Seventy-eight lakh trees will be chopped
as part of the forest clearance process for the 1,500MW Tipaimukh
hydroelectric project in Manipur, an exercise that Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh says will be taken up for “national interest”.
The project, which has been in the
eye of controversies following opposition from Bangladesh, has received
support from the Centre, which has promised not to take any steps that
would adversely affect the neighbouring country.
The project near
the Manipur-Mizoram border, 500 metres downstream of the confluence of
river Barak and the Tuivai in Churachandpur district of Manipur,
received environmental clearance in 2008.
Alarmed by the
diversion of a very large area of forest land and felling of more than
78 lakh trees, the forest advisory committee, under the ministry of
environment and forests, has recommended that a sub-committee, along
with domain experts in the field of ecology, wildlife, hydrology and
others, visit the project site to make an on-the-spot assessment of
impacts.
The committee,
which met on January 11-12 in New Delhi, also recommended that the
sub-committee may suggest appropriate measures on further reduction in
dam height to minimise forest land requirement.
The committee said the forest land proposed for diversion contains 78,16,931 trees and 27,000 bamboo columns.
Principal chief
conservator of forests, Manipur, has been quoted in the report as saying
“no compensatory measure would help in mitigating the loss caused by
felling of such large number of trees as also the diverse impact on the
habitat, flora, fauna, bio-diversity and environment, unless additional
non-forest areas in affected districts or adjoining districts are taken
up for compensatory afforestation”.
The per megawatt requirement of forest land at 16.22 hectares is also substantially high, the committee said.
Manipur had
initially submitted a proposal to obtain approval of the Centre under
the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, for diversion of 20,464 hectares of
forest land, which was later revised to 25,822.14 hectares.
Later, according
to the consideration of recommendations made by the northeastern
regional office of the ministry of environment and forests, the area of
forest land proposed for diversion was further revised to 22,777.50
hectares.
Mizoram also sent a proposal for diversion of 1551.60 hectares of forest land, which is being processed separately.
The total
diversion is 24,329 hectares of forest land, of which 22,777.50 hectares
is in Manipur and 1551.60 hectares is in Mizoram.
The project is
being executed as a joint venture of the NHPC (69 per cent), Satluj Jal
Vidyut Nigam Limited (26 per cent) and the Manipur government (5 per
cent). It was initially proposed to be executed by the North Eastern
Electric Power Corporation Limited.
The Tipaimukh
project is expected to take 87 months for completion and will come up
during the 12th Five Year Plan. The total cost of the project is
estimated at Rs 9,211 crore at September 2008 price level.
Many project
proponents, including government departments have been urging the Centre
to expedite the process of granting environment and forest clearances
as otherwise the projects were getting delayed.
Though the
environmental clearance given in 2008 had said downstream impacts of the
project in Assam should be studied because of construction of the dam,
sources said nothing had been done till now.
The clearance
letter had also said since the Tipaimukh project involved large
submergence, a comprehensive study of the possible greenhouse emissions
from the project should be carried out.
Sources, however,
said this also had not been done. “How shall we kill ourselves in an age
of climate change...let us count the ways. Instead of investing money
in enhancing efficiency and making existing hydroelectric power projects
deliver on failed promises, myopic planners in the Prime Minister’s
Office and Planning Commission are laying out a silken trap for the
Indian people...promising power and delivering a slow death from
ecological instability instead,” wildlife expert Bittu Sahgal told The
Telegraph.
“This is going to
be an ecological disaster. There is great impact in the upstream area
and one can very well imagine what may happen downstream, which has
still not been studied,” Firoz Ahmed, wildlife conservationist from
Assam, said.
“This will be
transformed into a desert. This is an exceptionally rich biodiverse
area,” R.K. Ranjan Singh, an environmentalist and adviser to the
Manipur-based NGO Citizens’ Concern for Dams and Development, said.
“No project in the
country, howsoever necessary, should be cleared by any authority if it
involves large-scale cutting of trees. Such action is a disaster for the
future of a nation and the country requires a strict land use policy
urgently,” Valmik Thapar, eminent wildlife conservationist, said.
