NEW DELHI, July 3 � Work on the stalled 2000-megawatt Subansiri (Lower) Hydroelectric Project is likely to resume shortly, with the Union Power Ministry claiming to have resolved the impasse.
This has been conveyed by the Union Minister of State for Coal, Power and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, to Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, who met a number of Ministers of the NDA Government, including the Prime Minister, to urge the Centre to restart the project works.
Goyal said the Power Ministry has resolved the impasse related to the project and the remaining works will resume shortly.
However, the attempt by the Union Power Ministry to restart work is not new. Back in 2013, the then Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had told Parliament that work on the stalled Subansiri (Lower) Hydro Power Project was likely to be restarted. The Power Ministry had then directed the NHPC to take the project forward.
Work on the power project was stopped in December 2011 due to the agitation launched by anti-dam activists.
�A Dam Design Review Panel, which was constituted by the Ministry in December 2012, submitted its report in June. The report has been accepted and the NHPC has been directed to take the project forward,� Scindia had told Lok Sabha on August 29 last year.
Meanwhile, Tuki briefed Goyal about the pending hydroelectric projects in Arunachal Pradesh, seeking the help of the Power Ministry regarding the fast-tracking of clearances, development of critical infrastructure like roads and bridges, and local area development near the project sites, among others.
The Chief Minister emphasized the need for a regional grid for transmission to evacuate power to be generated by the State in the coming years and the strengthening of transmission systems.
PK Sinha, Secretary, Power, assured Chief Minister Tuki that the project of the Intra State Transmission Grid of Rs 3200 crore will be sanctioned shortly. The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) will execute the project on a Mission Mode basis.
Meanwhile, in Arunachal Pradesh, the mining in the Namchik Namphuk coalfields will resume within one month. The Union Minister of State for Power agreed to the Chief Minister�s request for reopening of the coalfields in the larger interest of ensuring flow of steady revenue to the State.
