The SAD Act

THE SIKKIM ANTI-DRUGS ACT, A PATH-BREAKING INITIATIVE WHEN TABLED IN 2006, HAS BECOME A MONSTER INSTEAD OF THE SAVIOR IT WAS ENVISIONED AS

ANAND OBEROI
The Sikkim Anti Drugs Act, when tabled in the State Legislative Assembly in the year 2006, was heralded as a path-breaking initiative to combat substance abuse in the State and was universally lauded for the sensitivity with which it proposed to address the problem – being firm with peddlers and empathizing with addicts. The Act understood the societal challenge posed by addiction at its various facets and was expected to serve the State well for the years to come. However, eight years down the line, SADA, aimed at rescuing addicts and punishing dealers, has lost that very essence of what it was planned as - a strong and humane law and has become the SAD Act headlined here.
SADA which was passed as a “one of its kind initiative” seems to have failed in reducing the number of addicts and has [hopefully inadvertently] driven far too many “addicts” to become peddlers after this Act has left no other door open for them after having once ensnared them. Clearly then, the Act, put together as a means to make Sikkim a “Drug Free state” is proving counterproductive.
SADA was drafted to tackle the problem of drug abuse and of other controlled substances that are being peddled with alacrity in the State in the absence of any strong enough laws to curtail their sale or penalize the traffickers. Most of the common substances of abuse are prescription drugs, which until SADA came about, were not recognized as “drugs” making policing against them impossible to deliver. While SADA brought the peddling of such substances within the ambit of cognizable offences, what it proposed to achieve was even more significant. The original Bill aimed to come to the rescue of addicts and punish dealers who put the substances on the streets. The plan was to reinforce rehabilitation infrastructure and reinvigorate social and governmental involvement in rescuing the young from addiction. When the rules were framed into law, however, the Act was stripped of all such nuances, and what is being implemented is a harsh and insensitive rule which is perpetuating prejudices and stigma, a combo made more dangerous because it comes jacked up with the backing of the law.
It is bad enough that addicts are irresponsibly branded as “antisocial” by a disinterested society at large, but what is worse is that SADA, not the Act but its implementation, is now conspiring to make their rehabilitation into society even more difficult.
Take this disturbing story for instance.
“I was first arrested in possession of seven capsules of Spasmo-Proxyvon and four tablets of Nitrosun-10 in the year 2010 at Rangpo check post when I was a class IX student in a government school,” states a youth now working as a counselor helping other addicts kick the habit. But that is now. In 2010, he was “advised” to plead guilty under SADA and accept a “punishment” of two and a half months in Rongyek Jail. The quantity found on him clearly proved him to be an addict and not a peddler. But whoever advised him to plead guilty without challenging the charges was either ill-informed or clearly perpetuating the prejudice which sees no difference between an addict and a peddler and believes that both need to be “punished”. Be that as it may, the lad pleaded guilty, served his time, and returned to the same environment which had made him an addict and this time with the stigma of also being a convict.
Not very long after his release, he was “caught” in Gangtok in possession of contraband substances. This time, he was in possession of 1,650 capsules of spasmo proxyvon, 33 bottles of a cough syrup and four tablets of N-10. As the haul proves and as he admits himself, this was for “dealing” and not for consumption alone.
Inexplicably, his second tenure at Rongyek was a short one month. “Does the law not differentiate between a dealer and a consumer? The punishment I received for the first offence as an addict was longer and harsher than the term I got for peddling!” shares this now recovering addict who doesn’t want to be named.
“There is no differentiation [between peddlers and addicts] and no real humanity in SADA. The law has given the police the long hand and the act is violating the fundamental rights of a citizen. This first time offender was literally driven into becoming a hardcore addict and a dealer since there is no differentiation between an addict and a dealer or any clause in the act that could get him into recovery when he was first caught by the police in possession of controlled substance,” rues Khituk Tongden Lepcha of Life Living Free Society, an NGO working with detoxification and rehabilitation since 2008.
