Madeeha writes*
Established in 1976 and operational since 1984, the Kopili hydropower plant represents the inaugural venture by a public sector unit in Assam. Generating a total of 275 megawatts, with 150 megawatts designated for households, the power plant comprises two concrete structures: the 30-meter Kopili dam, located over the Umrang River, a tributary of the Kopili River in Umrangso, and the 66-meter Khandong dam situated on the Kopili River itself (Wire, 2019). The Kopili Project is under the Northeastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) which is a public sector of the Ministry of Power under the Government of India.
While the Kopili Hydroelectric Power plant (HEP) has notable successes, such as providing electricity and causing fewer emissions than fossil fuels in northeast India, it faces significant challenges stemming from the construction of the two dams. Himanshu Thakkar (2010) writes that dams have increased the frequency of floods from 2-3 times a year to 5-6 times a year. Additionally, due to dam-induced floods in 2004, 192,000 people in Assam were temporarily displaced, and four people lost their lives (Saikia, 2013).
As the Kopili River’s water is used to generate electricity, the water quality of the river plays a huge role in maintaining the functionality of the Kopili HEP. In 2019, strong acids in the slurry ate away at the pipe meant to carry water at a rate of 12,000 litres per second (Akhtar, 2019). This caused the pipe to burst, which swept four people to their death. Unfortunately, the lives lost cannot be compensated, and the blame game between different stakeholders doesn’t help either.
V.K. Singh, the head of NEEPCO, holds the acidic water responsible and states that the governments of Meghalaya and Assam had ignored the warnings of the water in Kopili river turning acidic (Akhtar, 2019). On the other hand, the political party Congress, which was in power before 2014, holds the Bharatiya Janata Party responsible for mishandling $28 million in maintenance work that Congress had approved when they were in power (Akhtar, 2019). If the blame game wasn’t enough, the legality of rat-hole mining which makes Kopili River acidic makes accountability on a state and local level even more difficult. NEEPCO blames the state of Meghalaya for allowing rat-hole mining despite the ban from India’s National Green Tribunal Court (NGT). The local community in Meghalaya argues that they have special rights under the constitution and the freedom to use the land they own according to their own needs. Additionally, mining using child labour continues with no environmental impact assessment being held, which was made compulsory in 2006 under the 1986 Environment Protection Act (Akhtar, 2019).
However, most independent experts have agreed that NEEPCO shouldn’t continue the usage of the Kopili HEP knowing the effect of acidic water on its pipes and must be held responsible for the damage it has caused (Akhtar, 2019).
Bottom Line: The Kopili Project has incurred significant costs for the country, both in terms of finances and lives lost. The environmental consequences, which are difficult to fully quantify, are bound to worsen over time. Therefore, urgent repairs are needed for the power plant, and similar projects should be halted until the issues are addressed.
* Please help my Real Donut Economics** students by commenting on unclear analysis, alternative perspectives, better data sources, or maybe just saying something nice 🙂
** Why “Real”? In short, because (a) Raworth’s claims to being a “21st century economist” denies that all of her ideas were presented by others in the 20th century and (b) she presents no viable mechanisms (besides “be nice”) for achieving equality and sustainability. My students are more realistic. In long? Read this.
I think that the topic of your blog post is interesting. It truly reflects the complex interplay between progress and environmental responsibility. The presence of acids in the mud that are strong enough to corrode the pipe is a real worry. It’s sad that in such cases they play the blame game rather than addressing repairs or issues, but it happens frequently in many places. How do you think responsibility should be distributed when addressing this issue and have any regulatory changes been made following this incident?
Thanks for your comment Cansin. I personally believe it’s the Ministry of Power that should be held responsible , which is under the government. However, to make them take accountability for their actions is a whole different story. Local governments are usually better than central governments when over taking projects but you can’t be sure there either so to be honest I don’t really know how power should be distributed. I am unaware of any regulation changes but I will look into it so thanks for that 🙂
Nice blog post Madeeha! Super interesting topic. I think you very clearly layed out the large costs attributed to the Kopili HEP, but I would also love to know more about the benefits of the dam in monetary value, to have a more precise idea of the cost-benefit analysis. Would also be super interested to learn if there are any chances of data manipulation (or greenwashing) regarding the politics around the project. The blame-game which you mentioned is what makes this project ever more complex and tricky to address from a policy perspective, so I am excited to hear more details on this in your research paper!
Hello Kiara, Thank you for your comment. I do think there’s data manipulation but I’m not sure in which aspects. For instance, I think the monetary costs of building or maintaining the projects are available on the internet but when it comes to the practices around the project for eg rat mining or other unethical labour practices, that must be difficult to find data on. I have been struggling to find the benefits of this project in depth but I will look into it. Thank you 🙂