GUWAHATI, Nov 8 � Members of the Opposition parties staged a walkout from the State Assembly today in protest against the decision of the Speaker to reserve his ruling on their demand for an adjournment motion to discuss the mega-dam issue.
Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai announced that he had kept his ruling on the issue reserved. For, he said, he had already received a written request from the Treasury Bench for extension of the Assembly session by one day to discuss the issue. Under such a situation, the Speaker said, he had kept his ruling on the issue reserved until a decision is taken on the Treasury Bench request by the Subject Committee of the House.
This was resented by the Opposition members and they walked out of the House giving vent to their resentment.
Moving the adjournment motion, Leader of the Opposition Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said that the 2000-MW Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Power Project (LSHEP) dam has made the people of the State apprehensive of its potential to impact the downstream areas adversely.
The eight-member expert group, which studied its downstream etc impacts, and the House Committee formed by the State Assembly, have also expressed their concern over the project. The House Committee suggested that the construction activities of the project should be kept in abeyance, he said.
The Central Government has identified the NE region as a power house and 168 hydel power projects have been identified in the region with 87 of these projects proposed to be located in Arunachal Pradesh. Earlier, the Brahmaputra Board had proposed setting up these projects as multi-purpose ones.
With the bitter lessons learnt from the Kopili and Ranganadi Hydel Power Projects, the adverse impacts of the mega-hydel power projects have come to light. The Central Government had recently ordered cancellation of several mega-dam hydel power projects in some other parts of the country. It has also placed the Dam Safety Bill in the Parliament. The World Commission on Dams has also brought to light the darker sides of the mega-dam projects, he said.
Therefore, the Leader of the Opposition argued, it is important to admit the adjournment motion for formulation of a well-considered decision on the issue for the purpose of placing it before the Central Government.
Taking part in the discussion on the motion, Uddhav Barman (CPM) said that the impacts of the dam projects should be assessed in advance.
Asserting that the Subansiri is not the property of Arunachal Pradesh alone, he said that it belongs to Assam also. Therefore, a mechanism should be evolved to settle all the issues related to such inter-state rivers and until the steps recommended by the experts could be taken to ensure safety of the life and property of the people in the downstream areas, construction activities in such projects should be kept suspended, Barman said.
Bhubon Pegu (Independent) said that there were 25 cases of dam failure in the United States since 1965. For the failure of one of these dams, the United States had to incur a loss of around $100 million in 2003, he said.
Drupad Bargohain (CPI), Mission Ranjan Das (BJP), Dr Aditya Langthasa (AIUDF) and Brindaban Goswami, also spoke on the issue.
GUWAHATI, Nov 8 � Members of the Opposition parties staged a walkout from the State Assembly today in protest against the decision of the Speaker to reserve his ruling on their demand for an adjournment motion to discuss the mega-dam issue.
Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai announced that he had kept his ruling on the issue reserved. For, he said, he had already received a written request from the Treasury Bench for extension of the Assembly session by one day to discuss the issue. Under such a situation, the Speaker said, he had kept his ruling on the issue reserved until a decision is taken on the Treasury Bench request by the Subject Committee of the House.
This was resented by the Opposition members and they walked out of the House giving vent to their resentment.
Moving the adjournment motion, Leader of the Opposition Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said that the 2000-MW Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Power Project (LSHEP) dam has made the people of the State apprehensive of its potential to impact the downstream areas adversely.
The eight-member expert group, which studied its downstream etc impacts, and the House Committee formed by the State Assembly, have also expressed their concern over the project. The House Committee suggested that the construction activities of the project should be kept in abeyance, he said.
The Central Government has identified the NE region as a power house and 168 hydel power projects have been identified in the region with 87 of these projects proposed to be located in Arunachal Pradesh. Earlier, the Brahmaputra Board had proposed setting up these projects as multi-purpose ones.
With the bitter lessons learnt from the Kopili and Ranganadi Hydel Power Projects, the adverse impacts of the mega-hydel power projects have come to light. The Central Government had recently ordered cancellation of several mega-dam hydel power projects in some other parts of the country. It has also placed the Dam Safety Bill in the Parliament. The World Commission on Dams has also brought to light the darker sides of the mega-dam projects, he said.
Therefore, the Leader of the Opposition argued, it is important to admit the adjournment motion for formulation of a well-considered decision on the issue for the purpose of placing it before the Central Government.
Taking part in the discussion on the motion, Uddhav Barman (CPM) said that the impacts of the dam projects should be assessed in advance.
Asserting that the Subansiri is not the property of Arunachal Pradesh alone, he said that it belongs to Assam also. Therefore, a mechanism should be evolved to settle all the issues related to such inter-state rivers and until the steps recommended by the experts could be taken to ensure safety of the life and property of the people in the downstream areas, construction activities in such projects should be kept suspended, Barman said.
Bhubon Pegu (Independent) said that there were 25 cases of dam failure in the United States since 1965. For the failure of one of these dams, the United States had to incur a loss of around $100 million in 2003, he said.
Drupad Bargohain (CPI), Mission Ranjan Das (BJP), Dr Aditya Langthasa (AIUDF) and Brindaban Goswami, also spoke on the issue.
