New Delhi: Days after a major landslide at an under-construction 2000 MW Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project located along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border raised concern among environmental activists and Ajeet Bhuyan, a lawmaker from Assam and Rajya Sabha MP, on Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his intervention to make accountability and swift measures to prevent future tragedies.
Bhuyan said that landslides at the dam site have been a regular feature due to the fragility of the soil. “The landslide on October 27 blocked the only diversion tunnel working at that time. The consequence was terrifying,” he said. Bhuyan, an independent MP from Assam, said that the Subansiri Dam, as the project is commonly known, is being built without taking into consideration the recommendations of the experts drawn from the universities and technical institutions of Assam.
Referring to the October 27 landslide, Bhuyan said that the incident is only a warning, which can’t be ignored. “The hilly soil of Arunachal is fragile. Secondly, the dam site is earthquake-prone. Thirdly, the base of the dam was reduced by 09 metres without any public explanation. These are enough indications for a major disaster in the coming days,” he told ETV Bharat.
The downstream Subansiri dried up and remained for 16 hours. The duration was enough to kill the entire aquatic life of the river for a long stretch, he said. Bhuyan has sent a letter to Prime Minister Modi addressing his concerns. “Let me assert, Sir, that the fragile soil structure can never withstand the huge reservoir of water. This unavoidable fact was ignored by your experts. I am very much apprehensive that a disaster at the dam site, many folds more destructive than the recently witnessed Sikkim disaster, is only a matter of time,” said Bhuyan in his letter addressed to Modi.
Also read: Subansiri Hydropower Project to start operations soon as main dam ready: NHPC
Reminding that the Prime Minister voiced his opposition to such a big dam during his election campaign in Assam in 2014, Bhuyan said that even Rajnath Singh, the present Defence Minister, went a step further stating that BJP would scrap the project if voted to power.
He said that the huge dam in Arunachal has been thrust upon the people living downstream in Assam. “The knowledge of the Assamese professors was bulldozed by the experts, who toed the bureaucratic line of thinking to generate power at any cost. A thorough investigation will also reveal why the cost has escalated three times to about Rs 20,000 crore in many years. The dam, till it survives, will also remain an epitome of corruption at different levels,” Bhuyan said.
The Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project is an under-construction gravity dam (nearly 90 per cent of the work completed) with a capacity of 2000 MW (8x250 MW). It is the biggest hydroelectric project undertaken in India so far and is a run-of-river scheme on river Subansiri. Severa Assam-based organisations, including All Assam Students Union (AASU), and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS), have been opposing the construction of the dam citing environmental concerns. Last Friday a landslide damaged part of the under-construction hydroelectric project which has affected the flow of the Subansiri river downstream. The project, which has been under construction for more than a decade, is scheduled to begin operations in March next year.
