ACT condemns approval for new Teesta-III dam

GANGTOK, : The Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) has condemned the controversial clearance granted by Environment ministry’s panel for rebuilding the Teesta-III hydel dam at Chungthang, North Sikkim.

“It is shocking to know that the height of the dam for Teesta stage-III is increased by double. Earlier it was a 60-metre-high rock fill concrete dam and now the Environment ministry’s panel has cleared a proposal to build a new 118.64-m-high concrete gravity dam in its place. This was done without a fresh public hearing and even the design aspects of the dam are yet to be approved, with plans to expand the capacity of the dam and spillways to impound and channel more water volumes,” said ACT general secretary Gyatsho Tongden Lepcha in a Friday press statement.

The dam of the 1200 Mw Teesta-III hydel power plant had collapsed in October 2023 following a GLOF-triggered flash flood.

The ACT general secretary said the clearance for rebuilding the Teesta-III dam was insensitive to the multiple disasters associated with the dam construction.

“The Teesta-III dam disaster of 4 October 2023 is a direct outcome of ignoring the warnings by environmentalists and communities of the high fragility and seismicity of Himalayan geology in Sikkim. The major earthquake of 2011 delayed the Teesta-III completion after extensively destroying the dam infrastructures and even causing bankruptcy of dam proponents.”

“The unfortunate reality is despite the project authorities assuring nothing will happen with Teesta-III, the dam collapsed besides damaging the Teesta-V and Teesta-VI hydroelectric projects. The dam proponents, the government, the companies and financiers remained unaccountable for the loss of lives of more than 100 people due to Teesta-III dam collapse and the widespread damage to public infrastructures,” said the ACT general secretary.

Gyatso maintained that the EAC clearance for the new dam violates the Environment ministry’s stipulation while clearing the Teesta-V dam in May 1999 which states that “No other project in Sikkim will be considered for environmental clearance till the carrying capacity (CC) study for Teesta River Basin is completed.”

“ACT condemns the government, the private companies and financiers for seeking profits only and pursuing the rebuilding of the doomed Teesta-III project, while ignoring the environment, social concerns, high seismicity, climate change impact and disaster risks potential raised by communities for so long,” said the ACT general secretary.

Besides environmental and social concerns, the ACT general secretary said additional huge investment to compensate for damages and rebuilding the dam, “with no guarantee of success”, will further burden the Government of Sikkim and its people with high indebtedness. These scare resources could have been better utilized to cater to the urgent social needs of the people of Sikkim rebuilding the bridges that were washed away and restore the roads which was damaged severely by the floods across theState, he said.

“The Teesta-III dam burst is a grim reminder to the Government of India and to all companies financing dams for profits, that building dams in ecologically and geologically sensitive and fragile areas in Sikkim is unviable, risky, and unsustainable and a clear recipe for disaster. The Government should stop all plans to rebuild the 1200 MW Teesta-III dam for its unviability and social and environmental impacts on indigenous peoples and land and potential impacts due to climate change and high seismicity in Sikkim,” said the ACT general secretary.

“The Environment ministry should revoke the clearance issued for rebuilding the Teesta-III dam and the Teesta-III dam should be decommissioned. The government, corporate bodies and financiers should honor the call of the indigenous peoples of Sikkim to ensure the free flow of Teesta River,” demanded the ACT general secretary.