NEW DELHI, Oct 20 � The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the ministries of Environment and Forest, Power and the Brahmaputra Board to submit their replies within four weeks on the construction of big dams including the Subansiri (Lower) Hydropower Project.
The NGT Kolkata Court of Justice Pratap Kumar Ray and Justice Dr PC Mishra directed the counsel of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of Power and the Brahmaputra Board to file their replies within four weeks, the petitioner Aabhijit Sarma, president of Assam Public Works, said.
Sarma further said that the NGT has asked the petitioner to file rejoinders, if any within two weeks. The court will start the final hearing from December 10 on a day-to-day basis.
The APW, which had initially filed its case before the Supreme Court, had demanded a stay on the construction work of the Subansiri Dam till disposal of the petition. Sarma made a similar plea before the NGT to direct the respondents, NHPC Ltd and MoEF of the Government of India, so that provision for automatic release of the sustenance water can be incorporated.
He has also urged the NGT to pass an order directing the respondents NHPC Ltd and others to strengthen the existing embankments and construct new ones up to the confluence of the Brahmaputra so that �sand� is not deposited in the agricultural fields making them unfit for cultivation, in a scientific manner.
He further sought direction of the NGT to the MoEF and NHPC Ltd to re-assess the downstream impact of the proposed middle and upper Subansiri dams up to Brahmaputra, and not just 10 km downstream of the proposed dams only and to release, from the middle and upper Subansiri dams the minimum sustainable flow year round needed for the river to survive ecologically in Arunachal and the plains of Assam.
