The ministry's regional office in Shillong, in a letter written in August 2014, revealed illegal felling of trees by the makers of the dam, NJC Hydro Power Ltd. The regional office had asked the ministry to repudiate final forest clearance to the project and impose a penalty on the developer for violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for river valley and hydroelectric projects overlooked the letter and has made an ecologically-damning decision.
The endangered Black-necked Crane, a sacred symbol to the locals, is a protected species under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Zemithang Valley, the site of the proposed dam is one of the two wintering sites for the crane in India and there are no more than 15-20 breeding pairs found in the country.
Though the project got environmental clearance and forest clearance in April 2012, it is awaiting final forest clearance. Ecologists believe the Environmental Impact Assessment report on the basis of which clearance was given, was botched to begin with. The company has alleged diversion of around 90 hectares of forest. Activists, however, are of the opinion that the total requirement of forest land will be nearly two times the area supposed. The EAC also proposed feeble mitigation measures to tackle the impact of the project on the species.
Building the Nyamjang Chu dam also involves construction of two small hydropower projects - Khangteng (7.5 MW) and Shyaro (3 MW) - to provide power for construction. The regional office's site inspection report revealed that these two hydroelectric projects had been constructed without prior forest clearance. The EAC, in its minutes, noted that it would take up the issue of the power provider when the cases are presented to the committee in future.
“The EAC's comment about non-inclusion of two hydel projects—Khanteng and Shyaro—is unacceptable. The EAC should know that projects below 50 MW do not come to EAC and those below 25 MW do not require environmental clearance, erroneously though. This shows how callous the EAC is," said a letter dated September 22 sent to EAC by a group of environmentalists.
Source: Live Mint
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