Senior Advocate and Human Rights Lawyer, Dr. Doma T Bhutia, agrees. She states, “The objective of the Act was to reduce the trafficking of substances of abuse and bring down the number of addicts, but on ground, the effect has been the opposite.”
Instead of the numbers having come down, she states that the courtrooms are flooded with SADA cases and the worst part is that the accused persons are mechanically pleading guilty without understanding the consequences. The young offenders whose future prospects have already been put into jeopardy are the worst affected, she states.
She further argues that as per the Act, “illicit traffic” in relation to controlled substances also means production, possession, sale, purchase, transportation, warehousing, concealment use or consumption, import or export inter-state of controlled substance. “Production is clearly mentioned but still there is no provision in place to regulate pharmaceutical companies producing these very substance of abuse in our very own backyards,” states Dr. Bhutia.
She also states that in Chapter II Section 3 subsection 1 states that the government shall take all such measures for the purpose of prevention and controlling abuse of substance of abuse. She adds here that why has the government failed to lay down rules that ensure measures of prevention and why has no rule that facilitates the same have been framed till date.
“No one knows where the funds collected as fine paid by the convicted person under SADA go. How  and where it is being utilized since as per the Act the funds should be utilized for the rehabilitation of the drug users  and their reintegration into mainstream society, as it was supposed to do in the first place,” states the senior advocate. As already mentioned, unfortunately, the humane aspects of the Act have long been subsumed by uninvolved implementation.
But the Act was clearly not envisioned as such and was in fact proposed as an organic process open to tweaking and corrections to be made more effective and more considerate in consultation with the people and in service of the society. Towards this end, the Act mandated that a recommending/ review committee be instituted to keep track of SADA and keep it responsive and its implementation responsible.
In this regard, what is unfortunate is that this committee, chaired ex officio by the Chief Secretary, remains defunct at most times and only token when it has to meet and make the pretense of conferring.
Drishya Foundation’s counselor, KC Nima, who along with the Recovering Users Network, an organization with over 300 recovering addicts as members, has been pursuing ways and means of getting this committee to make some meaningful recommendations and corrections but such efforts have fallen on deaf ears.
It may be informed here that the Bill, when tabled in the SLA in 2006, had a humane side under the section “Authorities and Offences” where it is recorded that the state government will coordinate action with various offices, departments and authorities for “identification, treatment, education, aftercare, rehabilitation and social reintegration of addicts”. However, the state government even after eight years has failed to open even a single counseling centre for addicts, leave aside the rehabilitation centres. Further, the Act also proposed that “controlled substances, flexible to cover for future exigencies will be the substances declared as such by the government by notification published in the official gazette”.
“The Bill clearly states that there has to be a recommending committee but as of now there has been no official intimation received in this front. When there is no review committee present that will look into the reintegration and rehabilitation part, how can we expect the Act to deliver what it was supposed to do when it was first drafted,” questions Mr. Nima.
Further, chapter IV of the Act deals with offences and penalties and its Section 9 (b) points out that if the user is young, unmarried or unemployed higher is the penalty of cost of Rs. 10,000.
“One cannot marginalize anyone in combating drug addiction and how is it important that the act marginalizes anyone as unmarried, unemployed or young. Is the Act targeting young people who are involved in drugs? Section 9 Clause (f) where a person who has been convicted for an offence under the Act and if such person is unemployed in such cases, conviction shall be a disqualification for employment under the State Government and will also be deprived of facilities like driving licenses etc,” informs RUN President, Sachin Subba, pointing out that such an approach defeats any attempts at rehabilitation.
Here, Dr. Bhutia, the Human Rights Advocate, points out that the fore-mentioned section is disturbingly contrary to Section 3 sub section (2) (b) that talks about rehabilitation and reintegration of the addicts into mainstream society. “Such provisions push people further into the offence of trafficking or using substance of abuse,” she states.
