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NE Hydel projects set alarm bell ringing
2004-08-23
MEGHALAYA GUARDIAN
Shillong, Aug 22: Stiff opposition has begun against the proposed conversion the North East into power house to the country with plans for the construction of a total 168 dams with as output of 99,256 MW for planned distribution to mainland India and also export to Myanmar China and Bangladesh. Already 26 projects have been cleared including many mega dams, and those are in various stage of planning of construction. But all these may now see concerted opposition building up from all sides.
Social activists, alarmed at the governmental apathy over mega dams and their effects, today alerted the people of the region that they would have to pay heavy long term costs for the various hydel projects being planned while all benefits of the same should go to the states outside the North eastern region and other countries.
Organised by the Citizen Concern Dams and Development (CCDD), the consultation had as many as 50 participants from the 8 states of the region, including affected people from the Loktak, Mapithel and Tipaimukh projects in Manipur, Gumti in Tripura, Pagladia in Assam and representatives from areas where huge mega dams are being planned for in various stages of implementation. The representatives of NGOs from Lower Subansiri, Siang, Teesta, Bhairabi, etc. were also present.
The activities were enlightened with various revelations on the modus operandi being used by the concerned agencies to forcibly push through the projects without taking into consideration the adverse impact they would have had on the socioeconomic and cultural life and environment of the indigenous peoples who will be affected by the mega projects.
Addressing the media on Saturday, the participants of the consultation highlighted the problems being faced in existing area where dams have been made and also the likely impact of the mega dams being projected for implementation in the Northeast, with as many as 67 projects in Arunachal Pradesh itself.
The meeting expressed concern that the implementing agencies, namely, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), have both been using dubious and undemocratic methods to push through their proposed projects. It also expressed surprise at the apathy of a range of international funding agencies, like the World Bank, ADB etc. which are involved in these projects with out going though adequate studies and having almost no consultation with the local communities and civil society of the North east . “This is a violation not only of their own stated policies, but of the national and international laws”, they said.
The sub-title of the consultation, Understanding Dams Proliferation in Northeast India, has been the main theme of the meeting. The New Delhi based activist Dr. Smitu Kothari, who has an international repute as an expert on the adverse impact of large dams and on the social and environmental impacts of large developmental projects, said pointedly: Knowing the position that would come if all the facts are revealed, critical information and data are kept aside and even manipulated. Therefore, dams have become a serious problem in this country, creating serious and irreversible damage to the eco- systems.
Participants alleged that the implementing agencies are adopting a “no holds barred” policy where anything goes as long as the end is achieved. They disclosed that the NHPC is collaborating with controversial groups, like the militant ULFA, to terrorize communities into accepting the projects. They further said that “secret budgets” are being sanctioned by the India government to hire doubtful NGOs to support the dams.
Stating that 168 sites have been identified for making mega dams in the region, the participations dwelt on the adverse impact these could have had on the indigenous populace and said that it would be tremendous.
Dr. Kothari pointed out that ULFA, to terrorize communities into accepting the projects. They further said that secret budgets are being sanctioned but the Indian government to hire doubtful NGOs to support the dams.
Stating that 168 sites have been identified for making mega dams in the region, the participants dwell on the adverse impact these could have had on the indigenous populace and said that it would be tremendous.
The representatives of people affected by the existing dams spoke on the problems being faced by them, Birendra Tripura who was a student of class 7 when the Gumti Dam was build in the remote Raima and Saima valley in Tripura, recalled how, 1973, 10000 families were given a week time to move out of their homes where they had been living for ages. He said even elephants were use to force the people out. Once called the paddy pocket of Tripura, these fertile valleys became a lake and is now generating only 4 MW of power against the 10 MW project output. He added that the people of the area were now demanding their land back and decommissioning of the Gumti Dam.
Participants from Manipur stated now the dam is the Loktak has resulted in annual floods along a 40 km stretch in the Imphal valley. Over 60000 hectors of paddy fields are submerge every year due to the NHPC taking no step to flush out the flood waters, the activist Ramananda said. He added that activist of the area were demanding decommissioning of the dam as well.
A participants from Ukhrul, were the Mapithel multi purpose dam on the Thoubal river is under construction, revealed that the entire project was planned without consulting the people of the area resulting in the best and most fertile area of the district being submerged in flood waters. He added that help of army was also taken to push the project though and as result the farmers had to move to other areas, becoming refugees in their own land.
Dr. Carlo and others of the Arunachal Human Rights groups spoke of the ambitious power plans being proposed for their state by the NHPC and NEEPCO. While 3 mega dams have been sanctioned, 28 others have been purposed. They alleged that MoUs have been signed without consent of the people in all the dam areas. They feared that these dams would affect their demographic pattern of the state. Thy said there are only 7 lakh Arunachalis, but the Chakma population was growing rapidly the Chakmas who themselves were displaced from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh when a dam was built there decades ago, We will fight tooth and nail against all these dams they warned.
They added that similar projects across the border in China are also adversely impacting the people of the state and cited the flash floods of 2002 when there was tremendous loss of life and property due to the floods originating from the dam waters in China. What will be the impact in Assam for instance if a major earthquake destroys a mega dam in Arunachal, they questioned.
Supporting the activist from Arunachal Pradesh, their counterparts in Assam said that the NHPC had started work in the Lower Subansiri Dam or 2000 MW capacity, but an RCC bridge built by them on the approach to the site later collapsed within a year. What should be the fate of the dam should a major calamity occur, they worried. They said a breach in the Kursi dam in Bhutan recently had caused a huge flood in Assam with people having to move to the highways for shelter. Kursi is only a 60 MW project but what would happen if the 2000 MW dam in Subansiri cracked, they wondered. In such as eventuality, they warned, Assam would be wiped out and the world heritage sites of Majuli and Kaziranga would disappear.
Subarna Lahiri of the Delhi Forum against dams also spoke on how mega projects are being chalked out for the Teesta basin in North Bengal and Sikkim without taking into consideration the officially declared landslide and sinking zone. Any problem there would totally cut off the lifeline to the Northeast, he said.
The CCDD has committed itself to insure that full democratic process become the norm in building the large dams in the North-east region, with all alternative considered in full consultation and participation of local communities and other concerned groups and individuals. He called for clear cut national water policy; so that the lives and livelihoods of present and future generation are save while laying the foundation for the mega developmental projects in the region.
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