Sons of the soil meets on Siang (Arunachal)mega dam Aug 19: A district level meeting was convened by Sons of the Soil (SOS), a peasant organization of Upper Siang district, at Yingkong General Ground on August 17 to oppose the 3750 MW Upper Siang stage – II Mega Dam to be built at Geku, Upper Siang by NEEPCO and NHPC in a joint venture, for which the Power Corporations had entered into an agreement (MoU) for constructing the same with the Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh on May 28, 2013. The meeting was chaired by Gemin Jiji, President, Adi Baane Kebang (ABK), Upper Siang district unit and attended by representatives from Forum for Siang Dialogue (FSD), Siang Peoples’ Forum (SPF), Sirit-Siyom Dam Affected Peoples’Forum, Adi Students’ Union (AdiSU) and River Basin Friends (RBFs), members of Rinngo, Nigong, Rotgong, Mori, Beging, Magong Banggos of West Siang, East Siang and Upper Siang districts, Gaon Buras, Panchayat leaders and prominent Public leaders from Upper Siang district and the Panchayat leaders of Riga and Pangkang village of East Siang district. Attending the meeting, Vijay Taram, Spokesperson of Forum for Siang Dialogue briefed about feasibility report prepared by NTPC for construction of the 3750 MW Upper Siang stage II dam and its impacts on the land and the Indigenous people. Taram was aghast and surprised as to why in spite of repeated opposition of Dams by the Indigenous Adi people, the successive state Governments are planting so many mega dams to submerge all cultivable fertile lands in the Siang valley whereas the Government is not planning and planting even a single dam in the districts of Kurung Kumey, Tirap and Changlang, though these districts also have so many big rivers. Interestingly, even if dams are planned on those rivers of the three districts, they are not going to impact any village or any cultivable lands, he opined. “It seems that with 233 mega hydro power projects to come up in the state as per updated list and with state Government already accepting Rs 14,4281.53 crore only from the power developers as upfront fees, the present government has surpassed any other previous government in their push for hydro projects and inviting corporates indiscriminately to develop such projects,” Taram exclaimed. The River Basin Friends while highlighting the merits and demerits of mega dams stated that “The latest data on the MoU for mega dams also tells that the present govt has agreed to or signed MoU for at least 96 projects within the shortest span of possible time and all these have been done with a complete lack of transparency and without any consultation with the local community”. The Forum for Siang Dialogue also stated that, “the recent disaster in Uttrakhand and denial of forest clearance to Dibang Multipurpose Hydro Project seems to have cut no ice to the Arunachal Government. On one hand the Govt has stated that the Forests Rights Act is not relevant to Arunachal Pradesh on the other hand it is lobbying for forest clearance for several projects as if not knowing that the proposal for Forest Clearance cannot be accepted by the Ministry of Environment and forests until the Forest Rights Act is implemented in the project area and the Gram Sabhas or Traditional Village institutions give their consent in writing to diversion of forest land. On top of all things, the recent Supreme Court judgment directing the Uttrakhand Govt. and the Ministry of Environment and Forests to review all existing Hydro Power Projects in the state and not to accord any clearance to new projects till further orders should come as a warning bell to the Govt of Arunachal Pradesh. Both the Zilla Parishad Members (ZPM) of Yingkong and Karko block also spoke on the occasion stressing that people cannot accept any development aggression by any governments and developments depriving and destroying the livelihood of the indigenous people cannot be welcomed at any cost, anywhere. All the Head Gaon Buras and Panchayat leaders of all the to be affected villages and Banggos while vehemently opposing the move of the Govt to Dam the mighty aane Siang, suggested to form a Core Committee to take up the issue of the Upper Siang Stage I and stage II Mega Dams (to be the largest Dams in the country) to approach for review and scrapping of the project with the State Government and the Project proponent.arunachaltimes.in/
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 03:33:30 +0000