Here, she also adds that as of now she as an advocate has observed that the Courts are mostly full of accused under SADA, who are basically from financially poor backgrounds, however, she mentions that till date “no big fish” like owners of vehicles, producers and traders have been brought to trial in any local court. This opens another aspect of the problem. While addiction is admittedly “universal” in its footprint in Sikkim, and since the enforcers of the law remain largely incapable of differentiating between an addict and a peddler, it is indeed surprising that the well heeled and well connected don’t end up in court as SADA accused in as many numbers as they are initially “nabbed” or even proportion to their numbers in the pool of addicts.
Be that as it may, what was originally a humane effort, is now bordering on barbaric.
“Look at Tihar jail today, the accused persons were allowed to pursue their education through distance education courses and further link them to job placements after the period of conviction is over. However, in Sikkim under SADA, once you get caught, your life in the mainstream is over because too many doors are slammed shut with conviction,” the advocate rues. She adds, “To curb any critical issue the approach has to be humane.” Ironically, that is how SADA was conceived and drafted. Unfortunately, that is not how it is being implemented…

No lessons learned, no priorities established

ACT WORKING PRESIDENT RELEASES FINAL INSTALLMENT OF STUDY ON 18 SEPT 2011 EARTHQUAKEGANGTOK, 13 May: Tseten Lepcha, the Affected Citizens of Teesta working president, in the concluding part if an expansive document – “Citizens Paper” - prepared by him on the 18 September 2011 earthquake in Sikkim, has rued that despite having suffered in the wake of the earthquake because of lack of preparedness, the lessons taught by 18 Sept 2011 remain ignored. Mr. Lepcha, it may be recalled had released his study - “Chungthang: The Kalapani of the 21st Century” arguing that although the worst hit, Chungthang and North Sikkim remained the least attended to in the relief and recovery process. Mr. Lepcha has put together the document from information collected through Right to Information applications filed with several departments and agencies and began releasing his compilation in a phased manner recently.
Mr. Lepcha begins his final instalment with the information that “few developments” have taken place in Chungthang in the past few months since the release of his report, adding however that a lot more needs to be done.
The construction of the SDM complex has been sanctioned and work commenced, while a new police station – a prefabricated structure – is being readied [“shapeless and without any aesthetic or traditional appeal”, he adds] even as the damaged food godown has not even been demolished yet, making its new construction a very distant reality.
The grand announcements of the UD&HD towards safe and aesthetic development and planning are unlikely to deliver since most of the new constructions have started and the site/ soil testing by Mines & Gelogy Department never having taken place. Similarly, repairs too have been undertaken without this essential data.
The telecommunication network has improved with AIRTEL providing reliable service, Mr. Lepcha informs, adding that the piggery farm along with the hospital remain in their desolate condition since funds initially marked for them have been since diverted to other projects.
The construction of the Chungthang monastery has begun while the gymnasium hall which is meant for the sporting events is now the food & feed godown, the roll of trucks moving to and from it disturbing the patients and perhaps wreaking further damage on the weakened structures.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the district, the Ringhem Gumpa committee has withheld further work after completion of first phase of construction, Mr. Lepcha updates.
There is no love lost between Mr. Lepcha, with his ACT affiliation, and hydel project developers and he complains of a false picture conveyed to the people with regard to the helicopter services plied in North Sikkim in relief and rescue operation works by Abir Infrastructure, a sister concern of Teesta Urja, the Stage III hydel project developer. Information sourced by Mr. Lepcha through RTI reveals that Abir Infra was paid Rs 3.09 crore by the State Government towards payment for the use of its helicopter.
Mr. Lepcha reiterates that reconstruction and rebuilding efforts suffered because the government did not prepare a proper ‘Priority List’ for utilisation of calamity fund. In this regard, he points out for the construction of the State Secretariat was recorded as Top Priority in all submissions followed by the REDRH “which”, Mr Lepcha states, “is continuation of Populist  CMRH scheme in a new name”, while essential services like  water supply, food, communication, health rank fourth in the priority list and Power comes last.
