After successfully blocking construction at the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation's 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro-electric Project at Gerukamukh in Dhemaji district of Assam, the anti-dam brigade comprising several organisations were on Thursday called for negotiation by the Assam government in Guwahati.
The five-member group of ministers of Assam government on Thursday held negotiations with Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity, All Assam Students' Union, Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad and several tribal organisations who are opposed to construction of mega dams on rivers flowing through Assam apprehending catastrophic impact on lives and property of people living downstream in Assam valley.
After the meeting with minister from the government, KMSS general secretary Akhil Gogoi, who has been spearheading the anti-dam movement, said that neither did the ministers agree to the decision to continue the blockade of construction materials, machinery and turbine parts to the NHPC dam site, nor did they assure that police force would not be used to crush the democratic movement against dams.
"The KMSS and its allies will continue to block movement of construction materials to the NHPC dam site but will allow transport of foodstuff for NHPC officials and their families, limited quantity of diesel to light up residential quarters and offices in NHPC site at Gerukamukh," he said.
The Assam government also expressed its inability to facilitate a dialogue between the anti-dam agitators' bodies and the NHPC authorities, though it expressed concern about the proposed construction of over 150 dams in the upstream of rivers in Arunachal Pradesh.
The KMSS leader said it would not allow further construction of the mega dam at Gerukamukh unless the NHPC carry out advance cumulative assessment of downstream impact of the project that is being constructed in a seismically sensitive location. It also demanded a cost-benefit analysis regarding the project and a detailed basin study.
An Assam government spokesman informed that it was just the beginning of the process of negotiation. "There will be a series of discussion on the issue till it is resolved," he said.
Construction at the dam site came to a grinding halt in December when protestors blocked the transportation of construction materials and turbine parts to the dam site.
Earlier, a group of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (Guwahati), Gauhati University and Dibrugarh had recommended against the construction of a mega dam at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary in view of the geological and seismological sensitivity of the area.
The eight-member expert group was entrusted with the responsibility to carry out detail downstream impact study of the 2000 MW hydroelectric power project where construction of the main dam had been started by the NHPC without carrying out the downstream impact study.
The expert committee in its recommendations on the feasibility and the safety of the dam said, "The selected site for the mega dam of the present dimension was not appropriate in such a geologically and seismologically sensitive location. The seismic design parameter is not properly chosen for the project. Therefore, it is recommended not to construct the mega dam in the present site."
Further, the expert group suggested against considering the geologically young and tectonically unstable Himalayan foothill areas to the south of the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) for construction of any mega hydropower project.