Overlooking own concerns in past, forest committee clears Arunachal hydel project

In a move that aligns with the Centre's push to fast-track hydropower projects in the North-East, the Environment Ministry's Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has granted in-principle forest clearance to the 3,097-MW Etalin hydel project, which involves diversion of 1,175 hectares of forest land and felling of around 2.78 lakh trees in Arunachal Pradesh's Dibang Valley and has long been at the centre of protests.
The Etalin project is among the largest proposed hydropower projects in India in terms of generation capacity.
The approval comes despite the same FAC raising biodiversity and wildlife concerns in 2022, when it had rejected the proposal and directed the state to conduct fresh biodiversity and cumulative impact assessments for the Dibang river basin. This time, however, the FAC granted approval based on existing studies, overlooking its own recommendations made in December 2022.
The project will be a run-of-the-river one, which does not involve storage, and is proposed to be constructed on Dri river and Talo river, the local name for Dibang, in the state's biodiverse Dibang valley.
The appraisal of the project has been underway since 2014 and the FAC had discussed it six times between 2015 and 2022.
The FAC noted the past deliberations held with the state government, regional office of the Environment Ministry and said it had examined ecological, social and economic aspects and issues related to wildlife as well as the project's cumulative impact.
It said that the submissions made by the state forest department on these concerns were found satisfactory and hence, it recommended grant of in-principle approval, subject to general, standard and specific conditions.
The forest area of over 1,000 hectares required for the project is mostly community forest, and it has faced continued resistance from the Idu Mishmi community. The area is home to tigers, leopards, snow leopards, black bears, alpine musk deer, Mishmi takin, and about 680 bird species.
The FAC had rejected the project in December 2022 primarily on two grounds. One, the project was originally submitted in 2014 and FAC said it was imperative to review the facts and figures presented, especially regarding tree felling. Secondly, owing to the biodiversity and wildlife protection concerns raised, a sub-committee of the FAC had recommended further assessments and safeguards.
This included a multi-seasonal replicate biodiversity study, as was already directed by FAC in 2017, and a cumulative impact assessment, since multiple hydroelectric projects are planned in Dibang valley. A wildlife conservation plan, instead of a multi-season biodiversity study, was carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India and submitted in 2019. However, since it was carried out over just four months, the FAC sub-committee had insisted on the multiple-season study again in December 2022.
The WII study was also heavily panned by 29 independent Indian conservationists in a peer-reviewed paper for inaccurate wildlife documentation, scientific deficiencies among other things. Specifically, the WII study had reported a species of African bat and long-tailed house bat, not found in India.
Minutes of the FAC's May 26 meeting as well as documents submitted to the Centre show that the FAC relied on the existing WII study, as well as the existing cumulative impact assessment.
Senior officials of the Environment Ministry, who are part of the FAC, did not respond to queries regarding the rationale behind recommending forest approval, in the absence of fresh studies.
An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change.
Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. ... Read More

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