Out of the Rs. 1,000 crore Prime Minister’s special packages, Rs 193 crores was earmarked for the secretariat, out of which Rs. 15 crore has already been paid to the construction company (with Rs 9 crore being the consultancy fees for making the DPR), 100 Crores has been slated for payment for this project in this financial term, Mr. Lepcha shares. Reconstruction of 7,972 rural houses will receive Rs. 389 crore, repair of buildings and roads Rs. 216 crore, retrofitting of govt building Rs. 196 crores; “which meant that the most essential amenities came much lower in the list with very little fund due to which we are still suffering even after a year and half,” he points out.
Restoration of Power lines in North Sikkim “was hampered not only by natural calamity but the lack of intent from the Govt. in spite of best efforts of the officials on the field”, he adds, highlighting further that tourism remains similarly overlooked with the tourist waiting shed at Bim Kyong in Lachung still in the same condition as it was on 19 September 2011.
Similar disorientation in priority, Mr. Lepcha adds, has also befallen JICA funds for the Forest Department, all Rs. 17 crore of which, he contends have been expended on repair and renovation of the office and department quarters, with nothing done to take up schemes that could help stabilise landslide prone areas or restore earthquake ravaged zones.
Ditto for Public Health Engineering works no attention being paid to the fact that the water supply line from Pegong to Chungthang was already damaged due to uncontrolled blasting by GREF and usage of large machines in the road widening process. “The earthquake was more of a compounding factor only, whereas the damages were done and not much was done about it earlier on,” he states.
Mr. Lepcha also mentions the State Govt order directing all interested donors to contribute to the CM’s relief fund and that no cash donations be given to victims directly. This, he believes, was a big blow to the victims as a large number of people and organizations wanted to provide relief directly and this notification stopped them from helping people in the hour of need. “If left optional, much more support would have been provided. The govt should have monitored but not posed obstruction,” he believes.
He has held up the presence of Panchayats as via media for distribution of relief as a “hindrance”, arguing that since panchayats are party-based, “one upmanship and favouritism was evident in selecting the beneficiaries”.
“Everything was controlled by them which to a large extent became a hindrance in smooth relief operation. The civil society and independent govt employees were disconnected from effective decision making process due to which free and fair management was not possible. Most of the contract and supply works were captured by them or their close people, moreover since all the earthquake related works were taken up departmentally there was no information to the public and no free and fair tender,” he states, making a rather serious observation.
He argues further that lack of adequate training of officers despite a department for Disaster Management also affected the quality of relief works. “Over confidence” and “indifference” of the administration left it in complete disarray when the earthquake struck, he adds, pointing out that disinterest in preparedness led to a situation where decision-making suffered and was delayed in the absence of clear chains of command.
Mr. Lepcha admits that just as the administration was caught unprepared, so too was the society at large which sorely missed the structural solidity of established civil society organisations to deal with the calamity.
On the reconstruction specifics, Mr. Lepcha returns with elaborate details over the manner which the secretariat construction has been managed to favour the company which eventually bagged the prestigious project even though it has defaulted on some much smaller projects awarded to it in Sikkim.
He then takes up the Reconstruction of Earthquake Damaged Rural Houses (REDRH) scheme of the RM&DD for which Rs 389 crores has been earmarked. He recognises that while this is a very good scheme for the homeless and those whose houses were totally damaged by the earthquake, “it is seen more of an effort to continue the earlier populist scheme of Chief Ministers’ Rural housing Mission (CMRHM) than to provide relief to the people in distress”.
Mr. Lepcha’s complaint with this project is that it is uniform for all in its requirement for new constructions and does not provide for quick repairs of existing houses and also because the waiting period is rather long for beneficiaries. He also believes that the allotted fund is at least 30% lesser than actual cost of construction, which needlessly burdens beneficiaries.
This scheme, he adds, also overlooks the desperation of the middleclass families who suffered as anyone else, but find funds which could have helped them with repairs for their houses, blocked in projects [like REDRH and CMRHM] which they cannot partake. He adds that beneficiaries for these schemes have not been fairly selected.
