A CORRESPONDENT
LAKHIMPUR: As per declaration made by the central committee of AJYCP (Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad), the Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Biswanath and Majuli district units of the organization continued their protest against Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project (SLHP). The organization has initiated a mass signature campaign opposing the controversial mega river dam project. The campaign has been underway in the four districts of North Assam –Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Biswanath and Majuli since September 7. As part of the campaign, the activists of the organization, under the auspices the branch and regional committees, visited the rural areas to collect public signatures and to create public opinion against the adverse impact of the project in the downstream.
The AJYCP has declared a series of agitation programmes against the SLHP after the overflowing water of the catchment area of the project, rolling over the main dam with three to four feet height, inundated an extensive area in the downstream of the River Subansiri for a week since August 26 and affected more than 1.40 lakh people. Simultaneously, land slide, heavy rainfall and other natural catastrophic phenomena had affected and damaged several infrastructures of the project including diversion tunnel, guard walls. Following this, the activists of the organization, led by State general secretary Polash Changmai, rocked the project site at Gerukamukh by staging massive protest against NHPC on August 28. On the same day, the activists of the organization under Lakhimpur and Dhemaji district units burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NHPC expressing vehement resentment regarding the issue. Then the activists of the organization staged sit-in on September 4, dharna on September 6 in the four districts of North Assam. On September 6, the organization submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the Deputy Commissioners of the four districts, demanding the closure of the contentious mega river dam project.
On the other hand, the central committee of the AJYCP will organize a public meeting in Guwahati against the SLHP on September 11. The organization will resort to a comprehensive blockade against NHPC Limited from September 16.
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