DIBRUGARH, July 19 - Insisting that the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited�s (NEEPCO) 405 MW Ranganadi dam project in Arunachal Pradesh was particularly responsible in causing flood and erosion related deaths and devastation in Lakhimpur and Majuli area, the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today called for immediate decommissioning of the project.
AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi today said that the BJP-led Central government must immediately decommission the dam projects. �The fact that the Ranganadi dam project has caused immense damage to the State cannot be denied. We have lost human lives, standing crops and properties of people have been ruined besides huge chunks of the earth are being eroded alarmingly. The Centre must rethink on the dam projects considering the recent damages,� Gogoi said, while taking part in the satyagraha organised at the its district office here as part of the State-wide satyagraha of the organisation.
The AASU leader further said that the Subansiri dam project is five times bigger in magnitude than the Ranganadi dam. �One can already assess the quantum of damage it could cause when water gets released from this 2,000 MW project. The Centre must immediately put a halt to this threatening project,� he demanded.
The AASU also reiterated its demand to treat the State�s devastating flood and erosion as national calamity. The students� body, which has been raising this demand for past several years, today sought to mount pressure on the Central government through State-wide satyagrahas. The organisation has demanded that the Centre to grant special package for the State to mitigate the pain and suffering of the flood and erosion victims.
Lurinjyoti Gogoi also demanded that the relief and recue works be undertaken in a war footing manner. �The State government is claiming that it has enough funds to handle the devastation caused by floods and erosion. But the relief work continues in a lethargic manner. We demand that the government should reach out to all the affected with adequate relief, shelter, food, drinking water, medical services, special care for the children and fodder and other feeds for the cattle and poultry of the affected people. It is time now for the State government to make public how much it spent for the Namami Brahmaputra festival and how must it was doing for the flood affected people,� he said.
