Chatra Mukti Sangram Samittee members were arrested at Gerukamukh on Thursday while they were protesting against the ongoing construction of the 2000 mw Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Power project in Assam’s Dhemaji district.
The protesters were demonstrating against the NHPC starting reconstruction of the dam after it was closed on December 16 in 2010, Dhemaji district Superintendent of Police Mainul Islam Mondal said.
More than hundred protesters wanted to enter the construction site to verify where the reconstruction work was started, Mr Mondal said.
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CMSS central secretary Bidyut Saikia along with its Dhemaji district unit secretary were among the 39 arrested for trying to enter the project site, he said.
Altogether 39 protesters have been arrested, including a woman, for trying to create an untoward situation near the Lower Subansiri gate, the SP said.
Mr Mondal also said that the NHPC authority had told the protesters that they would be allowed to see the project site in groups of ten persons at a time in NHPC’s official vehicle and not as a huge team.
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The NHPC had constructed the three dam project - Middle, Upper and Lower Subansiri - as an integrated project in 2000 for effective downstream flood and erosion control, including power generation.
Only the Lower Subansiri project has got under way till today, NHPC sources said.
CMSS central secretary Bidyut Saikia said that the project was restarted by the NHPC despite the claim by various expert committees that it will harm downstream people.- PTI