ACT(The Affected Citizens of Teesta ) OPPOSE KHANGCHENDZONGA BIOSPHERE RESERVE LAND TO HYDRO PROJECT
GANGTOK: The Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) has objected to the environment clearance given to a hydro electric power project in North Sikkim.
ACT General Secretary, Dawa Lepcha, has said in a press release that the Ministry of Environment of Forests, Government of India, has permitted M/s Himagiri Hydro Energy Private Limited to use 4005 hectares of land in the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve in North Sikkim for the hydro electric power project.
“The environment clearance given by the Government of India to the project authority is against the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and it is against the Notification of the Government of India establishing the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve and the Notification of the Sikkim Government establishing the Khangchendzonga National Park,” Mr. Lepcha has said.
Further, Mr. Lepcha has said that if the agreement reached between the Energy & Power Department and the said company on December 5, 2005 and the Environment clearance are executed, “the provisions of the above mention laws and notifications will be defeated.” “In doing so, this will come in direct conflict with the provisions of the Indians Contract Act, 1872. The ACT is prepared to place these facts before the highest court of the state in the interest of the public justice,” he said.
“The legal status of the Sikkim Power Development Corporation has been made questionable by the provisions of the Registration of Companies (Amendment) Act, Sikkim, 1989. It cannot be a Government Company because the concerned law does not have the provisions to register a Government company. Nor it is a statutory corporation. If it is a Government company its auditors must be appointed by the Controller & Auditor General of India and its annual report must be prepared by the State Government and laid before the Sikkim Assembly. The ACT is examining the legal status of the SPDC which is acquiring the lands belonging to the poor primitive tribes,” the press release further said.
