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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NE dams fail green test

NE dams fail green test

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published Published on Jul 26, 2013   modified Modified on Jul 26, 2013
-The Telegraph


Guwahati: The ministry of environment and forests has denied forest clearance to the 1,500MW Tipaimukh hydel project in Manipur and the 3,000MW Dibang multipurpose project in Arunachal Pradesh.

The forest advisory committee (FAC), which met on July 11 and 12, has stated in its report that in both projects, the requirement of for-estland is large and will have an adverse impact on the general ecosystem of the area.

Civil society organisations had urged the ministry of environment and forests not to accord forest clearance to both projects, as these would destroy the rich forest resources in their respective areas.

On the 1,500MW Tipai-mukh hydel project in Manipur, the committee said the requirement of forestland was large and disproportionate to its power generation capacity. "The very high ecological, environmental and social impact/cost of the diversion of the vast tract of forestland will far outweigh the benefits likely to accrue from the project. The FAC, therefore, stro-ngly recommended that the approval for the said forestland should not be accorded," the report stated.

The committee recommended that in case the implementing agency desired, they could explore the feasibility of constructing smaller dams involving diversion of smaller forest areas commensurate with their power generation capacity. It had given the environment clearance to the project in 2008. Dibang has, however, not received environment clearance.

The committee said the Tipaimukh dam required 24,329 hectares of forestland - more than one-fifth of the total 1,18,184 hectares of fore-stland diverted for execution of 497 hydel projects in the entire country after the Forest Conservation Act came into force. It said the forestland requirement against every meg-awatt of proposed electricity generation - 16 hectares per megawatt - was much higher than the national average.

In its assessment report to the ministry, the Manipur forest department had earlier said, "No compensatory measure would help mitigate the adverse impact the loss of such large forest tracts would have on the habitat, flora, fauna, biodiversity, micro-climate and environment, unless additional non-forest areas in affected or adjoining districts are taken up for compensatory afforestation."

In the case of the Dibang project, the committee said felling of more than 3.5 lakh trees was most likely to have adverse impact on the general ecosystem of the area, recovery of which may be very difficult through any type of mitigating measures. "There is no study conducted to assess the cumulative impact of all the reservoirs and the upstream and downstream impacts. The ecological, environmental and social costs of diversion of such a vast tract of forestland, which is a major source of livelihood of the tribal population of the state, will far outweigh the benefits likely to accrue from the project," the committee said in its report.

It recommended that approval for diversion of the said land may not be accorded.

"The committee's decision is an endorsement of the concerns of the people against the impact of the project," Jiten Yumnam of Citizens Concern for Dams and Development, Action Committee against Tipaimukh Dam Project, told The Telegraph.

A source said the companies, could, if they wished, submit different proposals with reduced impact on forests and others. "The minister can, if she desires, turn down the recommendations of the committee as these are advisory in nature. But this is very rare," the source said.


The Telegraph, 26 July, 2013, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130726/jsp/frontpage/story_17158266.jsp#.UfImQazcjco


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