ULFA threatens to take up armed protest against dam

Our Correspondent Guwahati, December 12 [dropcap]T[/dropcap]he outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (Paresh Baruah faction) has warned of an “armed protest” if the Centre decides to go ahead with the construction of the Lower Subansiri Hydro-electric Project in Assam’s Dhemaji district. “From the beginning, we had expressed our reservations against the project and extended our moral support to the groups and organisations opposing it. However, given the Government’s rigid stand, we have now decided to wage an armed protest against the move,” ULFA military chief Paresh Baruah said in an email statement sent to media houses on Friday. He, however, said the outfit would take a different stand if the NHPC Limited, which is building the project, agreed to change the geographical location of the dam site or build a micro dam at the present site.“The project foundation is on sedimentary stones. A dam of such height and that too on sedimentary stones is devoid of any logic. If the present height is retained, it will only bring untold sufferings to the people living downstream,” Baruah cautioned. Not just this project, the ULFA leader said, the 186 dams being planned in Arunachal Pradesh were not in the interest of Assam. The construction work of the project has remained stalled since December 2011 following stepped up protests. Scientists from the IIT Guwahati and other universities had earlier raised some key issues such as the inappropriate location and height of the dam. They recommended that the dam’s height should be suitably reduced to minimize the impact downstream. Subsequently, a committee, constituted by the Planning Commission of India with former bureaucrats CD Thatte and MS Reddy, had also in its report pointed out that the present planning of the project ignored the aspect of flood control and compromised the dam’s design and safety.