Controversial 1750 MW Lower Demwe Hydroelectric Project Gets a Nod from Government

The 1750 MW Lower Demwe hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh which was being put on hold despite being cleared by the previous Congress-led UPA’s environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan and was struck down by National Green Tribunal, has now got an all-clear from the present government.

The reason for terming this project as controversial by the environmental activists is that it is feared to alter the habitat of river water dolphins in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh once it is being started. But despite all the protests and warnings of the environmental activists, the standing committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), the apex wildlife protection body chaired by environment minister Harsh Vardhan, has given a nod to this hydroelectric project. The project is being jointly executed by Athena Energy Ventures and Arunachal state government.

Together with the nod, the standing committee in its 50th meeting on September 7 has also decided that additional environmental studies should also be sanctioned even though it would take another 3-4 years. The construction of the dam on the river will begin but along with that necessary environmental studies will also run simultaneously.

The committee has also chosen to rely on certain parts of a study conducted by Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII). As per the report, “Taking into account that construction of the dam and associated infrastructures would require time (3 to 4 years), it would be prudent to consider the construction of the dam at this stage and subsequently operate it at natural levels of inflow and outflow to generate power.”

The report also states, “As a consequence of the dam, the risk of having a large amount of water-mass stored in a seismically active zone is obvious, and WII is not competent to assess the safeguards to take in this regard, In case of dam collapse or breach due to a seismic activity or any other natural calamity, the impact on the biodiversity as well as human life downstream would be devastating.”