Sonu Tamang, Gangtok 29 Jan:
Citizen Action Party-Sikkim today reiterated its concerns over the state government’s keenness to build a new dam at Chungthang where the Teesta Stage-III dam was swept away by the South Lhonak glacial lake outburst flood on 03 Oct, 2023. This project is back in the news with the Environment Ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects, on January 10, approving the proposal submitted by Sikkim Urja Ltd, the project operator, under the provisions of ‘expansion or modernisation’ in existing projects.
Addressing a press conference here today, CAP spokesperson, Mahesh Rai, questioned why the State Government was in such a hurry to resume the project, hastening the process even before fresh studies had been carried out to factor in the now very real possibility of GLOF events impacting the project.
He went on stress that the state government should be prioritizing the rehabilitation of those affected by the Teesta Flood of 03-04 Oct, 2023, instead of reconstructing a potentially hazardous dam.
He also questioned the Ministry of Environment’s EAC for approving the reconstruction of the dam, when the same committee had disapproved it last year.
CAP has also contended that the new dam will be twice the size of the previous one, and Mr Rai alleged today that work on the project had resumed even before official approval was granted, while the public has been kept in the dark, without being provided the opportunity to raise objections or assert their rights.
The party, he informed, was firmly against the reconstruction of the dam; and if the project proceeds, it must be carried out legally, following proper due process and data analysis, he said.
