The Hindu
A bird’s eye view of the difficult terrain and hills of Arunachal
Pradesh flocked by clouds as seen from an MI-17 helicopter near the
Brahmputra basin, also known as Siang. File photo: Akhilesh Kumar
They will hit ecology and biodiversity as far away as Assam
A report commissioned by the Central Water Commission
has recommended scrapping of 15 of the 44 dams planned across the Siang
river in Arunachal Pradesh. It has also suggested stricter regulations
for the ones that are to be built in future.
The
report has warned that the proposed 44 dams, meant to establish a
capacity of 18,293 MW, will affect the river ecology and biodiversity
and the region all the way down to Assam. Cumulatively, the projects
will impact more than 500 km of river stretch. Of this, 353 km will be
converted into reservoirs, and water will travel through tunnels for
another 160.8 km. More than 18,000 hectares of forests will be impacted.
The
Union Ministry of Environment and Forests will consider the report at
the next meeting of its Forest Advisory Committee before it assesses the
controversial 700-MW Tato II project, which the UPA government has
pushed hard to clear. But the CWC report notes that the downstream
impact of the dams will be felt all the way to Guwahati.
The
report notes: “Siang Lower HEP (2,700 MW), Siang Upper Stage II (3,750
MW) and Siang Upper Stage I (6,000 MW) are planned to cover almost the
entire length of the Siang in India. 208.5 km of the river will be
converted into one continuous reservoir as all three projects are
planned back-to-back without any free flowing intermediate river
stretch.”
The report only asks for the smaller capacity dams, with a total capacity of 473.5 MW, to be done away with.
“It
is strongly recommended that after dropping these projects, these river
reaches should be kept free. These projects should not be re-allotted
by altering their features, locations and names. Also on other free
stretches/tributaries, no further hydropower projects should be
planned/allotted in the entire Siang basin even if they are small (less
than 25 MW) and do not fall within the purview of the EIA notification,”
says the report.
The Ministry has decided to assess
the Tato II project for clearance, claiming it is the first project in
the river basin, though it assessed the 1,000-MW Siyom (Middle Siang)
project for environmental clearance as far back as 2004-05.
The
Ministry’s panel for forest clearances will also review the Lower Yamne
State I and II projects, which fall in the Siang river basin and add up
to 184 MW. The CWC report has assessed this sub-basin to be of the
highest biodiversity value in the overall Siang basin.
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