Central Task Force endorses Assam’s stand on mega dams

NEW DELHI, April 14  – In an endorsement of sorts of Assam Government’s stand, the Task Force for Hydro Power Development has recommended that the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) should ensure that storage projects are taken up wherever feasible.
The recommendation is in line with the stand taken by Government of Assam over construction of mega dams in upper reaches of Brahmaputra river in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh. Assam has been opposing construction of run-of-the river projects and insisting on construction of storage dam projects to ensure flood moderation in lower riparian states.
The Task Force today recommended that at the time of techno-economic appraisal of DPRs of hydro electric projects, CEA would ensure that storage projects are taken up wherever feasible
On Tuesday, a meeting of the Task Force for Hydro Power Development was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Power. The Task Force on Hydro Development was constituted by the Ministry of Power in 2007 to examine and resolve all issues relating to hydro power development including flood moderation of hydro power projects with states downstream of storage projects.
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of Environment and Forest, Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Water Resources, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Rural Development, Dr CP Joshi, Minister of State for Power, Bharatsinh Solanki. Power Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Shabir Khan, Minister of Power Sikkim, SG Lapcha and Minister of Power West Bengal, Nirupam Sen also attended the meeting.
Official sources said that projects in the Siang basin would be taken up for fast track environment and forest clearance by the MoEF. A special relief and rehabilitation package will be evolved for the Siang basin projects.
The meeting further decided that in the wake of the requirement of compensatory afforestation in lieu of forest land diverted for construction of hydropower projects, there was an urgent need to identify the non- forest and degraded forest land by Government of Arunachal Pradesh. The state will prepare an inventory of available non-forest and degraded forest land which may be offered for compensatory afforestation. States may complete this activity by July 2010.