Samudra Gupta Kashyap
Three days after Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said his government was not opposed to building of dams on Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) have begun a fresh agitation against the dams.
AASU held a satyagraha —- attended by 10,000 students, it claimed —- in Guwahati Saturday to press for scrapping of the Lower Subansiri Hydro Electric project in Arunachal. An expert committee had recommended the dam should not be built at the present site as it is prone to earthquakes, AASU said.
KMSS on the other hand announced a series of agitational programmes starting Monday. “By supporting the dams, the government is pushing the state, particularly farmers, into a disastrous situation,” KMSS secretary, Akhil Gogoi, said.
The state Assembly had on Friday discussed issues related to dams in Arunachal, including their possible adverse impact in the state. While the Opposition hit out at the government for taking “a stand in favour of dams”, Gogoi said he had written to the PM to constitute a committee to do more studies on the likely impact of the dams in Assam.
