Arunachal CM thanks Riga villagers for supporting 11,000 MW hydropower project

Itanagar, July 12 (IANS) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu expressed gratitude to the people of Riga village in Siang district for accepting the government plan to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR) of the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), hydropower project with an estimated generation capacity of 11,000 MW.

An official of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said on Saturday that people of Riga village of Siang district signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government in a meeting held on Friday, in the presence of Chief Minister Khandu. Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Ojing Tasing and Chief Secretary Manish Kumar Gupta were present in the meeting.

People of Riga village pledged irrevocably to support the Government of India and the government of Arunachal Pradesh in the conduct of pre-feasibility survey, drilling, etc, for the preparation of the Pre-Feasibility Report of the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project. Khandu thanked all residents of Riga Village for wholeheartedly supporting the interest of the nation and the state by displaying incredible wisdom and maturity in building a consensus amongst a majority of residents of Riga Village, the CMO official said.

He mentioned that more than 80 per cent of houses in the village have pledged to support the pre-feasibility survey.

Last month Arunachal Pradesh Cabinet noted the concerns expressed by certain sections of people regarding the preparation of the Pre-Feasibility Report of the proposed SUMP, which was declared as a ‘National Project’ by the Union government in 2008.

The Cabinet, chaired by the Chief Minister, also decided to request the Centre to sanction a special development package for the Siang and Upper Siang Districts, including the beneficiary-oriented social development for the twin districts. The Tsangpo River is known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and Brahmaputra in Assam and Jamuna in Bangladesh, and it flows through the neighbouring country (Bangladesh) before joining the Bay of Bengal. Tsangpo River is known as Yarlung Tsangpo River in China, and it is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China.

The SUMP is a crucial initiative aimed at mitigating the impacts of downstream flooding in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Bangladesh and other environmental issues.

Recently, the Arunachal Pradesh government expressed concern regarding China’s massive 137-billion US dollar hydroelectric dam project, which is set to produce 60,000 MW of electricity over the Yarlung Tsangpo River, in the upper reaches of the Siang River in China.

Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister, Chowna Mein, who holds the Power and Non-Conventional Energy Resources, had said that the Centre has proposed the SUMP, a dam on the Siang River, which has the potential to generate up to 11,000 MW of electricity.

While sharing some observations made by experts on the environmental impact in the region of such a massive hydropower project over Tsangpo river, the Deputy Chief Minister had said that if the China builds the dam over Yarlung Tsangpo river and diverts its water, it will dry up the Siang river and its distributaries affecting the aquatic life of the river and the large population in the plains of Assam and Bangladesh which depends on Brahmaputra river for the irrigation of agricultural fields.

On the other hand, if any conflict arises between the two nations in future, it may release a large volume of water from the dam, which would cause unpredictable flooding in the downstream areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, causing loss of lives and properties, Mein stated. In case of the release of a large volume of water by China, the dam in the Siang river would act as a deterrent and release the water in a controlled way, thereby moderating flooding downstream.

--IANS

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