripartite discussions.
The All Assam Students Union (AASU) leading a group of 25 different indigenous students organisations of the state said that the expert to expert meeting has to be held soon under the initiative of the Central and state governments.
The talks between experts should be among those from Assam and different parts of the country and the world, the AASU advisor Dr Samujjal Bhattacharjee told journalists.
"We put forward with scientific evidence by experts from IIT-Guwahati, Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University stating the construction of big dams on the foothills of the Himalayas was not feasible on seismological, geological and tectonic point of view," Bhattacharjee said.
