Etalin hydel: Etalin Hydroelectric Project, Arunachal Pradesh (3097 MW)//Call to reconsider Etalin hydropower project in Dibang basin of Arunachal Pradesh
The project is being executed through the Etalin Hydro Electric Power Company Limited, a JV company of Jindal Power Limited and Hydro Power Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Limited (A Govt of Arunachal Pradesh Undertaking).
The installed capacity of the project is 3097 MW as per the detailed project report. Etalin HEP is envisaged as a run of the river scheme on rivers Dri and Tangon in the Dibang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh. It is the largest of the hydroelectric projects being currently developed in India
The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India, a network of about 800 individuals and organizations who are involved in the water sector issues in general and water conflicts in particular since 2004-05, has written a letter to the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to reconsider the project citing multiple, specific reasons. Drawing attention to what they termed as "destructive content of the proposed Etalin HEP", the members of the Steering Committee of the Forum said they are "deeply concerned" about the all-round destruction the Etalin project can cause - of the ecology of the region, socio-cultural milieu of the people, especially the indigenous Idu Mishmi communities, and their nature-dependent livelihoods.
The specific reasons included, first and foremost, the proposed destruction of 30,000 trees in old growth forest in a biodiversity hotspot. "The ecosystem services of such a forest cannot be compensated in any way by plantation or compensatory afforestation programmes," the letter said, and reminded of violations in compensatory measures regarding two similar projects in that State. The Forum also sought to remind the FAC of how the Dibang Valley is prone to natural hazards "as it lies on a seismically active zone" and also has melting glacial lakes.
0 Comments