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To give impetus to the North East market and source of livelihood to local people, a delegation of Arunachal Pradesh lawmakers urged Union Power Minister Veerappa Moily to start work at one of the biggest hydro power projects in India, the Subansiri Lower HE Project, so that infrastructure build up in the region can be fastened up. The construction of Subansiri Lower project was started in 2005 after obtaining all the statutory and regulatory clearances from the concerned agencies of the Government of India as well as state governments of Assam and Arunachal. The start of project has brought about a major increase in the commercial activities and the work at the NHPC funded project near North Lakhimpur on the border of Assam and Aruncachal Pradesh was stopped due to protest from anti-dam agitators. The project which started in 2005 was on the verge of completion when protests disrupted the work at the site, bringing huge loss to the exchequer. On the request of Takam Sanjoy, Member of Parliament from Arunachal West, the Union Power Ministry has convened a meeting on Tuesday to discuss issues for speedy commissioning of the Subansiri Lower HE Project. Sanjoy, who will be leading a delegation of parliamentary secretaries and MLAs to meet Power Minister Moily, also discussed the issue with Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki over telephone. It will also be attended by the Power Secretary and chairman of the NHPC. Sanjoy said: “The Government of India has not been persistent to speed up work at the project and work has almost halted due to no dialogue with the agitators.” The KMSS and other anti-dam organizations have been allegedly carrying out the protest to stop work at the site. The Arunachal delegation will also demand the Power Minister to form a committee involving representatives from the governments of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as well as from Government of India and the NHPC to initiate dialogue and speed up work. Sanjoy said that dialogue should be initiated with the agitating organizations and a way should be found out to redress the grievances put forward by the dissenting parties so that a solution can be found out and the project can be commissioned by 2014, as csheduled. Assam ’s Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is also of the view that there was no point in simply opposing the project for the sake of opposition, as the project would benefit Assam . To generate nearly 30,000 MW power in 10 years’ time, the Arunachal Pradesh Government has signed MoUs with several private firms for 10 major hydropower projects

Arunachal MP, MLAs to meet Moily to start work at Subansiri project