Hold tripartite meeting on Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project: All Assam Students' Union

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: AASU (All Assam Students' Union) chief adviser Dr. Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya demanded the governments in the State and at the Centre to hold a tripartite meeting to resolve the contentious Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project (SLHP) issue. He reiterated the demand once again in Lakhimpur on Saturday while taking part as a chief guest in the open public meeting organized on the occasion of the 14th session of Lakhimpur district unit of AASU at Harmoti.

"Regarding the Subansiri Project, an experts' committee, constituted with the experts from Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University and IIT, has already submitted its report to the government. The Legislative Assembly Committee has supported the experts' committee report. The experts' committee has opined that no big river dam project can be set up in a highly seismic zone. It has also suggested that the power producing capacity of the Subansiri project should be reduced and the height of the dam must be shortened. Present Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister, taking part in separate public rallies, declared that they had not supported big river dam projects. We have records about their declarations. After gaining power, they have taken a u-turn from their previous stand regarding the sensitive issue. In this regard, the Union Government had held a tripartite meeting with the experts and agitating organizations in 2014 with a view to end the impasse over construction of 2,000 MW Subansiri Project. Then another expert committee was formed with four experts from Assam and four experts, selected by the Centre. Then the Union Government assured that the next tripartite meeting would be held after that experts' committee submitted its report. In this report also, the experts from Assam have forwarded their scientific views regarding the dam project. After the submission of the two experts' committee reports, the Union Government had to organize the tripartite meeting. But it has not done it so far. From Harmoti, we have demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma to gather courage and to hold the tripartite meeting on Subansiri Project issue as they assured. The life and property of the people living in the downstream of the Subansiri River must be secured," Dr. Bhattacharya said in the meeting.

Referring to the present academic environment of the State, Dr. Bhattacharya further asserted that the academic issue is the prime issue of the organization and demanded the State Government to resolve the academic problems of the State at the earliest to secure the future of the students.

"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic induced adverse situation, affecting the education sector, mental stress has hit the students' community of the State. The government's responsibility is to initiate adequate steps to remove the stress from them. The guardians and parents must lead them through proper discussion and counselling. Now the government has taken steps to implement the new National Education Policy in the State. Review must be done to find out what is there in the new Education Policy. The good things of the policy should be implemented and the demerits of the policy should be revealed. In this regard, the intellectuals of the State must take their initiatives. The government must build the infrastructure before implementing the new National Education Policy," the AASU Chief Adviser further stated.

He demanded the State Government to fill up the 300 vacant posts of teachers lying vacant in the colleges of the State, to introduce new courses and to set up new academic institutions, so that the students hailing from the economically backward families, who cannot afford to go to other States, can study them in the native State. He opined that the SEBA and AHSEC had to do a lot in this regard.

He further demanded the State Government to constitute School Assessment Commission, like NAAC of UGC, to uplift the teaching standard and academic environment of the schools across the State. He also demanded to implement the report and recommendations submitted the High Level Committee, headed by retired justice Biplab Sarmah regarding the implementation of the Six Clause of the Assam Accord, in order to safeguard the indigenous communities of the State constitutionally. He also demanded to permanently resolve the inter-state border dispute, flood and erosion problem of Assam.

Regarding the illegal foreigners' issue, Dr. Bhattacharya stated that the governments must check the infiltration by sealing the Indo-Bangla border completely. He added that two separate policies in one State for the implementation of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) would never be approved.

"AASU is still in same stand regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, and NRC. The sensitive foreigners' issue of the State must be resolved. For this, AASU will continue its legal fight and movement simultaneously" declared Dr. Samujjal Bhattacharya.

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