Mr. Lepcha is convinced that at the end, the cement and steel manufacturing companies and their agents will make huge profits. Claiming that more than 23 lakh bags of cement and some 35lakh kgs of steel will be consumed in Sikkim for the two schemes, Mr. Lepcha speculates, “It also makes us believe that this could be also a reason for the scheme as all the method of procurement and other modalities are already there due to the CMRHM. The bulk of the money will go into purchase of material which is coming to approx Rs 188 crores after deducting the other half for payment to the beneficiaries.”
He also pulls up the Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare Department for its failure to help in the rebuilding process. The Department should have functioned as the nodal agency to understand and deliver welfare measures, he shares, pointing out that it apparently never occurred to the Department that there were women and children who were faced with the worst possible calamity in the lives, the shock and trauma of having lost loved ones and also having lost hard earned properties. ‘Under such situation it is only natural that the Department provides a truly healing hand but as found from the RTI nothing of sort ever occurred to their mind leave aside doing anything in this line,” he informs.
The post earthquake days, he insists were a casualty of management with neither proper impact assessments undertaken, nor specific management plans worked out. And still no lessons have been learnt because even as reconstruction has begun, it is not informed by the available expert advise of Mines & Geology Department, which, at least in the wake of the earthquake, should have emerged as the Nodal Agency for rebuilding works. Even the UD&HD ‘master-plan’ for Chungthang, prepared a year after the earthquake, will be almost useless since a lot of legal and implementing issues are yet to be resolved, he adds.
Expert recommendations, the few which have been clearly made, remain ignored, Mr. Lepcha adds, adding that not a single Department “has bothered” to recognize, with award or felicitations, the role of different organisations or individuals in the earthquake relief and recovery efforts.

‘Worst affected Chungthang remains the least attended to’

ACT WORKING PRESIDENT RELEASES STUDY ON 18 SEPT 2011 EARTHQUAKE
GANGTOK, 13 March: Tseten Lepcha, the Affected Citizens of Teesta working president, has compiled an expansive document on the 18 September 2011 earthquake in Sikkim, the government response to the disaster and the present situation in North Sikkim with special focus on Chungthang which has been widely accepted as the ground zero of the earthquake, being the town to have suffered the most extensive damage. Mr. Lepcha, it may be mentioned here, is a resident of Chungthang.
The title of his study, “Chungthang: The Kalapani of the 21st Century”, sets up the tone of his analysis and Mr. Lepcha remains convinced that even though Chungthang and its surrounding areas were the worst affected by the earthquake, “the actual place of destruction and the victims were neglected and funds diverted to other places and used for other works which did not need so much urgency”.
“In fact, the priority list of the State Govt does not even mention the most affected area,” he writes.
Mr. Lepcha has put together the document from information collected through Right to Information applications filed with several departments and agencies and began releasing his compilation in a phased manner recently.
Apart from challenging several contentions of the State Government and other agencies, Mr. Lepcha has also criticised several decisions taken in the wake of the earthquake and the swath of destruction it left behind. The intention behind his document is explained in the conclusion of the first instalment of his study in which he says, “It would be best for the Govt to accept this reality and take remedial measures rather than forcefully suppress facts and bring untold suffering to the innocent and helpless aborigines.”
Mr. Lepcha rues that the White Paper on the Earthquake released by the State Government a few months ago does not record Chungthang or North Sikkim as the focal point of the earthquake. He is convinced that a conscious attempt was made to “show that the damages were widespread so that the funds could be diverted for other purposes”.
He believes that this diffusion of focus has led to a situation where even 18 months since the earthquake, the situation at Chungthang and other severely affected areas like Bey, Sakyong-Pentong in Dzongu, Lachen and Lachung remains one of “complete neglect and utter mismanagement”.
Mr. Lepcha records his differences with the manner in which the government has drawn up its Priority List which, he points out, stresses more on infrastructure at the cost of social, economic and environmental issues.
“Under established procedures or operating system, the emphasis should have been with the most serious case and the process of rebuilding and rehabilitation should have started from Chungthang and Dzongu. In Sikkim it was just the opposite. After lapse of so much time some of the schemes area now getting sanctioned, which will take another two years to complete,” he states.
