Plea to hold tripartite meet on Subansiri project

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

Guwahati, Nov 17: Opposition leader Debabrata Saikia has written a letter to Prime Minister rendra Modi requesting to hold the much-delayed tripartite meeting for examining the expert committee report on the stalled 2,000MW NHPC Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project at Gerukamukh along Aruchal Pradesh border.

Sakia in the letter to the PMO has stated how the Centre has not convened the tripartite meeting to discuss the expert panel report and without addressing the grievances of the people of Assam, work on the project will not resume.

There has been no work on the Lower Subansiri hydel project since December 2011 because of agitation by anti-dam activists on downstream concerns

“In view of the above, I demand that the Centre immediately convene another tripartite meeting as agreed upon earlier to consider the report submitted by the eight-member experts panel and till then no work should start on the project,” Saikia  said.

The project oversight committee, formed in December 2014, has four members from Assam, who in a news meet in March had opposed the resumption of work in their fil report, citing several seismological and geological reasons.

The four experts - Jatin Kalita, B.P. Buarah, Chandan Mahanta and SP Biswas - had submitted their reports separately in January to the Union power ministry citing differences in opinion with the government-selected members.

Saikia , however, stated, “The Assam Congress Legislature Party will support the construction of dam if the concerns of the people are answered to the satisfaction of the people of Assam.”?