Archive · 25 Sep 2026
Panel recommends clearance for Arunachal’s Upper Subansiri project
An expert group has recommended allowing a large dam project in Arunachal Pradesh.
The project would produce electricity and help control floods.
It would include a 237-metre-high dam on the Subansiri River.
Building it would require using forest land and cutting about 1.35 lakh trees.
The project still needs an important forest clearance before it can receive final environmental approval.
New forests are proposed on degraded land in Madhya Pradesh to compensate for the forest diversion.
The expert group warned that cutting trees could harm animals, habitats and biodiversity.
It asked the project developer to reduce tree loss and restore damaged areas.
The project could also affect households and other hydropower projects downstream.
An Environment Ministry expert panel recommended environmental clearance for the 1,605 MW Upper Subansiri hydroelectric project.
Final clearance depends on in-principle forest approval for diverting 2,733 hectares of forest land and felling 1.35 lakh trees.
The project near Menga in Arunachal Pradesh is intended to generate power and moderate floods.
Compensatory afforestation has been proposed on 5,466 hectares of degraded forest land across 144 sites in Madhya Pradesh.
The panel cited risks to biodiversity, habitat continuity and wildlife movement and requested an ecosystem restoration plan from NHPC.
- Who
- The Environment Ministry’s expert appraisal committee recommended clearance, with the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation developing the project.
- What
- A recommendation was made for environmental clearance for the 1,605 MW Upper Subansiri hydroelectric project, subject to forest-clearance requirements.
- When
- The article does not specify the date of the expert appraisal committee meeting.
- Where
- The project is planned near Menga, about 20 kilometres from Daporijo in Arunachal Pradesh, on the Subansiri River.
- Why
- The stated objectives are power generation and flood moderation.
Project development case
Environmental and social concerns
Electricity and flood management
Project development case
The project is intended to generate electricity and moderate floods, and is part of a broader set of hydropower projects in the Subansiri basin.
Environmental and social concerns
Critics’ concerns, as reflected in the panel’s observations, focus on the ecological effects of a large dam and associated forest diversion rather than rejecting the project’s stated objectives.
Forest diversion and tree felling
Project development case
The project’s forest impacts could be addressed through compensatory afforestation and an ecosystem restoration and biodiversity management plan.
Environmental and social concerns
The panel warned that felling about 1.35 lakh trees could affect forest structure, habitat continuity, biodiversity, wildlife movement and ecosystem services.
Upstream-project approval
Project development case
The Environment Ministry’s committee treated the proposed project as subject to independent appraisal under the Supreme Court of India’s 2009 direction.
Environmental and social concerns
The project’s approval is sensitive because an earlier condition associated with the Subansiri Lower project had barred future upstream projects before that condition was modified to require wildlife-board appraisal.
- Project capacity
- 1,605 MW
- Forest diversion
- 2,733 hectares in Arunachal Pradesh
- Trees at risk
- Approximately 1.35 lakh trees
- Proposed dam
- 237 metres high
- Reservoir size
- 22.2 square kilometres at full reservoir level, with a length of about 50 kilometres
- Compensatory afforestation
- 5,466 hectares of degraded forest land at 144 sites in Madhya Pradesh
- Potentially affected households
- 1,139 households