The absence of an integrated approach was also noticed in the rehabilitation efforts as Mr. Lepcha points out that since the Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department did not have a proper management plan, funds were distributed to different Departments and these Department in turn used the funds “as per their own will without giving emphasis to the most affected areas...”
“The people sitting in comfort of their offices in Gangtok had no understanding of ground realities the citizens were facing. Due to this even the little that has been done is too little too late and as such it is almost like not there at all. This is almost tantamount to violation of Basic Human Rights of the people which is totally unacceptable in a free and Democratic country,” he writes.
On the scale of devastation which visited Chungthang and other parts of North Sikkim, Mr. Lepcha highlights that though hydel projects might not have been the triggering cause of the earthquake, “they were certainly the one and only contributing factor for the magnitude of the disaster in the area”.
In this regard, he draws attention to the time before the earthquake when most of the houses in Chungthang GPU, Singhik, Shipgyer,Safo, Ramom in the project affected area of the Teesta HEP Stage III were severely damaged by the continuous blasting used for project development. The damages were so severe that the public had petitioned the Govt to take necessary action, he informs, and accordingly the Mines and Geology Department had undertaken a study to scientifically ascertain the facts and the report of the Department, published in April 2010, had categorically stated: “Keeping in view of overall Geological and geo-Morphological condition of area, absence of any structure failure in the past, the main causative factor is ongoing activities especially due to underground blasting and tunnelling and their consequences. Main underground activities lies below Pegong, (HRT and other components) and further damages in future can’t be ruled out.”
Mr. Lepcha has also secured details on the scale of blastings undertaken in the affected area. In a reply to his RTI query, the Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives, East Circle, Kolkata, Teesta Urja, which is developing Stage-III, was issued licence for 20,000 kg nitrate mixture and 10,000 metres of emulsion explosives and its sister concern, Abir Infrastructure Pvt Ltd issued licence for 20,000 kgs making it a total of 40,000 Kg of explosives for Stage III. “Since 80% work is completed, it is expected that at least 30,000 to 35,000 kgs of blasting has been used on the fragile environment,” he points out. Added to this is the “pounding” of the hills by Border Roads Organisation for its road construction works, he adds.
The battering was extensive, he points out, and the most intensive in Chungthang where the dam site is located. “It is any one’s guess that the severely disturbed area just needed another jolt to cause devastation as that happened on the 18th of Sept 2011,” he infers.
Mr. Lepcha also clarifies that this analysis of the situation makes no pretence of being a scientific or academic work, but is “solely an individual effort” undertaken because the “affected families need to dwell upon the reasons due to which the saga of suffering has continued”.
He accepts that he has exposed himself to rebuttals by releasing his findings and further explains that after having gathered extensive information through RTI, he felt he had a “public responsibility and duty” to share the finding with all concerned.

ACT’s Dawa to join Golay’s party

ACTIVIST QUITS A.C.T. TO KEEP ORGANISATION APOLITICAL, WILL JOIN NEW PARTY ON CONDITION THAT IT IMPLEMENTS NO HYDEL PROJECTS
GANGTOK, 03 Feb: Founder-member and general secretary of Affected Citizens of Teesta [ACT], Dawa Lepcha, announced plans to join the new political outfit aligned to dissident SDF MLA PS Tamang when it is launched in Soreong on Monday. Making the announcement at a press conference held here at the Press Club of Sikkim today, Mr. Lepcha also informed that he has also resigned from ACT to reiterate the organisation’s apolitical credentials, but stressed that he will be taking is anti-dam position to his political career as well. His joining the new party, he underlined, would be conditional to the assurance that the party adopts an anti-dam stand and does not implement any hydel project if it forms the government.
Mr. Lepcha’s decision to join the new party has been welcomed and endorsed by all members of ACT.
Explaining his decision, Mr. Lepcha expressed that after hunger strikes, demonstrations, representations and other activities, he is convinced that there was now the need to pursue the cause of the dam affected citizens in more resurgent way. “Hence I decided to explore other options to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the people,” he said of moving into politics now.
