Hydro power generation in North East

— Anubhav Dutta
Ideally for any developmental work with public investment the overall benefit of the project in terms of fulfilling people’s interest should be a thrust area of our policy makes and executors. But usually it hardly happens like that in reality, consequent to which an instinctive resistance to any developmental project foisted on the people has become a common issue in contemporary society. At times reactionary political elements swarming all over the society infiltrate into such issue in order to derive a political mileage. However, a general lack of scientific knowledge stands on the way of logical explanation of the cause of resistance of the people against such developmental works notwithstanding the fact that there is always a scientific reason behind such people’s opposition to a developmental project. In fact greed for more and more money has become the driving force behind any developmental strategy mooted by our political executive in the changed era of economic globallsation. An unsustainable exploration of nature to achieve a rapid multiplication of capital without an iota of thought on the overall benefit of such exploitation for the community as a whole which owns such natural resources could be reckoned as a flagrant violation of the tenet of sustainable development now recoined as clean developmental mechanism in modern parlance. In such an ordeal faced by the people an organisation vouching for development in the true sense of the term and having knowledge base and a comprehensive analytical capability is always an asset to guide the people in a correct democratic path. Here committed NGO could definitely play a constructive role.As to the water resource management of the north easter region with immense hydro electricity potential, the State governments of the region should have prepared a common water policy long back in order to ensure the collective interest of the people living in different States of the region. Capital investment in the matter of exploration of bydro potential of the region always happened to be a constrain in the past because of fund paucity of the government which happens to be the only investor in the field. Naturally the immense hydro potential could not be exploited for the economic prosperity of the region for the obvious reason. Yet after acceptance of liberal economic policy the flood gate of private investment in the generation sector too was opened. Consequently the multinational players in the market started rushing to the NE region to do business in hydro power generation. Thus MOU for exploration of hydro potential to the extent of 5000 MW with various private players were signed by Arunachal Pradesh Government with concurrence from the Central Government in consonance with the new power policy. Needless to mention that to achieve a lucrative commercial viability of such venture the optimum capacity of a unit should be quite necessitating high dams. Further it necessitates more water resources to be stored in a reservoir with high dam across the river. In this connection a holistic water resource management policy encompassing the flow from the reservoir upto discharge from the pen stock of the hydro turbine as well as to the valley is a prerequisite to ensure the natural econological equilibrium of the concerned river and the associated valley. Secondly construction of a high dam in a very sensitive seismic zone like NE India needs special consideration and extensive study. But people have reasons to doubt whether the above mentioned points were taken cognizance of by the authority (which incidentally falls under the ambit of environmental study of the project) before granting clearance for construction of such mega Hydro Electric project. In the meantime intransparency has been displayed in the ongoing process of signing of MOU and people have every to suspect some foul play.Kalpa Brikhya, a Delhi based NGO working in the sphere of preservation of ecology raised the issue before the people of the region. Many conscientious individuals and thinkers of the region too raised their concern on the ambitious hydro power generation plan of the government and its probable effect on the delicately poised ecological balance of the region. This endeavour became successful and public was mobilised. In the mean time the citizen committee of Roing District submitted memorandum to the authority raising their protest against the proposed hydro-flectric projects. However, till now the authority has failed to publicly give any plausible explanation of their action, nor divulge the truth to dispel people’s suspicion on the whole matter.It would be worth mentioning in this context that apart from seismic hazard posed by high dam, eventually leading to natural disaster of the past, akin to Koyna Dam collapse of Gujarat in the seventies, mega hydro project could result in eviction of people living in the vicinity of the river. Secondly, such project could lead to submersion of habitable land at the cost of displacement as well as contributing to global warming by way of generation of excessive green house gas caused by submerged vegetation and trees. An ideal Clean Developmental Mechanism must take cognizance of not only such socio economic and environmental factors but should quantify such possible damage and the follow up redressal measures also. The people have a right to know about it because such developmental project has a definite linkage with their future socio-economic condition to be moulded once the projects are materialised. It is felt that the present drive of the authority to explore hydro power of the region is more guided by an excessive pecuniary gain rather than by the tenet of sustainable development or an overall welfare of the mankind. In fact medium sized multipurpose hydro electric project could be the best alternative for the region which could have added prosperity to the agrarian society of the region. Yet commercially the optimum size of the project is quite high. It has been allegeal that due to absence of any comprehensive water resource management policy for the region as a whole, the south flowing tributaries of the Brahmaputra with the primary source at the hillock of Bhutan have changed their natural course creating flood havoc in the undivided Kamrup and Barpeta districts of Assam. Incidentally hydro electric power has already been harnessed from these rivers and excessive discharge from the reservoirs during monsoon has been alleged to be the cause of such unprecedented flood in the region. The political executive of Assam made little endeavour to unearth the truth behind such allegation and to dispel doubt of the people. In a recent press conference of the Kalpa Brikhya, the pertinent point related to lack of water resource management in the region was raised to draw the attention of the State government. Ironically the government spokesman made a half hearted remark on it later on without any iota of realization on the gravity of the problem. The other political parties and vocal student bodies of Assam too are yet to probe deeper into the matter. Naturally the genuine grievance of the common people of the region may ultimately lead to a situation to the liking of the anarchy loving political elements of the region. Therefore it is high time for the people and political parties of the state to cogitate on the crucial issue and be prepared for a joint movement to ensure collective interest.All said and done, the untimely flood and erosion in Dhemaji district in recent times have already created political furor in the State. Yet all these activities have been centred around corruption related to short term flood prevention measures taken by the government rather than any talk on the long term flood management of Dhemaji district. source: assam tribune editorial 08.07.08