Take it or leave it, BJP MP tells government on Subansiri Lower

90:10 sounds equitable in all appointments for origil BJP leaders and newly-inducted ones, says RP Sarma

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, August 31: “Take it or leave it.” This statement from senior BJP leader and Tezpur MP RP Sarma on the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Aruchal Pradesh border may sound curt, but honest.

The MP met Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal last night with a memorandum. A copy of the memorandum was also sent to the Union Power Minister.

Sarma said: “Works of Subansiri Lower hydel project should be resumed from October 1 this year or be given up forever. If not, cost escalation will render the project a white elephant. In 2005 the estimated cost of the project was Rs 4,500 crore. So far Rs 8,500 crore has been spent, but only 30 per cent work of the project has been done. We need Rs 11,000 crore more to complete the remaining 70 per cent work. This is not all. Earlier the rate of tariff per unit was fixed at Rs 1.60, but now it has gone up to Rs 6.50 per unit. Who’ll buy power at such a high rate?”

On the opposition to the dam, Sarma said: “The organizations which are bent on halting the project work should give in writing that Assam doesn’t need power, industries, mobile towers, development etc. How come a project be stopped because Akhil Gogoi is opposing it? The 1886 Revenue Act should be amended suiting the present situation.”

Shifting to BJP’s interl matters, the MP said: “The domince of the newly-inducted BJP members is quite glaring on all fronts. The origil BJP leaders and cadres should be given priority, be it in the expansion of the State Cabinet or in the appointment against party posts or posts of chairpersons in various boards and corporations. The ratio of origil BJP leaders to the newly inducted ones should be 90:10. This ratio sounds equitable.”

Sarma further said that leaders with RSS background and who have grown up from the grassroots level of the party should also be given priority.

On the vexed issue of election of the State party president, Sarma said: “We need to follow party constitution. It was an exception that Sarbanda Sonowal was made the party president, violating the party constitution. There was none to lead the party from the front at that time. The situation is quite different now. There’s no dearth of leaders in the party now. We need to follow the party constitution in all matters.”

Sarma made it clear that if he is asked to lead the party from the front in the State, he is ready to take the responsibility.

On the completion of 100 days by the BJP-led government at Dispur, Sarma said: “The government has done much in its first 100 days, but the people of the State expect more. If the cement companies in the Northeast don’t want to reduce cement prices in the State, their industries need to be closed. Elsewhere in the country, cement is sold at Rs 150-180 a bag. If we’re to import cement from other States, we can sell them at much power prices than what’s charged in the State now.”