Krishak Mukti sangram Samiti (KMSS) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) on Monday demanded from the Union government to carry out a comprehensive ecological study of the Brahmaputra and its basin.
During a meeting with NHPC on the halted 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro Electric Project (LSHEP) held in Guwahati, the leaders of the two organizations submitted a memorandum to the Joint Secretary of Union Power Ministry and demanded to immediately stopped the construction of LSHEP.
“We demand for Union government to conduct a series of scientific studies in the Brahmaputra basin to understand the cumulative impacts on the downstream of river dams in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra,” KMSS general secretary and RTI activist Akhil Gogoi said.
According to AJYCP president Manoj Baruah, after the downstream agitations in the Subansiri river basin an expert committee of IIT Guwahati, Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University submitted their report in June 2010. The committed reported that the selected site for the mega dam of the present dimension is not appropriate in such a geologically and seismologically sensitive location. However, the NHPC and the government of India and Assam would not take initiative on the expert committee report.
The project was halted 16 December, 2011 after several organizations raised protest of the constructon of mega dam.
The NHPC has lost Rs 5 crore per day after the project construction was stopped.
Meanwhile, the Thatte committee report was not submitted which was constituted by the Planning Commission in 2010 for review the downstream impacts.
