Power Utility as a Cover for Forest Diversion in Assam: A Threat to Constitutional Safeguards
The Assam government is under fire for allegedly using a state-owned power utility as a cover to push large-scale forest diversion in the Karbi Anglong district. This issue raises serious concerns about constitutional safeguards for Scheduled Tribes, environmental laws, and the credibility of the forest clearance regime.
Alleged Corporate Capture of Forest Clearance Process
The All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) has accused the Assam government of manipulating the forest clearance process to favor private corporations. The government is allegedly using the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) as a front to obtain statutory forest clearances, while private corporations are the real developers and long-term beneficiaries of the proposed Pumped Storage Power Projects (PSPs) in Karbi Anglong.
Suppression of Real Developers' Identity
The APHLC has alleged that the Assam government has deliberately suppressed the identity of the actual project developers. While APDCL is shown as the User Agency and Project Proponent, it is a matter of public record that the Government of Assam has signed Memoranda of Understanding with private corporations, including Greenko Energies Private Limited, for the development of Pumped Storage Projects.
Blatant Violation of Forest Rights Act
The APHLC has also accused the Assam government of open defiance of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. The forest diversion proposals themselves admit that the recognition and vesting of forest rights have not been completed in the affected areas. Instead, the state has reportedly submitted undertakings promising that FRA certification would be obtained later, an approach the APHLC described as illegal, arrogant, and contemptuous of the law.
No Consent, No Consultation, No Transparency
The hill leaders alleged that no Free, Prior, and Informed Consent has been obtained from affected village councils. Local communities remain largely unaware of the scale, environmental impact, timelines, and corporate control involved in the projects. The proposed clearances are seen as a direct betrayal of Sixth Schedule protections, threatening to hollow out tribal self-governance and reduce constitutional autonomy to an empty promise.
Implications for North East India and Beyond
If allowed to continue, this practice could set a dangerous precedent across India, weakening the Forest Rights Act, sidelining tribal consent, and converting statutory safeguards into mere paperwork. This could have far-reaching implications for the indigenous communities of North East India and beyond, as their rights and livelihoods hang in the balance.
Call for Action
The APHLC has urged the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to halt the processing of the proposals, compel full disclosure of the actual project developers and beneficiaries, and enforce strict compliance with the Forest Rights Act before any clearance is considered. Development that erases indigenous rights is not development; it is dispossession. The forests of Karbi Anglong are living homelands, not corporate land banks.