SLHP construction materials blockade by AASU-AJYCP continues in Dhemaji district

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: The blockade of the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project (SLHP) construction materials initiated by the members of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) continued at Gogamukh in Dhemaji district from Monday. As a result of it, a number of vehicles carrying cement and other allied construction materials to the project site were stranded near Gogamukh. Around 300 members of both organizations have continued the stir day and night.

Notably, though the construction of the controversial big river dam, which was entrusted to NHPC, had started in 2005 and was due to be completed in 2010, the project was delayed due to protests over its environmental impact. The construction work came to a grinding halt from November in 2011 when anti-big dam activists set up roadblocks to prevent the shipment of machinery.

But NHPC, of late, has been constructing the pThe blockade of the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project (SLHP) construction materials initiated by the members of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) continued at Gogamukh in Dhemaji district from Monday. As a result of it, a number of vehicles carrying cement and other allioject while taking the advantage of the COVID-19 and lockdown situation and ignoring the massive protest programmes continuously initiated by a number of anti-big river dam organizations. NHPC has continued the construction work in the highly seismic zone by violating the recommendations of the expert committee, the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal. At present, the BJP-led government has taken stand in favour of the big river dam and it has fuelled the spirit of NHPC to complete the construction of the project very soon.

Under such circumstances, the anti-big river dam activist organizations in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts, including AASU and AJYCP, which have been opposing the project from the beginning because of its negative environmental impact, have decided to continue intensified agitation against it.

In this regard, Dhemaji AASU president Dipak Kumar Sarmah stated that AASU and AJYCP would initiate comprehensive blockade of SLHP construction materials after the Durga Puja festival. He informed that the blockade would be initiated at Ghagar Nagar of Lakhimpur district and at Gogamukh of Dhemaji district in order to block all roads leading to the project site at Gerukamukh to prevent the NHPC shipment.

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