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Saturday, July 23, 2011

No faith in NHPC or authorities, ACT to boycott Stage-IV public hearing

GANGTOK, 20 July: ACT [Affected Citizens of Teesta], following a meeting held on 15 July, decided to boycott the public hearing called for the 520MW Teesta hydel project Stage-IV on 22 July at Namprikdang. The project is to be developed by the NHPC. The meeting also resolved that all ACT members whose lands were marked for acquisition by the government for the company will not give their consent and land no matter what the compensation or threat.
While ACT plans to continue its protest against the project, it is staying away from the public hearing convinced that it was merely an eye-wash and also because NHPC has a track-record of not delivering on promises made at these hearings or even completing conditions imposed on it by the Ministry of Environment & Forests.

The Teesta Stage-IV hydel project is come up in the stretch between Stages III at Chungthang and Stage V at Dikchu. This stretch, an ACT press release stresses, is the last free-flowing run of the Teesta in Sikkim and should be retained, it adds.
The release appeals to all concerned to support the ACT campaign to save this last free-flowing stretch of the Teesta, reiterating that the river is “the pillar of the ecology and culture of Sikkim”.
The ACT meeting of last Friday saw members deliberated on past experience of such public hearings and “how their participation and submissions however relevant and serious had been manipulated by the authorities to suit the companies’ procedures in acquiring clearances”.
ACT contends that NHPC is no better than the private hydel-developers in violating conditions and promises made to the people and points out to the experience of Rangeet and Teesta-V projects commissioned by NHPC as examples.
The commitment to establish a butterfly park [promised for Stage-V] has not come about in spite of crores spent on its construction and reconstruction, the release reminds, adding that even the “fish ladders” and the hatcheries and ponds for the natural free moving fish species have come to naught.
Oustees from Teesta-V have not received the 0.10 Hectare of land for agriculture which was one of the “specific conditions” of the clearance, the release points out, adding that the other minor special grants mentioned in the clearance conditions remain ignored even as the company denies employment to local people despite the conditions imposed by the MOEF.
“We would also like to point out to NHPC that, unlike mentioned in the EIA for Teesta IV, where it is mentioned that Lepchas migrated from Assam and Myannmar, the Supreme Court of India has declared the Lepchas as the original indigenous people of Sikkim,” the release puts on record.
The release also states that ACT’s request that the Forest Department and NHPC release details of their fulfilment of the Specific Conditions contained in the Environmental and Forest Clearance relating to 510 MW Teesta Stage V remain ignored.
This being the experience, ACT will be boycotting the public hearing and concentrate instead on protesting the project at national and international forums.

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