NGT gives ‘GO’ to Subansiri dam, work from tomorrow

The much delayed Subansiri Dam is now on as the NationalGreen Tribunal (NGT) removed all legal hurdles and NHPC will resume work from tomorrow.

In a surprise order, the NGT today upheld the technical committee, which was set up by the Centre who had reviewed the fundamental of the Dam following the massive protest by riparian people.

There were two petitions challenging the Committee, whichhad cleared the Dam with some minor modifications. The petitioners alleged thatCommittee did not have independent member and set up by Government to favourtheir view.  But the NGT today upheld ittechnically ending the long legal battle.

The NHPC can resume their work from tomorrow, admitted the PetitionerAbhijit Sharma of APW adding that they would challenge the verdict of the NGTin the Supreme Court.

This is noteworthy that work on the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border had been "kept pending" since 2011 due to local agitation.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on December 2015 asked NHPC Ltd not to resume construction till safety issues were resolved. The Mini Ratna PSU has achieved over 30% progress in concretizing since.

The three members- Pravesh Pandey, PM Scot and Dr ID Gupta-had earlier submitted the report in support of the NHPC but their report impartialitywas questioned in the NGT. Today the same has been upheld virtually shuttingout the legal option in front of the NGT.

The work for the 2000 MW Lower Subansiri project had beenhalted for last several years following agitation raised against the dam byseveral organisations including APW, KMSS and AASU.