Concerned circles have raised serious apprehension about resumption of work at the hydro-electric project over river Subansiri at Gerukamukh on Lakhimpur-Dhemaji on Monday.
Also read: Subansiri work started, planned to complete within 4 years!
There are reports of resumption of works at the Lower Subansiri Hydro-electrical Power (LSHEP) plant by National Hydro-electrical Power Corporation (NHPC) over river Subansiri at Gerukamukh on Lakhimpur-Dhemaji district boundary bordering Arunachal Pradesh.
The resumption of works on the dam project is being alleged following the lull in the anti-dam campaign due to state’s preoccupation on Citizenship Amendment Bill-2016 stir and the Lok Sabha polls.
Some organizations associated with the anti-dam movement earlier have been alleged to have made some secret understanding with the LSHEP authorities and the NHPC in allowing the later to re-start the construction work.
It may be recalled that the construction of 2000 MW LSHEP dam at Gerukamukh over river Subansiri have been stalled since December, 2011 following state-wide protest against the construction mega dams. In the following years the constriction works of the river dam were further stopped by intervention by National Green Tribunal and reports by experts committee asking certain changes in the designs of the project. But of late the NHPC authorities are alleged to have stealthily continuing construction work on the dam with full concurrence from the central government.
However the NHPC has denied all these allegations and said that only other civil works like construction of houses and roads had been done inside the LSHEP premises in Gerukamukh. It is also learnt that many heavy machineries installed at the dam site have been laying in abject decay following prolonged state of non-functioning.
Whatever the developments may be, the reports of resumption of works on NHPC’s LSHEP dam has made people living in the downstream areas of Subansiri area in great concerns. As the monsoon is about to set in the residents are in apprehension as the area is very flood and erosion prone. The Subansiri river has been moving more than 50 kms in the last 25 years causing massive eastward erosion towards North Lakhimpur. The NHPC, in pursuance to recommendation of Joint Steering Committee and Technical Expert Committee, has taken up river bank protection and erosion control measures along both the banks of river Subansiri up to 30 kms downstream of the dam.
