Agitators have hobbled government plans to harness the Northeast’s rivers — 168 dams have been planned in Arunachal Pradesh alone — to generate hydro-electric power for the country
By Naresh Mitra
Protests in Assam’s Lakhimpur district have stopped work on NHPC’s Lower Subansiri project
Protests have stopped construction of the country’s largest dam on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. Though governments see big dams and hydro-power as the big ticket to the states’ future, but locals are out on the streets in disagreement, stalling a number of these projects.
The blueprint to turn the Northeast into the country’s powerhouse envisages the construction of dams across rivers in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and neighbouring states. In Arunachal alone, 168 small and big dams have been planned. Estimates say the state has the potential to generate over 50,000 MW annually. India will, say experts, need an estimated 950,000 MW by 2030 to power its fast-growing economy. The current demand is 150,000 MW. Hydro-power is all the more critical as coal production, a key energy source, is likely to drop by 250 million tonnes by 2017.
PROTESTS STALL PROJECTS 
But with construction under way at several projects, protests have broken out, led by civil society groups, activists and students’ organizations. Activists such as Medha Patkar have thrown their weight behind the agitators.
In Assam’s Lakhimpur district, work at NHPC’s 2,000-MW Lower Subansiri Hydro-electric Project has stopped. Agitators insist they won’t allow construction of what’s billed to be the country’s largest dam at Gerukamukh on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
The protests started last month, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) protesters doing everything to stall construction. The Samiti draws support from the All Assam Students’ Union, the Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad, Takam Mising Porin Kebang, a students’ body of Mising tribals and 26 organizations representing Assam’s ethnic groups.
Activists have stopped trucks carrying supplies and equipment from reaching project sites. Since December 1, loaded trucks remain parked in a Lakhimpur field. Trouble began on November 30 when police lobbed teargas shells and baton-charged agitators. As violence spiralled, the Lakhimpur administration stopped truck supplies to Gerukamukh. The emboldened agitators stayed put in the field, determined not to allow any truck to slip past. “We have not left the place. Once we leave, the government will resume the movement of trucks. We are going to continue our protest here till the trucks are sent back,” KMSS member Chitra Gogoi says.
Akhil Gogoi, who heads KMSS insists the government must stop construction of the Lower Subansiri project. “We will give our blood, but won’t allow the equipment to reach the construction site. The Lower Subansiri project will spell doom for the northern bank of the Brahmaputra, on the downstream of the project. Fertile land in Dhemaji and Lakhimpur already has sand deposits brought down by the Subansiri river after construction began,” he says.
The protests have upset construction schedules. NHPC says the target for commissioning the Lower Subansiri project has been pushed from December 2012 to 2014. The delay has led to cost escalation from Rs 6285.33 crore to over Rs 10,000 crore. “Of course protests have affected the Lower Subansiri work. Construction material is not reaching the site,” says A K Chhabra, executive director of the NHPC project.
THE CONCERNS
Last year, experts from IIT Guwahati, Gauhati and Dibrugarh Universities said the Lower Subansiri fell in a seismic zone. They reported the possible adverse result of changing Subansiri’s water volume, impact on the river’s ecosystem, erosion of banks and severity of flooding. An Assam Assembly committee suggested no dams be built in Assam and neighbouring states without a “comprehensive and scientific downstream impact assessment”. NGOs have also voiced their fears: Construction of big dams in Assam, Arunachal and Bhutan will impact Assam’s two world heritage sites — Kaziranga National Park and Manas sanctuary.
It’s not that the Union government is set on bulldozing opposition to the projects. Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh had written to the PM saying: “Some concerns cannot be dismissed lightly. They must be taken on board and every effort made to engage different sections of society in Assam and in other Northeastern states too. The feeling in vocal sections of Assam’s society appears to be that mainland India is exploiting Northeast hydel resources for its benefits, while the costs of this exploitation will be borne by the people of Northeast.”
WHY THE DRIVE FOR DAMS
Northeastern state governments believe these projects will spur industrial growth, the region envisaged as the nerve centre of India’s trade with south and South-east Asian countries. “This doesn’t augur well for the region’s economic, industrial and social growth. We have started almost two decades late,” says R S Joshi, chairman, Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region.
Importantly, once these projects begin generation, Arunachal will draw 12% of power free from Lower Subansiri and part of the revenue. Assam will get 25 MW free. Assam power minister Pradyut Bordoloi says his state could buy as much as 600 MW. “It cannot be stopped at any cost. We want 600 MW from the project. If it gets delayed because of protests, power prices will escalate,” he says.
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