GUWAHATI, April 19 - Vehemently opposing the Union environment ministry�s decision to hold discussion on the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectricity Project (LSHEP) on April 23, the All Assam Students� Union today said that Centre�s recent move to discuss the report prepared by the controversial three-member committee is a clear violation of the Supreme Court�s spirit of directions on this matter.
Asking the Union government to roll back any such move on the LSHEP, the students� body today said that it would never accept any report by the controversial three-member committee.
The three-member expert committee on the project was constituted by the Union government as per the order of the Kolkata-based Eastern Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for resolving issues concerning the 2000-MW LSHEP.
�The constitution of the committee was first challenged by former AASU vice president Tularam Gogoi in the National Green Tribunal, which dismissed the plea without citing reasons. The move was again challenged in the Supreme Court on the ground of conflict of interest. The apex court then sent back the matter to the NGT and a decision on the acceptability of the committee is still awaited. In such circumstances, how can the Centre proceed with any such discussion on the matter,� AASU chief advisor Dr Samujjal Bhattacharyya told The Assam Tribune.
�The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has allotted a time of 40 minutes to discuss the report prepared by the controversial committee. This means, all the matters related to the safety and livelihood of the downstream people would be sorted out in mere 40 minutes. AASU would never accept this,� the student body�s president Dipanka Kumar Nath and general secretary Lurin Jyoti Gogoi said.
