Pro-dam Arunachal group wants 142 power projects scrapped

It says terms of MoUs were violated after government failed to commission the projects in over a decade

A pro-dam group in Arunachal Pradesh has demanded the scrapping of 142 power projects across the State.

The Pro-Dam Movement of Arunachal Pradesh (PDMAP) said the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed between the State government and private power companies for these 142 projects need to be cancelled for violating the terms and conditions of the agreements.

PDMAP president Taw Paul said the organisation had on April 28 submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pema Khandu seeking the termination of the deals for these power projects as the government failed to commission any of them in more than a decade.

“The State government should come clean and give the people all the details of the expenditure incurred on these projects till date, as ₹1,495.73 crore had been collected from private and public power developers as upfront cost for the hydropower projects,” he said.

The PDMAP also asked the government to explore the possibilities of forming a joint venture company with PSUs and State agencies such as Indo-Arun Hydro Power Corporation Limited for harnessing both mega and micro-hydro projects.

Among the other demands of the organisation was a white paper on the revenue obtained from at least three commissioned hydroelectric projects — the 600 MW Kameng, the 110 MW Pare and the 40 MW Ranganadi.

The Arunachal Pradesh government had in 2008 come out with a Hydro Power Policy that entailed payment of upfront money per megawatt for projects to be set by private and public sector firms. The government was then headed by Dorjee Khandu, the father of the incumbent Chief Minister.

The State government had in September 2019 said it terminated 22 projects for generating 3,800 MW of electricity for non-performance while notices had been served to firms handling 46 more projects with an estimated capacity of 8,000 MW.