NEW DELHI, Aug 30 � Allaying apprehension, the Centre has clarified that average flow pattern in the rivers in North-east is unlikely to be affected because majority of projects in Arunachal Pradesh are run-of-the-river projects with limited pondage.
Majority of the projects in Arunachal Pradesh are run-of-the-river projects with limited pondage and are unlikely to have any major impact on the average flow pattern in rivers, said Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H Pala in a Lok Sabhja reply.
Some of the proposed storage dams in Arunachal Pradesh with flood cushion would reduce the possibility of downstream flooding to a certain extent during the flood season, the Minister said.
Pala was replying to a question on whether the flow of water is likely to slow down and possibility of flood likely to increase in Brahmaputra river due to construction of over 100 dams in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Ministry of Environment and Forest prescribes minimum environmental flow to be maintained for the downstream stretches of river for maintenance of aquatic ecology for all river valley and
hydropower projects, while granting mandatory environmental clearance under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006.
Further, an Environment Impact Assessment study of Siang and Subansiri sub-basins of river Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh is undertaken by Central Water Commission to assess the cumulative impacts of hydropower development in these basins including downstream impact on Assam.
