GUWAHATI, July 1 � The All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today demanded immediate steps to thrust aside the under-construction Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project (LSHEP) and also to shelve all the mega-dam hydel projects proposed in the NE region.
The demand of the students� body came in the wake of the recommendations made by the eight-member expert committee that submitted its report on the issue to the authorities concerned on Tuesday. The students� body also told newspersons at a press conference here today that its leaders would sit with the leaders of the Takam Mising Porin Kebang to chalk out the joint action plan in view of the expert committee�s report.
AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy, its general secretary Tapan Kumar Gogoi and advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharyya addressed the media persons. They also said that the Chinese bids to divert the Brahmaputra and to dam the other Himalayan rivers could not be countered with the mega-dam projects on such rivers inside the Indian territory.
The leaders of the students� body maintained that the recommendations of the committee have made it mandatory for the Governments in the State, at the Centre and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) authorities to immediately stop construction of LSHEP.
All the proposed mega-dam projects in the region should also be shelved as per the report of the committee. It is now the duty of the Central Government to convince the Arunachal Pradesh Government to not to allow establishment of any mega-dam project in the state, said the AASU leaders.
The expert committee studied the downstream impact of the LSHEP in particular as well as the overall geo-environmental condition of the NE region in respect to the about 168 mega-dams proposed in its different parts.
The expert committee observed that the present location of the LSHEP �was not appropriate,� since the site is geologically and seismologically sensitive. Moreover, the seismic design parameter is not properly chosen for the project. The dam is designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8, whereas the site and its adjacent areas have a recorded history of seismic events of magnitude 8.5 or even more, observed the expert committee.
The seismic design parameter considered for the project as 0.38 peak ground acceleration (pga) value for an 8.0 M earthquake at 10 km focal depth is largely inadequate. Consideration of the main boundary thrust (MBT) as source of such high magnitude earthquake which is about 15 km away from the dam site and not giving due consideration to the foothill trust (FHT), which is within the range of 3 km, can largely be considered as a serious drawback. The 1897 and 1950 great Assam earthquakes had their pga values exceeding 1.0g, observed the committee.
The committee recommended �not to construct the mega-dam (LSHEP dam) in the present site.�
It further recommended not to consider the Himalayan foothills, south of the geological MBT for any mega-hydropower project and also to redesign the LSHEP by sufficiently reducing its dam height and production capacity.
Even after redesigning the LSHEP dam, the operation will have many environmental and socio-economic problems in the downstream. To minimize these impacts, the committee recommended, among others, upstream catchment treatment with maintenance of slope and plantation in the erosion-prone areas.
Besides, proper and sufficient flood-cushioning provision in the dam and re-examination and re-designing of the spillway as per the recorded discharge data of over 21,230 cumec (recorded on July 11, 1971) are also called for by the committee.
It also suggested that adequate attention to the riparian rights of the indigenous people and complex bio-diversity of the region should be paid and the minimum discharge of the natural river should be maintained with a discharge rate of at least 320 cumec through out the day.
Moreover, a minimum three-metre water depth should be maintained in the dolphin habitat round the year for the survival of the species, on top of adopting long-term conservation strategies like establishment of dolphin park, said the committee, in its recommendations, among others.
GUWAHATI, July 1 � The All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today demanded immediate steps to thrust aside the under-construction Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project (LSHEP) and also to shelve all the mega-dam hydel projects proposed in the NE region.
The demand of the students� body came in the wake of the recommendations made by the eight-member expert committee that submitted its report on the issue to the authorities concerned on Tuesday. The students� body also told newspersons at a press conference here today that its leaders would sit with the leaders of the Takam Mising Porin Kebang to chalk out the joint action plan in view of the expert committee�s report.
AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy, its general secretary Tapan Kumar Gogoi and advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharyya addressed the media persons. They also said that the Chinese bids to divert the Brahmaputra and to dam the other Himalayan rivers could not be countered with the mega-dam projects on such rivers inside the Indian territory.
The leaders of the students� body maintained that the recommendations of the committee have made it mandatory for the Governments in the State, at the Centre and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) authorities to immediately stop construction of LSHEP.
All the proposed mega-dam projects in the region should also be shelved as per the report of the committee. It is now the duty of the Central Government to convince the Arunachal Pradesh Government to not to allow establishment of any mega-dam project in the state, said the AASU leaders.
The expert committee studied the downstream impact of the LSHEP in particular as well as the overall geo-environmental condition of the NE region in respect to the about 168 mega-dams proposed in its different parts.
The expert committee observed that the present location of the LSHEP �was not appropriate,� since the site is geologically and seismologically sensitive. Moreover, the seismic design parameter is not properly chosen for the project. The dam is designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8, whereas the site and its adjacent areas have a recorded history of seismic events of magnitude 8.5 or even more, observed the expert committee.
The seismic design parameter considered for the project as 0.38 peak ground acceleration (pga) value for an 8.0 M earthquake at 10 km focal depth is largely inadequate. Consideration of the main boundary thrust (MBT) as source of such high magnitude earthquake which is about 15 km away from the dam site and not giving due consideration to the foothill trust (FHT), which is within the range of 3 km, can largely be considered as a serious drawback. The 1897 and 1950 great Assam earthquakes had their pga values exceeding 1.0g, observed the committee.
The committee recommended �not to construct the mega-dam (LSHEP dam) in the present site.�
It further recommended not to consider the Himalayan foothills, south of the geological MBT for any mega-hydropower project and also to redesign the LSHEP by sufficiently reducing its dam height and production capacity.
Even after redesigning the LSHEP dam, the operation will have many environmental and socio-economic problems in the downstream. To minimize these impacts, the committee recommended, among others, upstream catchment treatment with maintenance of slope and plantation in the erosion-prone areas.
Besides, proper and sufficient flood-cushioning provision in the dam and re-examination and re-designing of the spillway as per the recorded discharge data of over 21,230 cumec (recorded on July 11, 1971) are also called for by the committee.
It also suggested that adequate attention to the riparian rights of the indigenous people and complex bio-diversity of the region should be paid and the minimum discharge of the natural river should be maintained with a discharge rate of at least 320 cumec through out the day.
Moreover, a minimum three-metre water depth should be maintained in the dolphin habitat round the year for the survival of the species, on top of adopting long-term conservation strategies like establishment of dolphin park, said the committee, in its recommendations, among others.
