Environmentalists question dam in ecological hotspot

Following statutory obligations, the executive summary report for the Tista Low Dam Project (stage III) was released recently by the NHPC through the state pollution control Board. The public Hearing for the project is on 19 December near the dam site.
But the summary report, on which public are expected to talk of their objections is markedly silent about the project's impact on the environment. Local environmentalists are concerned about the dam site that has minimal human settlement.

But the matter has been given a cursory treatment in the summary report that impact on aquatic environment, impact on bio-diversity, impact on aesthetic environment. It talks of 15 plans, with out giving the details, to minimize the adverse impacts.
The report does not say anything on the project's impact on NH 31, which is the arterial connector between Sikkim and Kalimpong to the rest of the country. The dam site and the Teesta flow by the highway, which at places is in a precarious state due to landslides. It says that slides on the right bank of the reservoir rim "are monitored by the Border Road Organisation as the NH 31 lies on this bank"

North Eastern society for protection of nature and Wildlife, a Siliguri based NGO, described the summary report as "vague". Its spokesperson, Mr. Soumitra Ghosh, demanded that the project report and the EIA be made public.
Mr. S Roy, chief engineer, TLDP, NHPC could not be contacted today. The TLDP (stage III) is part of a bigger project, for which the West Bengal State Electricity Board signed an MoU with the NHPC in November 2000.
Four more dams are on the pipeline under the project, of which two need the concurrence of Sikkim

The work on the detailed project report of stage IV is running behind schedule due to "technical reasons". In an earlier interview, Mr. Roy had denied that the dam site for stage IV was being changed from its present location near the Coronation Bridge.

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