Bittu Sahgal

Guwahati, April 16: Noted environmentalist Bittu Sahgal has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to listen to the rising voices of opposition to large dams emanating from every corner of the Northeast.

Sahgal, who visited Guwahati recently, said Assam’s agriculture and the ability of the fishermen and the underprivileged to sustain themselves would be destroyed because the reliability of water flow in the Brahmaputra will be impossible to anticipate after the construction of big dams.

“Water will be released according to the demands of industry. As a result, neither the irrigation nor flood control promises being made by the promoters of big dams will be fulfilled. It will also worsen the man-animal conflict since the habitats of many animals will be degraded or usurped by the dams,” Sahgal told The Telegraph.

Sahgal, who is a member of National Board for Wildlife, said, “Assam, instead of getting the riches promised by the Centre, will become dependent on flood, drought and famine relief. The Prime Minister should listen to the voices of opposition to big dams.”

The environmentalist, who came to take part in the Balipara Foundation awards ceremony here, said he had watched the clearance process from within committees set up by the ministry of environment and forests. “Such panels often make a mockery of the law and policies and give clearance based on big money and political influence.. Often a consultant is appointed to assess a project in which they had a financial interest.”

Speaking about the Cabinet Committee on Investment set up to speed up the process, Sahgal said they would clear projects using kangaroo court-style committees without considering their long-term impact. “The panel will enable the Prime Minister’s Office, Planning Commission and the finance ministry to act in haste so all of India can repent at leisure. They have no idea of the worth of the ecosystem services they are squandering.”

On wildlife protection, he said unless the Centre and state government allocated funds on priority basis, it was unrealistic to expect foot soldiers to be more effective than poaching syndicates. “Manas, Nameri, Dibru-Saikhowa, Pobitora and other such wildlife sanctuaries are the heritage of future generations. The five and six-year-olds of today will remember our generation as destroyers of hope, unless we decide to thwart the ambitions of those ‘who know the cost of everything but the value of nothing’,” he said.