NEW DELHI, July 17 � Days after announcing that work on the stalled 2000-MW Subansiri (Lower) Hydropower Project would start shortly, Union Minister of State for Power and Coal Piyush Goyal said that the issue is in an advanced stage of resolution.
The Minister said that the issue of downstream impact assessment and demand for a halt to work by anti-dam activists have hit the project work. Since December 2011, work has remained stalled due to agitations by anti-dam activists, he said.
Efforts to resolve the stalemate are on. Goyal said a tripartite meeting among representatives of the State Government, Central Government and agitating groups was held on December 6 last year. Further, two meetings between expert groups of Assam and experts from the Government of India were held on December 23 last year and June 2 this year to deliberate on the technical issues related to safety of the dam and its downstream impact.
Hydro-power projects, due to difficult locations and geological uncertainties, face a number of bottlenecks, both natural and man-made. The major natural bottlenecks encountered in hydel power projects are natural calamities, geological uncertainties, difficult terrain and poor accessibility, said Goyal in a Lok Sabha reply.
The major man-made bottlenecks relate to land acquisition problems, local agitations, resistance � including rehabilitation and re-settlement issues, Goyal said.
