Consultations before implementing Kulsi project: M’laya Power Min

Amidst growing anger against the proposed 55-MW Kulsi hydropower-cum-irrigation project on the Kulsi river, Meghalaya Power Minister Abu Taher Mondal assured that all stakeholders will be taken into confidence while implementing the project.
The proposed hydroelectric project, planned jointly by the governments of Assam and Meghalaya on the Kulsi River, is being opposed by tribal communities, citing adverse impact on the environment, livelihood and the natural habitat of the endangered Gangetic River dolphin.
The Kulsi River is a small tributary of the Brahmaputra River that flows down from Khir River in Meghalaya’s West Khasi Hills district to Assam’s Kamrup district. “All stakeholders will be taken into confidence while implementing the Kulsi Multipurpose Project by Meghalaya and Assam,” Mondal said, adding that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has assured that interest of all stakeholders will be considered before proceeding ahead with the project. The Meghalaya Power Minister, however, admitted that the project is still at a preliminary stage, and no concrete decisions have been made regarding its execution. On June 2, the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma decided to jointly commission the 55 MW Kulsi hydropower-cum-irrigation project after consultations with the local people.
The project is envisaged to generate electricity for the two States while Assam will benefit from the irrigation part of it,
“When it comes to the project of Kulsi, it is a project which is clearly a win-win situation, whether it is power production, whether it is irrigation or whether it’s development of tourism on all three fronts and many more between both the states,” Chief Minister Sangma had said.
The Kulsi multipurpose project, initially proposed in 1997, is now declared as a national project with an estimated cost of Rs 1,454.95 crore (as per 2018 data).
Apart from the proposed 55-MW of electricity, with key infrastructure components spread across the Assam-Meghalaya border, it is designed to irrigate 26,000 hectares of land across the Brahmaputra Basin.