Dams of Distress

Dams of Distress

The road to overall development is not so easy; in fact the word ‘overall development’ is a blurred concept. To materialize a larger goal one should keep in mind that ‘ Rome was not built in a day’. But perhaps the Government of India perhaps wants to build Rome in day- not one brick after the other. By laying the foundation stone for the hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh, the Government of India has laid a firm foundation for an ecological grieve in this area. First of all the project is to come up not at Itanagar but at Roing, some 600 kilometers in the north-eastern region of Arunachal Pradesh. If we put the project under microscope, then various traits will come out- all ready to upset the ecological balance of the area.
Let us have a look at the dams in Arunachal Pradesh and the power generated by the state. The 50,000 MW Hydroelectric Initiative, which was installed in India in 2003, aimed to generate 50,000 MW of electricity in India by 2017. It was supposed to be done through 162 projects. Of this 162 projects 72 are in north east and out of this 72 , 42 are in Arunachal Pradesh with a capacity of 27,293 MW. But while the government is trying to be a powerhouse, the local people feel the brunt. The Subansiri project in west Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh will generate 2000 MW of electricity, but the effect is more than 2000MW of electricity. This project has already displaced 38 families and is all ready to give a fatal blow to the livelihood of the people. About 4000 hectares of forest is likely to be taken by this project, lion’s share of it to be submerged. More than that, the damming has adversely affected the marine life and hence fishing is affected. But perhaps the worst affected are the people living there.
Rehabilitation is a difficult task there. We must keep in mind that in these areas people have ownership even for land and forests and the clans and the tribal have a major claim on the lands there. An attempt to resettle the tribal people will further fan the flames of disgruntlement, as it will result in a mixture of two communities. Idu-Mismi is one of the tribal that are going to be slaughtered where the Dibang project will come up. This tribal has a population of 11,021 and already the Government of India has already declared the race as endangered. If the expected project comes up then there is possibility of the influx of some 6000 people who will come to work there. There remains a good possibility of a brawl between them, which will put the Idu-Mismi tribal in a danger. Discrimination to the tribal has been routine feature. A grim picture emerges out of Gerukamukh. NHPC runs a school here, but the local peopledoesn’t get a chance in this school, because they cannot meet the criteria for entrance. Even in hospitals discrimination is also to be seen. These tribal people when need to go to hospital, have to first go to the police station and convince the police that they are really ill. Then only they get the permission to visit the hospital. At this juncture, one important question is that how cost effective will be the electricity generated? The answer is distressing. The electricity that is generated will mostly be used by the other parts of the country, which means long range transmission lines and hence enhanced cost. At the end of the day those private hosts will harvest all the crop of this slaughter of environment and people. Lets have an empowered future not overpowered.