Adequate security for national power project: Gogoi

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has assured the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) of proper security to carry out the construction work of the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro-Electric Power Project (LSHEP). Gogoi gave the assurance while addressing the media Saturday and added that the government would also bring in international level experts who can convince the people that the mega dam for the Subansiri project would not adversely affect the state’s ecology. [caption id=“attachment_337979” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has assured complete security for the national power project coming up in Assam.”]  [/caption] The NHPC on Friday appealed the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments to provide security for executing the Lower Subansiri Hydro-Electric Power Project (LSHEP) whose work has been halted by anti-dam protestors since December last. The power corporation also made it clear that it was losing Rs.4 to Rs.5 crore every day due to disruption of the work. The total cost of the project has gone up to Rs.10,799.63 crore from the initial projection of Rs.6,285.33 crore. The NHPC has already spent Rs.5,383.24 crore on the LSHEP and only 50 percent of the work has been completed. “It is our duty to provide security to the NHPC so that they can execute the work and we are going to arrange for adequate security. It is up to the NHPC to see from when they start the work, but the government’s duty is to only ensure security, which we are going to do very soon,” said Gogoi. The chief minister had also clarified that there were sophisticated technologies which could mitigate the ill-effects of big dams. “The people in the state are having a misconception that the construction of big dams will have a negative impact. However, it is not true. The anti-dam activists have also been protesting against the construction of dams,” Gogoi said. “We have tied up with international level experts who are going to convince the people that dams are not going to have adverse affect here,” Gogoi added. “The dams are needed for the development of the state and appropriate measures would be taken to mitigate their impact on the people and environment of the state. We are not going to do anything that affect the lives of people negatively,” he said. IANS