As a citizen of the northeast concerned with ensuring ecologically sensitive developmental planning for this fragile region, I am really concerned about certain violations (particularly with respect to environmental and forest clearances). The questions which the Lower Subansiri project clearance process raises in my mind are just as relevant for any other project which might come up in the region or elsewhere. I need to place these before the Honorable Chief Justice:
a) Are powerful project proponents treating the environmental clearance process as a formality? How are we as a country accepting to go ahead with projects because investments have already been made, in spite of these being in violation of environmental laws? How can we allow illegalities to be perpetuated in the name of investments already made and that too at a great ecological cost?
b) Why is there such a lack of transparency and access to information with respect to planning of central government projects in the northeast? How is the central government justified in planning development projects for the region without letting the citizens of the region have access to information and documents on these? Project documents (such as EIA reports) should be public information and open to review by whosoever wishes to do so. Non-transparency is leading to project proponents getting away with mediocre assessments and ensuring poor environmental decision-making.
c) How is the Impact Assessment Agency (IAA) within the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), assisted by its expert committees (such as the one on river valley projects in this case), being able to make important environmental decisions based on such poor quality assessments which have both inadequate and incorrect information?
These are all important questions for us in this region. Development projects such as the Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project have grave implications for both the biodiversity of the region as well the natural resource-based livelihoods of communities both upstream and downstream of the project. The least we need to do is to have proper assessments and share information on these projects with citizens, before deciding whether these are viable or not.
I hope the Honorable Chief Justice gives attention to these pressing issues.