SHILLONG, Aug 12 � Assam today registered protest over �reckless� construction of mega dams in Arunachal Pradesh and demanded that the Inter Ministerial Group of the Prime Minster�s Office (PMO) conduct a through study to find out whether such dams are safe in a highly seismic region.
In the just concluded two-day Northeast Power Ministers� meet here, Assam Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi said a proper study must be conducted to find whether construction of such mega dams are safe in a region which lies on a �high seismic zone with fragile geological condition�.
�I would like to voice the concern and anxiety of the people of Assam because of numerous dams and big hydel projects being taken up in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra water system in Arunachal Pradesh,� Bordoloi said during the meeting in which Arunachal Pradesh Power Minster Jarbon Gamlin was also present.
Bordoloi said the Inter Ministerial Group set up by the PMO to research water resource of the region must also include geological study to find whether large man-made river dams with their present structural design were safe for the region.
�Before that Arunachal Pradesh must desist from allowing reckless construction of big dams on the river (Brahmaputra) by various promoters,� Bordoloi stated.
Some major hydel projects are coming up in Arunachal Pradesh on Subansiri and Siang and other rivers. The biggest of these is the 2000 MW Lower Subansiri hydro power project near north Lakhimpur on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. The project, being developed by the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), is scheduled to be completed by 2012.
Bordoloi maintained that Assam�s riparian rights as a downstream State must be protected by Arunachal Pradesh and proposed setting up a North Eastern Water Resources Authority (NEWRA) for �judicious and scientific� use of water resources in the region.
�The need of the hour is to harmoniously blend all the developmental, strategic and environmental issues to promote inclusive and participative development (of the region),� he said to the gathering.
Meanwhile, in view of the opposition, Union Minister of Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh assured to visit the project site next month, promising the dam sizes would be scaled down if necessary to meet environmental safeguards.
Later talking to the PTI, Gamlin said that the State had no role in the project but his government was keen to see it saw the light of the day.
�The project has been okayed by the CEA after clearance from the Environment Ministry. We share the concerns of Assam but they should take it up with the concerned people at the Centre. There are people in Delhi who have the technical know-how. They are the best persons who can say if the project is safe,� Gamlin said.
