Joint Assam-Meghalaya hydropower project opposed

Assam: members of 19 organisations organise a protest rally before submitting memoranda to the Chief Ministers of the two States via the Chhaygaon Circle Officer

Members of 19 organisations hit the streets in a southwestern Assam town on Wednesday (June 25, 2025) to oppose a 55-megawatt hydropower project planned jointly by the governments of Assam and Meghalaya on the Kulsi River, a natural habitat of the endangered Gangetic river dolphin. The protest rally culminated in these organisations submitting a memorandum each to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K. Sangma via the Circle Officer of Kamrup district’s Chhaygaon, about 40 km from Guwahati.

The organisations include the local units of the All Rabha Students’ Union, Assam-Meghalaya Joint Protection Committee, Garo National Council, Khasi Students’ Union, All Assam Koch Rajbanshi Students’ Union, All Assam Bengali Youth Students’ Federation, All Assam Gorkha Students’ Union, All Assam Tribal Sangha, and Christian Forum. The two Chief Ministers announced the plan for the 55-MW hydropower and irrigation project after a meeting on June 2 to resolve the remaining six of 12 disputed sectors along their 885-km interstate border. The other six areas of difference were resolved through an agreement in March 2022.

The Kulsi River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, flows down from the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.

The organisations said in the memorandum that a protest meeting was convened at Ukiam, near the site of the proposed hydropower project, on June 9. They said that people in Assam and Meghalaya to be affected by the project, agreed that the dam plan was “unreasonable” and would kill the lifeline of the cultivators and fishermen in the area, apart from harming the environment irreparably.

The organisations said the natural vegetation and crops are dependent on the Kulsi River, whose water level falls significantly during the dry season. “If the proposed 55 MW Kulsi Hydropower Project is installed at Ukiam, it will affect the southern Kamrup district areas from Ukiam to Nagarbera,” they said, adding that release of excess water from the dam during the monsoon would also create havoc in these areas.

The organisations stated that the dam-controlled ebb and flow of the river would impact at least 12 wetlands in the area, including Chandubi, which is known as the fifth-largest tectonic lake in the world. Chandubi, they pointed out, would be 3 km from the site of the proposed 62-metre-high dam.

The organisations listed 16 villages in Assam’s Kamrup district and three in Meghalaya’s West Khasi Hills district, which would be affected by the proposed dam. Apart from Ukiam, a revenue village, all the others are forest villages inhabited by generations of Garo, Khasi, and Rabha tribal people. “Although they have applied for title certificates under the Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006, they will not be eligible for compensation if shifted by the authorities to facilitate the project for the lack of land documents,” the organisations said.

“The Kulsi river is the natural habitat of the Gangetic river dolphin (Platanista gangetica), locally known as sihu. Featuring in the IUCN’s Red List, it is was declared the State Aquatic Animal in 2009 and the National Aquatic Animal in 2010. The proposed hydropower project will be destructive for the animal,” the organisations said.

“Therefore, we demand that the proposal for such a devastating project be reconsidered by the governments of Assam and Meghalaya and cancelled immediately,” the organisations said.

Similar protests have led to the cancellation or relocation of other proposed power projects in Assam this year. While the Asian Development Bank cancelled a $435.25 million loan for a controversial solar power project in the Karbi Anglong district, the Assam government decided to relocate a thermal power project of the Adani Group from the Kokrajhar district.