News Highlights:
The proposed Etalin hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh has been scrapped because of the environmental threats due to the plant in a biodiversity hotspot.
Key Takeaway:
- The 3,097-megawatt Etalin Hydroelectric Project (EHEP), was proposed to be developed as a joint venture between Jindal Power Ltd and the Hydropower Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Ltd.
- The project was mired in controversy, with wildlife scientists and conservationists flagging environmental threats due to the plant in a biodiversity hotspot.
Etalin hydel project:
- About:
- Etalin Hydroelectric Project (EHEP) is 3,097-megawatt hydropower plants.
- The project is developed by a joint venture between Jindal Power Ltd and the Hydropower Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Ltd.
- The project area is dominated by an indigenous population belonging to the Idu-Mishmi tribes.
- Idu-Mishmi Tribe are the lone inhabitant tribe of the Dibang Valley district, Arunachal Pradesh.
- The hydroelectric project will require the diversion of 1,165.66 hectares of forest land and the felling of more than 280,000 trees in the area.
- Location:
- The Project is based on the river Dibang.
- Dibang is a tributary of the Brahmaputra river which flows through the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
- It envisages the construction of two dams over the tributaries of Dibang: Dir and Tango.
- The Project falls under the “richest bio-geographical province of the Himalayan zone” and would be located at the junction of the Palaearctic, Indo-Chinese and Indo-Malayan bio-geographic regions.
Significance of Etalin Hydroelectric Project:
- Fast-track projects in the north-east:
- The Project is in accordance with the Government’s push to establish prior user rights on rivers that originate in China and an effort to fast-track projects in the northeast.
- It is one of the largest hydropower projects proposed in the country in terms of installed capacity.
Concerns on the Hydroelectric Project:
- Forest Advisory Committee (FAC):
- Conservationists highlighted that the FAC sub-committee ignored established tenets of forest conservation and related legal issues while recommending the proposal.
- FAC ignored the threat of forest fragmentation which results from ill-planned intrusion of developmental projects into contiguous landscapes with natural forests and threatens rare floral and faunal species in a biodiversity hotspot.
- Inadequate Environment Impact Assessment report:
- The inadequacy of the Environment Impact Assessment report on Etalin was also highlighted.
- Wildlife officials ignored observations which include the threat to 25 globally endangered mammal and bird species in the area to be affected.
Way Forward:
- The local population of the region should be consulted and should have participated in the decision-making to ensure that the final decision-making should reflect their concerns.
- The areas which are at risk of loss of biodiversity should be properly delineated to ensure that they remain undisturbed.
- A proper and complete assessment of the impact of the project on the local environment should be studied comprehensively.
Pic Courtesy: Freepik
Content Source: Down To Earth