Governor against large dams

BY MANOJ ANAND

GUWAHATI

July 4: Newly-appointed Assam governor Shiv Charan Mathur on Friday opposed construction of large dams to generate hydel-power in the Northeast, saying they would cause harm to the environment.

After taking the oath in a public function at Rabindra Bhavan, Mr Mathur told reporters that he was aware about the devastating flood in plains of Assam caused by the dams of Arunachal Pradesh.

For three successive years, the dam has been triggering floods in Lakhimpur and Dhemjai districts of Assam.

Voicing his concern against the big dam projects, he stressed the need of forming nodal agency to coordinate these inter-related problems of the state. The governor said he would take up the matter at an appropriate forum to reverse the trend of erecting big dams in the region. "I believe that remedies are available without affecting the development," he said.

Arunachal Pradesh has taken up projects of six dams and many medium and mini dams now in various stages of completion for hydro power generation.

He suggested that there should be a Brahmaputra Development Authority (BDA) which should be the nodal agency for all dam related projects in the Northeast.

"I shall be talking to Arunachal Pradesh governor General J.J. Singh. Already my chief minister is in touch with its counterpart in Arunchachl Pradesh, Mr Dorjee Khandu, on dam related issues," he said.

The Assam government had blamed the North-Eastern Electric Power Corporation’s Ranganadi project for a flash-flood in Lakhimpur district which wrecked havoc in the state.

Speaking about insurgency, he said that the doors of Raj Bhavan will always be opened for any effort to bring peace in the state.