Correspondent
Shillong: Drawing parallels with the prolonged delays faced by the lower Subansiri hydropower project, Meghalaya Power Minister AT Mondal has assured that the proposed 55-megawatt Kulsi hydroelectric project—planned jointly with the Assam government—will proceed only after taking all stakeholders into confidence. The project, still in a preliminary stage, has triggered sharp opposition from the people living near the Assam-Meghalaya border close to Guwahati.
“Our Chief Minister has clearly told that all stakeholder will be taken into confidence,” Mondal said in response to growing resistance from communities worried about displacement, loss of livelihood, and ecological consequences.
The Kulsi river, locally known as Kolohi in parts of Kamrup district, is a vital water source for thousands of agrarian and fishing families and home to the endangered river dolphin. The proposed dam, along with a planned satellite township at Barduar, has intensified anxieties among indigenous communities.
Referring to the bilateral nature of the project, Mondal said, “Discussion between the two chief ministers of both the state as a friendship project that has been cropped out in a discussions, so that is at that level, what our chief minister has told that we will go ahead taking everybody into confidence.”
He acknowledged the complex challenges that hydroelectric projects often face, citing earlier examples: “Any power project whenever it will come, naturally it will create a lot of problem, we could see in other states also maybe in our state also in earlier days when project came because there will be area of submergence, there will be lots of acquisition of land, there will be this situations, even we have seen in Dua Shiri, it took years to complete the project.”
Reiterating that the Kulsi project is still at a nascent stage, Mondal said, “This is in a very preliminarily position and nothing concrete has happened, how the project will be executed, it was also not there, when there was a talk between boundary dispute issues, there are proposal has come and Okay if it can be executed then well and good.”
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