With legislators across parties expressing fears about the impact in Assam of mega dams on rivers in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam Assembly Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai has constituted a House Committee to carry out its own study of the problem.

The House Committee will visit the districts adjoining Arunachal Pradesh and make an on-the-spot assessment of the downstream impact of dams. Senior Congress MLA Membor Gogoi has been named chairman of the panel.

While the issue came up in the Assembly’s Budget Session last week, members expressed concern that mega dams coming up in Arunachal would have a devastating impact in Assam. Particularly vocal were members belonging to Dhemaji and Lakhimpur districts, where people are already feeling the effect of the dams. Independent MLA Bhuban Pegu and Ghana Buragohain of the Congress, MLAs from Jonai and Lakhimpur respectively, pointed out how paddy fields have been covered by sand brought by the rivers.

An expert committee, comprising experts from IIT-Guwahati, Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University, is said to have indicated that the dams were going to negatively impact Assam.

NGOs have asked the Assam government to pressurise the Centre to put a moratorium on clearance of dams in Arunachal till the Assembly panel completes its study. The NGOs, led by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), also asked the Assam government to press New Delhi and Arunachal Pradesh to stall public hearings for the 3,000-MW Inag and 1,750-MW Demwe Lower dam projects scheduled next month. “The Environment Impact Assessment reports of most of the dams are not based on ground realities,” said Akhil Gogoi, general secretary of KMSS.

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