Guwahati: The Assam government has been accused of deliberately using a state-owned power utility as a cover to push large-scale forest diversion in Karbi Anglong district, with hill leaders alleging that private corporations are being shielded behind APDCL to secure clearances in a Sixth Schedule area.
The All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) has alleged that the government is 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.
Alleged Corporate Capture of Forest Clearance Process
In a strongly worded representation (a copy of the representation is available with Northeast Now) to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), the APHLC warned that the forests, land and livelihoods of indigenous Karbi and other tribal communities are under “grave and irreversible threat” due to what it described as a manipulated and opaque clearance process.
The organisation said the issue goes far beyond procedural irregularities and strikes at the heart of constitutional safeguards for Scheduled Tribes, environmental laws, and the credibility of the forest clearance regime itself.
Three Proposals Sent, Sixth Schedule Protections Ignored
The Assam government has forwarded three forest diversion proposals to the MoEF&CC for PSPs in the Phuloni area of Karbi Anglong. All three proposals, uploaded on the PARIVESH portal, list APDCL as the user agency.
The projects involve the diversion of 441.9 hectares of forest land in the Longlakso Proposed Reserved Forest and 79.37 hectares and 144.2 hectares in the Amsolong Proposed Reserved Forest.
All the proposed sites fall within the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) area, governed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution—raising serious questions about the state government’s respect for tribal autonomy and constitutional protections.
Government Accused of Suppressing Identity of Real Developers
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,” the letter states.
The organisation pointed out that Greenko Energies Private Limited had independently applied for environmental clearance and secured Terms of Reference for these projects, only to later seek their transfer to APDCL—an act the APHLC says exposes the fiction of APDCL being the real proponent.
APDCL Termed a Proxy for Private Firms
According to the hill leaders, this pattern clearly establishes that private corporations are the actual developers and beneficiaries, while APDCL is being misused as a nodal or proxy agency to bypass scrutiny and resistance.
“For communities whose land and forests are being taken away, it is critical to know who will control, profit from and permanently transform their homeland,” the letter states, adding that concealing this information amounts to suppression of material facts and renders the forest clearance process legally untenable under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
The APHLC warned that forest clearances are not transferable commodities that can be obtained in one name and quietly handed over to another, calling such practices an assault on transparency and public accountability.
Blatant Violation of Forest Rights Act Alleged
The organisation has also accused the Assam government of open defiance of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. It said 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.”
“The FRA is not a box-ticking exercise to be completed after forests are handed over to corporations. Recognition of rights and informed consent of Gram Sabhas are mandatory preconditions, not post-facto formalities,” APHLC leader Jones Ingti Kathar said.
No Consent, No Consultation, No Transparency
The hill leaders alleged that no Free, Prior and Informed Consent has been obtained from affected village councils and that local communities remain largely unaware of the scale, environmental impact, timelines and corporate control involved in the projects.
Terming the proposed clearances a “direct betrayal” of Sixth Schedule protections, the APHLC said the government’s actions threaten to hollow out tribal self-governance and reduce constitutional autonomy to an empty promise.
Dangerous National Precedent Warned
APHLC leader Jones Ingti Kathar cautioned that allowing public sector entities to act as front applicants for private corporations could set a dangerous precedent across the country—one that weakens the Forest Rights Act, sidelines tribal consent and converts statutory safeguards into mere paperwork.
Calling for immediate intervention, the organisation urged the MoEF&CC 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 representation states, adding that the forests of Karbi Anglong are “living homelands, not corporate land banks.”
Appealing to the Centre to act before irreversible damage is done, the hill leaders said the Assam government’s actions demand urgent scrutiny to protect both constitutional values and the rights of indigenous communities.