People in Assam were taken aback and left with a degree of shock after the Subansiri River in North Lakhimpur district, a major source of water in the state, suddenly dried up on Friday.
The sudden anomaly sparked fear and concern among the local population, many of whom started agitation against this alleged “murder” of a living river in Assam.
It is suspected that the cause of the sudden drying up of the river is a blockade in the No. 1 diversion tunnel of the National Hydro-Electrical Power Corporation (NHPC)’s Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Power (SLHEP) plant’s dam on the left bank.
Sudden Drying up of Subansiri And NTPC’s Statement
This diversion tunnel is responsible for redirecting the Subansiri’s water flow from the dam site to the downstream of the river through a two-kilometer course, maintaining a standard water volume in the downstream areas.
The blockade in the tunnel occurred due to a landslide that took place on Thursday night, following which people witnessed the river “drying and dying”‘ the next day.
NHPC has issued a statement stating, “Out of the five diversion tunnels with a diameter of 9.5 meters each, only the diversion tunnel number 1 was in use and has been blocked due to a landslide around 11:30 am today (Friday). The other four diversion tunnels were previously blocked. Consequently, the river’s flow downstream has been significantly reduced.”
Meanwhile, locals described the drying up of river as a ‘bad sign’ and expressed concerns that this dam could be reason for lot of discruction in Assam.
“This river has been a very strong one. It is a lifeline for people like us who live by the river. Never in my life I could imagine Subanshiri river drying up. This is such a bad sign. We are raising alarm for deaf ears. Someday this dam will be the reason of a lot of devastation in Assam , it will be too late to realise,” said Binoy Kalita, a local.
History
The SLHEP dam, scheduled to become operational from January 2024, has long been a cause of worry for people in in both Arunachal and Assam where student organisations, environmentalists, activists and common people protested against its construction in view of the fragile nature of the terrain where the hydropower dam is situated. Locals believed the construction of the dam could someday be the reason of a lot of worries and even might costs lives of people in both Arunachal and Assam.
After sudden drying of Subansiri, Ebo Mili, an activist from Arunachal Pradesh, while talking to CNN News18 said, “We have been raising the alarms since long time. This dam can bring us same kind of plight, similar to what Sikkim recently witnessed. The authorities building the dam doesn’t follow the proper way of earth cutting, because of which number of landslides have also increase in Arunachal. And then it has now blocked the diversion resulting to drying up of a huge river in Assam.”
“Like Subansiri we also had a river called Bichom river in Arunachal Pradesh which has now completed dried up.” he added.
Mili further said that cloudburst in Sikkim due to which hundreds of people lost their lives, was because of the dam. “Here also we have a lot of glacial lakes, and cloudbursts keep happening. Someday we might also have to face similar situation as Sikkim in both Arunachal Pradesh and Assam,” he said.
Protest in Assam
The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parichad (AJYCP) protested on Friday at the entrance of the Subansiri Lower Hydro Electrical Power (SLHEP) plant’s dam site at Gerukamukh demanding response from the state government and other stakeholders following the sudden drying of the water in the Subansiri river.
Protestors demanded the scrapping of the SLHEP dam for the safety and security of people and ecosystem in the downstream areas of the hydroelectric power plant.
Speaking to the media, AJYCP’s President Borgohain said, “NHPC was going to complete the hydroelectric project by repeatedly disregarding all the required assessments of downstream impact and the height of the dam, with the protection of the government.”
What Authorities Said
While CNN News18 reached out to SHELP authorities, they dismissed the reports of the river drying up saying the flow was disrupted for ten to twelve hours, following which the normal flow has started again.
They also said that the five diversion tunnels at the construction site would be shut down soon and river water would flow through the gates of the dam.
