NHPC launches livelihood project in Assam as it awaits verdict on Subansiri hydel scheme.

It has been nearly eight years since a legal logjam stalled construction of NHPC’s 2,000 MW lower Subansiri hydel power project in Assam. But, NHPC has rolled out a livelihood intervention project of Rs. 30 crore, expandable to Rs. 100 crore.

Designed and implemented by the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), the hydel PSU-sponsored project works on multi-sectoral collective enterprise model, whereby there will be no beneficiary but stakeholders. NHPC - which is awaiting the final verdict of the National Green Tribunal on Subansiri next month - will help create assets right from the farm level to common facilities to be operated by the farmer producer organisations (FPO).

Typical to the design, the assets will not come free.

For instance, a pig farmer will have to provide land, as equity participation.

NHPC will pay the cash component for construction of the farm and the cost of engaging network partner, Arohan Foods, to ensure quality and efficiency. The company will also pay for majority of the cost of constructing the common processing centre.

The ownership of the processing centre will be handed over to the FPO in a phased manner against profit.

“The whole idea is to instil a sense of responsibility and common ownership among the participants,” said Pramod K Singh, Professor at IRMA.

Currently, covering around 3,500 households under three verticals - piggery, Eri silk and handloom — in Tezpur and Lakhimpur districts of Assam, the project will soon include a fourth vertical, dairy.

The project limits participation to only women.

It will create a wider rural enterprise ecosystem as FPOs are encouraged to tap every possible opportunity right from the farm to the marketing. According to Arvind Bhat, executive director, NHPC, this is the company would like to see the model is replicated across the State.

HBL