A Rocky Path

This is what the slp is now saddled with: a ban on projects upstream, the creation of a wildlife sanctuary and compensation obligations. It has deposited Rs 373.65 crore with the sc under the campa -related Compensatory Afforestation Fund (see box: The campa process). The compensation imperative has hit nhpc hard. Even before this injunction, it had already deposited Rs 79 crore with the governments of Assam and ap for compensatory afforestation. ap got about Rs 70 crore for project-related diversion of 3,168 ha of forests, while Assam was given about Rs 9 crore for 571.3 ha. nhpc also had to pay Rs 4.26 crore as penalty for diverting 245 ha of forest land without prior permission in Assam.

Now it has also -- as per the campa order -- paid net present value (npv) of the forests slp will submerge. moef had decreed, in a letter they sent to nhpc, that this npv amounted to Rs 373.65 crore (this figure is calculated by multiplying the area to be diverted with a pre-determined rate -- Rs 5.80 lakh to Rs 9.2 lakh per hectare, depending on the "quality and density of forest land diverted"). nhpc has to also cough up an additional Rs 8.71 crore for the catchment area treatment plan as per slp's Environmental Impact Assessment (eia) report -- written way before the project officially began. The plan includes afforestation in the catchment, nursery development, and building check dams. These works will be carried out by the state forest department (fd), suggests the eia report. nhpc honchos admit, off-record, that all this has left them stupefied.

nhpc went to sc in June 2004, praying that the apex court consider that it had already paid all its dues as per the state government's compensatory afforestation plans. It also planned to give money for the catchment treatment plan. nhpc's petition then made a hyperbolic claim: there had been "no instance so far where the construction of a dam on the whole has an adverse impact on depletion of forestland". The apex court was not convinced; so, it ordered nhpc to deposit Rs 373.65 crore. nhpc has complied and got moef' s clearance.

But nhpc officials believe the moef's order has set a precedent for both Centre and states -- where river valley projects come up -- to exact their pound of flesh. "We have given the money asked of us by the court and the states. But where is the afforestation plan?" berates one. His anger is not without reason. There is no news of campa funds in Delhi, and the fd does not have any plan to carry out compensatory afforestation from the money they got. The catchment treatment plan does exist on paper. But it's too early for any action on ground!

Legal disorder
slp's entanglement with Delhi began in November 2000 when the moef granted nhpc permission to conduct feasibility studies and preliminary surveys. But this was revoked once the corporation submitted its eia report and environmental management plan (a prerequisite for final clearance); the corporation had concluded its surveys by then. The ministry revoked the permission because it claimed nhpc had not informed it that slp would submerge 42 ha of the Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lower Subansiri district -- a 33,700 ha reserve carved out of the traditional hunting grounds of Apatani tribals in 1994.

Observers believe this sudden revocation of permission was necessitated by an sc order banning the diversion of protected areas (pas) for non-forestry purposes without its permission. In initially giving permission, the ministry had ignored the order. It then stalled the project fearing -- observers believe -- contempt of court. "I guess we will have to leave out some areas from the pa to protect local rights," says P Ringu, deputy conservator of forests, ap in charge of the pa demarcation. But says Kipa Raja, an Itanagar-based researcher, "This is unchartered territory, the state has no clue of the chaos it's leading people into."

nhpc officials are only perturbed that the sanctuary and the consequent displacement will mean more financial obligations. But as Yumbi Taba of Drupai village says, "No compensation is big enough. How dare anyone evict us from the land where my forefathers are buried and where my children are growing up?" Organisations working in the region believe 14 villages will definitely be displaced. "This is really very irrational. The sanctuary created as compensation is going to hit the people worse than the dam," says an angry Bamang Anthony, head of the Arunachal Citizens' Rights, an Itanagar-based ngo.

The 24 families displaced by the dam are yet to be rehabilitated; 7 others whose rights were bought out are yet to get money, although the state has already squeezed Rs 10 crore out of nhpc on this count. And now, the future of 5,000 people displaced by the sanctuary is shrouded in uncertainty.

Violations galore
Meanwhile, nhpc has been up to its own antics. It wants to fight the 2004 orders of both sc and moef, but recognises this is unsound strategy. Therefore nhpc has begun goading the state government, also trying out gimmicks such as circumventing the sc directive banning future hydroelectric projects on the Subansiri by simply renaming some! So, it has suggested renaming the Subansiri Middle Project as the Kamla project -- since it falls on the Subansiri's Kamala tributary.

As a more serious recourse, nhpc has suggested the state file a petition claiming that it is virtually impossible to create a sanctuary. So, the court should re-examine its order. The state is yet to bite the bullet.

There have been other violations. The sc had also demanded that nhpc ensure firewood for its staff without harming surrounding forests. But wood is also required for constructing houses and offices at the site. And since transporting it from other areas is virtually impossible, local forests come in handy. That there is no one to monitor the sc orders aids those flouting them.

Moreover, moef had ordered the ap government and nhpc to constitute a committee to ensure slp did not have any detrimental impacts beyond those permitted. The committee has been constituted; a forest official has been randomly asked to function as a soil conservation expert; another as an expert on orchids! It's mandatory for the committee to meet once every year. But it hasn't. "A meeting scheduled for last December was postponed," says Chuku Loma, ap's deputy chief wildlife warden. "We had suggested a field office to monitor slp. This should have come up before work on the project began. Thousands of labourers are trooping in now and we are totally clueless. We have never been consulted," he charges.

In fact, the project has gone on unabated despite all orders to the contrary. At least three nhpc engineers involved with the slp confirmed that to Down To Earth. "Things here are different from what people in Delhi (moef officials) think. We have been here since 2000. A project has its own demands, you cannot just stop and start it at will," says a junior engineer in charge of supervising small contractors.

All embargoes remain on paper; the dam comes up unfettered.