Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 27 Apr: The Dibang Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project Downstream Affected Area Committee (DMHEPDAAC) said that it has submitted a memorandum to the NHPC director, enumerating the committee’s various demands.
It said also that members of the committee met union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in New Delhi in this regard.
Addressing a press conference at the press club here on Thursday, DMHEPDAAC chairman Gotem Tayeng said that it was relayed to the minister that “there will be no compromise with the tribal rights.”
Members of the committee who were at the press conference stressed their core demands, which include “cumulative downstream impact assessment of multiple projects.”
DMHEPDAAC spokesperson Bhanu Tatak said that “cumulative downstream impact assessment of all projects in the river basin upto Guwahati is done. However, it completely excludes the downstream affected areas within Dibang Valley district.”
The memorandum stated that “the project is the lower most dam of 16 dams proposed upstream,” and added that “the ecology and livelihood of downstream communities will be devastated.”
The committee is also demanding reexamination of the impact of the project on forest rights. “While land is affected by direct acquisition, forest rights have been impacted to a large extent,” it said.
The memorandum stated also that “the embankment or the protection wall is inseparable and plays an integral part of the detailed project report of the project, which should invariably be constructed before the beginning of the dam project from the intake point of the same upto the Dibang-Brahmaputra confluence on both sides of the river.”
“The expert committee should be an independent agency, and it should be appointed by the downstream affected committee and local apex bodies,” the memorandum stated.
The DMHEPDAAC said that there are “80 villages and hamlets located near the Dibang river, and the urban population is not less than 13,000, with the rural population of 40,185.”
It said also that “the total population of the downstream affected area in LDV and East Siang is 53,185, which also affects Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts of Assam.”
The press conference was attended also by the committee’s general secretary Ganga Ngupok.
