GUWAHATI, July 10 – The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) will jointly stage a Satyagraha in the city tomorrow in protest against the design to bring back the turbines of the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Power Project (LSHEP).
Meanwhile, the members of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) blocked the National Highway at Chapakhowa for about five hours since 5 am today in protest against the bids of the authorities to bring back the turbines of the LSHEP. The KMSS members also took out a torch-light procession on the same issue at Sadiya last night.
The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) has by this time announced resumption of its agitational programmes against the mega-dam hydel projects, including the 2000-MW Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Power Project (LSHEP).
The AASU and the TMPK said in a joint statement here today that its members would also stage a Satyagraha in Tezpur on July 11 on the issue.
The experts of the IIT, Guwahati, Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University have unequivocally said that the mega-dam projects should not be located in the seismically sensitive Himalayan foothill areas.
The committee constituted by the State Assembly to go into the matter also echoed this observation of the experts. But the Governments in the State and at the Centre have not implemented the recommendation of the experts and the Assembly committee, said the AASU and the TMPK.
The KMSS has said in a statement that its about 200 members were arrested by the police at Chapakhowa today and till this evening they were not released.
In a separate statement here, the AJYCP has said that its members would resort to a protest programme on July 9 at Dhubri against the mega-dam projects.
This will be followed by a state-wide protest programme on July 12. The members of the AJYCP would stage demonstrations at the district and sub-divisional headquarters all over the State that day to register their protest against the mega-dam projects being constructed in the NE region.
The AJYCP would continue with its agitational programmes against the mega-dam projects until all such projects, including the LSHEP, proposed to be set up in the NE region, are abandoned, it has warned the Government.
