Residents of Ukiam and nearby villages are up in arms ever since they came to know about the Meghalaya chief minister’s statement in the Assembly on Tuesday that the Kulsi dam project is likely to get approval after the detailed project report is submitted.

Chief minister Conrad Sangma told the Assembly that he was not sure how many people would be displaced or how many hectares submerged if the dam is constructed on the border of Assam’s Kamrup district and Meghalaya’s West Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi districts.

Asosh Marak, a resident of Ukiam village under Chaygaon constituency of lower Assam’s Kamrup district, said the “dam would be built over their dead body”. They had opposed the idea in 2011 when it was first envisaged and will continue to do so, he added.

Ukiam is a scenic village, 70km from Guwahati, where three rivers and three districts merge. The rivers are Drone from Assam and Sree and Dilma from Meghalaya.

Jawaharlal Marak, president of Ukiam-Kyrshayi (Assam-Meghalaya) joint security committee, said people of the area first came to know about the project in April, when a few officials from both Assam and Meghalaya came to survey the site selected for the dam. After that, the villagers, along with several organisations, have held discussions to oppose the project. They also formed the Ukiam-Kyrshayi (Assam-Meghalaya) joint security committee.

He added that the committee and other organisations have submitted a memorandum to the Meghalaya government and soon they will meet and discuss the matter with the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya.

The committee has full confidence in the Meghalaya administration because in 2001, the project was dropped in the face of stiff resistance.

The Kulsi multipurpose project envisages construction of a 62-metre-high concrete dam across the Kulsi river to harness its potential for irrigation and power generation.

The river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, originates from the northern slopes of the Khasi hills in Meghalaya.

After flowing for 100km in the hills of Meghalaya, the river enters the plains of Assam at Ukiam village, the proposed dam site. From there it flows farther north, where it breaks into three streams.

After crossing National Highway 17, all the streams take a westerly course, flow into Jaljali river before meeting the Brahmaputra in Kamrup district of Assam. The catchment area of the Kulsi basin up to the proposed dam site is 1,694.4 square km, which lies in the states of Meghalaya and Assam.