Activists prevent trucks from reaching Subansiri dam site

Guwahati: The 2,000-MW Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Power Project at Gerukamukh in Arunachal Pradesh is once again in trouble as anti-dam groups in Assam have opposed the movement of trucks carrying construction material to the dam site.
The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) is handling the project.
Green activists from various organizations, including Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, have restricted the movement of trucks carrying construction material for the dam in Lakhimpur district since Thursday when a seven-day stir against the project was launched.
Police continued to crack down on the protesters. Five persons were arrested on Thursday after a truck was burnt by agitators at Gogamukh in Dhemaji district.
“Our search for the other demonstrators is on. At present, the situation is under control and the agitating groups have been driven off the highway. We have also asked NHPC to inform police beforehand in case its trucks ply on the highway,” Lakhimpur SP Brajenjit Singha said.
The trucks carrying construction material have to pass through Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts of Assam before reaching the dam site.
Demonstrators said they were forced to vacate the protest site on the highway following police crackdown. Some of the activists asserted that they would stop NHPC’s trucks whenever they passed through Lakhimpur.
“Our seven-day stir is on. We have started a low-profile campaign following police action. We are against the venture as it will have a negative impact on Assam, which is located on the downstream of the project,” an activist, who did not wish to be named, said.
Work on the Lower Subansiri project has been stalled for almost four years now because of protests by anti-dam groups from Assam.
Last year, Union minister of state for power Piyush Goyal held consultations with a number of organizations from Assam that are opposing the project. The meeting aimed at finding a solution to the impasse.
The project was planned in 2002 with an estimate cost of Rs 6,285.33 crore. Because of the delay, the cost has escalated to Rs 10,667.09 crore. The project was to be commissioned in December 2012.
Officials of NHPC said the project has been incurring a loss of an estimated Rs 1 crore a day since construction stopped in 2011.