Category: Lohit River

NBWL pushes Lower Demwe HEP on Lohit River in Arunachal Pradesh based on fudged WII report
Arunachal Pradesh · Hydropower · Lohit River

NBWL pushes Lower Demwe HEP on Lohit River in Arunachal Pradesh based on fudged WII report

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The Minutes of 50th Meeting of Standing Committee (SC) of National Board of Wild Life (NBWL), held on 7th Sept 2018, were made available on 26th Sept  2018. On viewing the Minutes of Meeting, the petitioner to NGT Bimal Gogoi wrote to the Chairman and the Members of SC Of NBWL about the recommendation of the SC of NBWL on Demwe Lower Project.

Date : September 26, 2018

To: Dr. Harsh Vardhan

The Chairperson,

Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife,

New Delhi.

URGENT: Grant of wildlife clearance to Demwe Lower project based on faulty WII report is shocking and should be reversed

Dear Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Members of the Standing Committee of the NBWL,

Greetings from the Northeast! I have just perused the minutes of the 50th meeting of the SCNBWL and I am shocked to see that your committee has granted wildlife clearance to the 1750 MW Demwe Lower project based on a seriously flawed report of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). Continue reading “NBWL pushes Lower Demwe HEP on Lohit River in Arunachal Pradesh based on fudged WII report” →

Photo Journey along free flowing Lohit River in Arunachal Pradesh
Lohit River

Photo Journey along free flowing Lohit River in Arunachal Pradesh

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Guest Blog by Nivedita Khandekar

An abundance of a river and fast diminishing forests This photo-story chronicles the various moods of Lohit river from the point it enters India to the point where it is joined by two equally big rivers to form the mighty Brahmaputra. All photographs taken by Nivedita Khandekar during various journeys over the last decade, mostly in winters.

From references in Indian mythology to the location for proposed cascade of hydro-power projects, Lohit river of Arunachal Pradesh in north-eastern India is unique in many ways. It enters India at the juncture of Tibet, Myanmar and India at the easternmost point. It is as if this free-flowing, almost tempestuous river, cutting across the Himalayan hills, draws its tenacity from the people abounding its path. It would not be wrong to say that the unpretentious Meyor and the Mishmi communities lend their character to the river they call their own. After meandering through the Mishmi Hills, it traverses a short distance at the foothills as if freed from hilly prison only to assimilate its huge volume of waters with two other giant rivers to form the colossal Brahmaputra. Continue reading “Photo Journey along free flowing Lohit River in Arunachal Pradesh” →

‘Banks of the Lohit will shine’: Glimpses of a free-flowing river
Arunachal Pradesh · Assam · brahmaputra · Dams · Lohit River

‘Banks of the Lohit will shine’: Glimpses of a free-flowing river

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Above: Lohit River, Parshuram Kund on the right. Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

Assam, Arunachal and the North East India, West Bengal and Bangladesh are riverine entities in many ways. Ancient rivers flowing through this landscape have moulded not only the mountains and the silt-heavy banks, but cultural identity of the region itself.  Rivers permeate through the literature, folklore, songs, poems, cuisine, even dressing… Bhupen Hazarika, the Bard of the Brahmaputra, likened the red ripples of the Assamese Gamcha (red and white stole)  to the braided filigree of the Red River. When Guwahati University opened on the banks of Luit, Hazarika sang “Jilikabo Luiter Paar”..Banks of the Luit will Shine. Rivers stood for revolution as they stood for Love.. Jyoti Prasad Agarwal wrote “Luitar Parore Ami Deka Lora.. Moribole Bhoi Nai.” (“We are the youth from the banks of the Luit/ We are not afraid of death”). Older poets like Parvato Prasad Baruah wrote entire books full of poems of Luit and today modern poets in Assam like Jeeban Narah  link their creative processes inextricably to rivers. Continue reading “‘Banks of the Lohit will shine’: Glimpses of a free-flowing river” →