Assam: AJYCP stages sit-in protest against Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project
The Lakhimpur district unit of AJYCP on Friday staged a sit-in protest in front of the office of the deputy commissioner in North Lakhimpur demanding the scrapping of NHPC’s Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project at Gerukamukh.
The three-hour-long demonstration by the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) is a part of the series of anti-dam agitations by the student body announced recently over the Gerukamukh project.
Earlier, a team of All Assam Students Union (AASU) led by its secretary Shankarjyoti Baruah visited the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project plant site at Gerukamukh by NHPC Limited on Wednesday following the report of landslide on the slopes of the hill through which the diversion tunnels pass.
Also read: Assam: Union minister Krishan Pal Gurjar visits Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project
A 300-member AASU team arrived at the construction site of LSHEP at Gerukamukh of which only 25 senior representatives were allowed to enter inside the project site as per order by Deputy Commissioner, Dhemaji.
The AASU team expressed concerns over the current situation and was not convinced at the assurance by the NHPC authority.
They also decided to launch an agitation against the dam.
The chairman and managing director of NHPC Limited, AK Singh on Thursday said there was no cause for any apprehension at the ongoing hydroelectric dam work in river Subansiri at Gerukamukh.
Talking to this correspondent, the CMD of NHPC Limited said, “The Subansiri dam is people’s property and there is no worry and threat from it.”
Reacting to the recent reports of landslides on the slopes where the diversion tunnels run, CMD Singh said, “It is a part of the construction work which is treated accordingly.”
He ensured that there would be no threat from the dam once it was completed.
His comments are coming in the wake of the recent concerns on the safety of the Gerukamukh dam due to heavy overflow in the river.