AASU slaps ultimatum to NHPC

Guwahati, Apr 26 (UNI) The All Assam Students Union(AASU) today served an ultimatum to the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC) to provide details on downstream impact study on Subansiri Lower HE Project in Dhemaji in the state.

ASSU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharrya said if the NHPC failed to provide the information before May 1, they would launch an agitation to make it take measures for protection of life and property of people living downstream of the mega dam project.

He informed that the NHPC had on November 27 promised to carry out the study which it should have done before starting works in the project site at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal border.

Dr Bhattacharrya said the earlier phase of similar agitation was halted temporarily by the AASU after the NHPC had given assurance through a letter dated November 27 last year. However, the NHPC had apparently failed to keep what it promised forcing AASU to threaten an agitation, he said.

The students body today announced that the first phase of agitation will start on May 4 if the NHPC failed to meet the deadline to provide information about the downstream impact study it was supposed to carry out.

On November 29 last a tripartite meeting was held among the AASU, Power Minister Pradyut Bardoloi and NHPC wherein it was decided that the Corporation would conduct the downstream impact study through a panel of experts to be chosen by the AASU.

Subsequently on January 6, AASU submitted a list comprising experts from IIT, Guwahati, Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University.

However, as nothing was happening on the ground, the AASU wrote another letter to the state government on March 29 and subsequently, the state power commissioner in a meeting on April 1 promised to get all the information from the NHPC within 15 days.

''As we are yet to receive any information related to supposed downstream impact study either from the government or the NHPC, we decided to set an ultimatum to the NHPC,'' the AASU leader said.

UNI