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Guwahati, Aug 5 : The All Assam Students’ Union and the Takam Missing Porin Kebang, an apex body of Mising students, today announced a joint movement against Dispur and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation for ignoring the interim report of a five-member expert committee on the Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project.

The project is being executed by the power corporation at Gerukamukh village in Dhemaji along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border to generate 2,000MW electricity.

After a daylong meeting between AASU and the Mising students’ union, AASU adviser Sammujjal Bhattacharyya told the media that the expert committee had expressed apprehension and doubt about adverse downstream impact of the Lower Subansiri project.

He said the committee had recommended that work for the project be stopped till the final report was out.

The committee with experts from Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University and IIT Guwahati was formed following a tripartite meeting between the state government, the NHPC and the AASU in December 2006.

“The expert committee had submitted its report to the Assam government and the NHPC in February this year. But till now construction of the Lower Subansiri dam has not been stopped. It is surprising why the NHPC is now not following the interim report’s recommendation and suggestion,” Bhattacharyya said.

“The Assam government is a mute spectator. The AASU and the TMPK have smelt a rat and there is big conspiracy behind the construction of the Lower Subansiri dam.”

As part of the first phase of stir the AASU and the Mising students will stage satyagraha in all district headquarters in the state on August 18, demanding an immediate halt to execution of the project.

The president of TMPK, Johan Doley, said Lakhimpur district had already started witnessing the adverse impacts of Ronganadi hydel power project.

Artificial floods caused by release of excess water from the Ronganadi dam was submerging large areas in the district, including Lakhimpur town.

“The next phase of our agitation will be submission of a joint memoranda by the AASU and the TMPK to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Assam chief minister Taun Gogoi and power minister demanding strict actions against the NHPC if it does not follow the interim report of expert committee,” Doley said