He informed that as an activist, he sat on a 63 day hunger strike in 2007 and then again for 96 days in 2008 and achieved the scrapping of 4 hydel projects out of 6 planned for Dzongu.
On the current scenario, he informed that the process of issuance of environmental clearance for Teesta HEP Stage IV has reached an advanced stage in the concerned Ministry despite the promoters having failed to hold a public hearing twice.
He shared that as an activist he has delivered all he possibly could in that role and since more needs to be achieved, he has decided to seek out political solutions by joining politics himself.
ACT working president, Tseten Lepcha, who accompanied him to the press conference, mentioned that the decision has been accepted by members of the organization and stressed that Mr. Dawa Lepcha will however always be part and parcel of the movement to defend the rights of the Sikkimese people. He also put on record that ACT acknowledges his sacrifices and contributions to speak for dam-affected citizens and thanks him for all that he has done so far. 
On the organisation’s latest concern, its working president said, “The ACT expresses serious concern over the fact that the process of issuance of environmental clearance for Teesta HEP stage IV has reached advanced stage in the MoEF especially since this project has been opposed by all resident of Dzongu, particularly by the Power Minister, who is also area MLA, all panchayats and members of ACT.” He added that the grant of environmental clearance based on incomplete public hearing is a violation of basic rights of the Sikkimese people and went against the spirit of environmental policies of the country.
He added that even the issuance of Wildlife clearance by the State Wildlife Board was a serious violation of the rights of the stakeholders of the region and such major decisions without the prior informed consent of the local bodies like the Eco Development Committees and the JFMCs has defeated the very concept of Public Participation in Protection and stakeholders of the region.
He added that such major decision without the prior informed consent of the local bodies has also defeated the very concept of public participation in protection and preservation of the rich bio-diversity of the ecologically fragile region.
“This action has also contradicted the stand of the State government which had boycotted the public hearing twice,” he added. ACT has urged the concerned agencies to take necessary remedial step to stop the devastation of the region.

Clauses violated, ACT wants MoU on Pannan HEP terminated

GANGTOK, 12 Aug: Detailing that specific clauses of the MoU signed between Himagiri Hydro Energy Pvt Ltd and the State Government have been violated by the project developer, the Affected Citizens of Teesta [ACT] has demanded that the MoU signed in 2005 be terminated.
An ACT press release issued by its general secretary Dawa Lepcha informs that as per ‘Article 4: Obligation of the Company, Clause 4.7’ of the MoU signed on 05 December 2005, the company was required to achieve Financial Closure within 12 months from the date of signing of the agreement. In case of delay in obtaining Environment Clearance, the MoU allowed for the financial closure “to be achieved within six months from the date of Environmental Clearance”. The company got the Environmental Clearance on 02 January, 2007.
However, on the basis of information acquired through RTI, ACT, the release informs, found out that even six and a half years since the MoU was signed and four and a half years after the Environment Clearance was acquired, the company has not achieved the Financial Closure.
As per the same Article and clause 4.9: (Equity participation) and clause 4.9.1, the State Government and the company are to execute the 26% equity subscription agreement (the public share) within six months from the signing of the MoU, the release mentions and further alleges that even after six and a half years of signing of the MOU, the equity subscription agreement has not been executed.
ACT has demanded to know why these articles and clauses have not been adhered to. ACT has also questioned the state government’s inaction against the company for such violation of the MoU.
The release further demands the termination of the MoU as per Article 5, Clause 5.1 of the MOU for the “interest of all and the environment and ecology of the state”.

ACT commemorates 5th anniv of hydel protest with dharna

GANGTOK, 20 June: The Affected Citizens of Teesta [ACT] commemorated the 5th year anniversary of its hunger strike against hydel projects in Dzongu here with a token dharna in front of the District Administrative Centre, East. The dharna also reminded all of ACT’s continuing stand against hydel projects in Dzongu, two which – Panan and Teesta Stage-IV – still remain.
