Forest panel to share its views on Arunachal hydropower project

The environment ministry’s forest division has been swamped in the past week by letters and submissions on the project, to make way for which at least 270,000 trees will be felled.

Minutes of an April 23 meeting of the environment ministry’s forest advisory committee (FAC) , in which it considered giving forest clearance to the contentious, 3097-megawatt Etalin hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dibang Valley, will be made public this week, senior ministry officials said.

Dibang Valley is home to a genetically distinct population of tigers, over 75 species of other mammals, and 300+ species of birds, including many endangered ones, Conservation India said in its memorandum.(Photo: Chintan Sheth/ Sourced by HT)

But the officials said the FAC hadn’t yet taken a decision on whether to reject or allow the project, which conservationists say entails felling tens of thousands of trees and poses a threat to the region’s rich biodiversity.

The environment ministry’s forest division has been swamped in the past week by letters and submissions on the project, to make way for which at least 270,000 trees will be felled. After several conservationists and researchers wrote to FAC about the risk of losing a significant tiger habitat and biodiversity-rich sub-tropical evergreen and rainforests, the Idu Mishmi community of Dibang valley has also started petitioning the FAC.

“We have received some letters which are in favour of the project and some which are not. We plan to release the minutes of our discussion in FAC meeting next week but a decision is still not taken. We require more information. We will address the concerns raised by scientists and conservationists at an appropriate time,” said Sanjay Kumar, director general of forests.

Among several petitions received by the ministry, the Project Affected People Forum, which groups residents of the valley near Tangon and Dri tributaries of Dibang river, where concrete gravity dams will be constructed, also wrote to the ministry. The petition said scientists and researchers with “anti-development mindset” are trying to sabotage the project by running a signature campaign against it.

Members of the forum said the project will be critical for the remote region which has been neglected by the government. “There are no basic services like proper health-care services, schools here. When the project comes up people will get jobs. This is a very remote area. The project is also important for Arunachal Pradesh which has no source of revenue generation. There are no big industries here. China across the border has already built several dams on the rivers,” Rohit Mele, chief advisor of the forum, said over phone.

More importantly, 250 families have been assured compensation under the land acquisition act which hasn’t come through yet. “Land acquisition has been completed and detailed project report made. All technical formalities are over except forest clearance and environmental clearance. These families are waiting for compensation,” added Mele, who said the project developers had assured the forum that it will have no major environmental or biodiversity impact.

The project has been proposed by Etalin Hydro Electric Power Company Limited, a joint venture of Hydro Power Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Limited and Jindal Power Limited HT wrote to Jindal Power Limited on April 29 for a response to the ecological concerns, but the company hasn’t responded to the yet.

According to FAC’s own factsheet, the project falls under the richest bio-geographical province of the Himalayan zone and one of the mega biodiversity hotspots of the world. The proposed project location falls at the junction of the Paleoarctic, Indo-Chinese, and Indo-Malayan biogeographic regions having luxuriant forests and plethora of flora and fauna. It is also a “vital tiger area.”