Centre hopes to end Subansari Hydel project deadlock via talks

To try and break the deadlock on the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro Power Project, the Centre plans to hold talks this month with experts, NHPC Ltd. and "experts from stakeholder groups of Assam" to arrive at a consensus.

Civil works at the site of the project, being implemented by NHPC Ltd. and situated at Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, had been under suspension since December 2011 after various Assam-based civil organisations, prominent among them being Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS), laid a siege of the site and imposed a road economic blockade to the site.

Several meetings since then between Assam government, KMSS and NHPC Ltd. had yielded no result and the fate of the Rs 6,300 crore (which has now shot up to Rs 10,700 crore due to delays) had been hanging in balance.

The recommendations made by Technical Expert Committee (TEC), Joint Steering Committee (JSC) and Dam Design Review Panel (DDRP) on the project were discussed in a tripartite meeting consisting representatives of the Centre, NHPC Ltd. and representatives from Assam government and various stakeholder groups of Assam on December 6, 2013 and on December 23, 2013.

Government sources said it was then decided to meet again in February 2014 "to arrive at a consensus".

As per the recommendations of TEC, constituted by the Planning Commission, the Union ministry of power constituted a Dam Design Review Panel (DDRP) to review some design features of the dam. The recommendations of DDRP have been accepted by ministry of power and it has asked NHPC Ltd. to take the project forward on the lines suggested by DDRP.

As regards, for raising of Subansiri river embankment; the NHPC Board has already approved an amount of Rs 470 crore for implementation of JSC recommendations out of which Rs 145 crore is for downstream protection measures. Regarding upstream Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) of the project, the requisite amount of Rs 8.17 crore, as demanded by Arunachal Pradesh state forest department, has already been deposited by NHPC Ltd.

However, the KMSS appears to be in an unrelenting mood. The organisation's chief, Akhil Googi, had time and again made it clear that KMSS would not let NHPC Ltd. go ahead with the construction of the project.

Moreover, though the ire is now against the Lower Subansiri Project, the prevalent mood amongst common people, particularly in Upper Assam districts, is against construction of any mega-dam in Arunachal Pradesh, a state which is said to be the future power house of India with a potential of generating around 40,000 MW of hydro power.