Today’s dharna was also joined by members and representatives of the All Sikkim Educated, Self Employed and Unemployed Association [ASESE&UA], Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee [SIBLAC], Concerned Lepcha’s of Sikkim [CLOS], Save Sikkim, Sikkim Bikers Groups and other organizations registering their support of the ACT stand.
Speaking to the media-persons at the dharna, the ACT General Secretary, Dawa Lepcha, informed that after completing the Dharna, ACT members would call on the Chief Secretary, who is also the Chairman of the high powered committee on HEPs, and place a memorandum against mega hydroelectric projects in Dzongu.
The memorandum seeks the early scrapping of the two HEPs mentioned earlier, which, ACT highlights “have been a thorn in the hearts of Dzongu… the last bastion of Lepcha culture and existence”.
The project affected area, apart from being precious for the Lepchas, is also ecologically fragile with the Khangchendzonga National Park and Biosphere Reserve forming a major part of Dzongu, the memorandum adds.
Preliminary investigation works of the projects which involved blasting have resulted in “unprecedented landslides” in an already geologically fragile area, the memorandum further contends.
Welcoming the scrapping of HEPs in Lachen and Lachung, ACT has reiterated that mega dams should be discontinued in the state as Sikkim falls under seismic zone V.
The ACT General Secretary further explained that the objective of today’s Dharna was to reiterate ACT’s opposition to HEPs in Dzongu.
Meanwhile, Save Sikkim member, TR Kharga, said that HEPs must not be encouraged at the cost of the environment, dharma, faith, beliefs and ecology and “most importantly the tug of war with nature should be stopped at once”. He went on to say that Save Sikkim was still opposing the Tashiding HEP in West Sikkim [the only hydel project left on the Rathong Chu, the rest having been scrapped] for which the construction company was continuing with blasting works in an area where tremors are regularly felt.

ACT remains steadfast against Stage-IV, affected members not to release land for project

GANGTOK, 25 March: Affected Citizens of Teesta, a protest group opposed to hydel projects in the State, has reiterated its opposition to the 520 MW Teesta Stage-IV hydel project, the public hearing for which has been called for 20 March 2012. In a press communiqué issued today, the ACT general secretary, Dawa Tshering Lepcha, has also announced that ACT members, whose lands form a “major and critical” component of the Stage-IV project, have also resolved not to give consent for the acquisition of their lands for this project.
The ACT stand against the project, the release explains, is to save the last remaining free-flowing stretch of the Teesta [between the 1,200 MW Teesta Stage-III at Chungthang and the 510MW Stage-V at Dikchu]. Teesta Stage-IV, to be developed by NHPC, is scheduled to have its dam at village Chandey and Hee-Gythang downstream from the confluence of Runchu and have its powerhouse near Phidang in North Sikkim.
The first public hearing for the project, called in July last year, it may be recalled, was boycott by all the affected people. This time, however, various sections of the affected people have already announced their decision to participate in the public hearing to be held at the Namprikdang Ground in Dzongu.
“Unlike in the case of other power projects, when not a single landowner doggedly opposed the projects, the members of ACT, whose land form a major and critical component of the Teesta IV 520MW project, have pledged to oppose the project and the land acquisition process,” the ACT general secretary informs.
“No ACT member will give consent to the land acquisition for the project at any cost,” he reiterates.
The release goes on to add that the protest is also based on the experience of the devastation caused by the 18 September Earthquake last year.
“Bearing in mind the earthquake of 18 September 2011, ACT would further like to bring to the people’s attention that as per the EIA chapter on Geological and Seismicity, the Teesta-IV project lies on the Main Central Thrust (MCT) line which is an ominous and catastrophic sign and situation for the future in case of an earthquake,” the release details.
ACT has also appealed to all the people of North Sikkim to once again boycott the Public Hearing “for the sake of Teesta and the safety of future generations”.
“Help us to save the last free flowing section of the Teesta and be proud of our historic action,” the release concludes.