NEW DELHI, May 9 ? The Supreme Court today cleared the last hurdle in construction of the Rs 7000 crore Subansiri Lower Power Project by giving its seal of approval to the project. The apex court?s clearance was essential for the project to get off ground as it has major environment implications including submersion of a portion of a wildlife sanctuary and diversion of a river.
A three-member Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice BN Kirpal, Justice Arijit Passyat and Justice HK Sema responded favourably to the pleas of the Additional Solicitor General, who told the court that the project had been stalled because of an existing direction of the court prohibiting construction in the periphery of the sanctuary. The project envisaged taking over of 42 hectares of land on the boundary of Telli wildlife sanctuary and changing the existing course of the river Sichu. The land area required for the project would be submerged and course of the river would have to be changed. The Additional Solicitor General pleaded for permission for de-reservation if necessary up to the extent of one per cent of the sanctuary.
It may be mentioned here that the Union Government in a bid to clear several of the pending power projects in the North-east had decided to approach the Supreme Court to relax its order prohibiting the ban on de-reservation of forest and cutting of trees. The 2000 MW project is to be executed by National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC), which had submitted the detailed project report in June last year. The DPR is currently under examination of the Central Electricity Authority.