Itanagar, Jul 9 : The BJP in Arunachal Pradesh has taken strong exception to the allegations of ''anti-development'' levelled against its national secretary and former MP Tapir Gao by the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC).

The APCC, while reacting to a press briefing by the BJP leader at New Delhi recently on possible negative impacts of the hundreds of hydro-power projects coming up in the state, termed them as ''anti-development and anti-Arunachal''.

In a communique here today, the BJP said neither the party nor Mr Gao was against hydro-power projects as such, but they had expressed concern after realising disastrous implications of so many projects in a seismically fragile state.

It maintained that the Congress, being in power, did not have the right to randomly violate prescribed guidelines as well as necessary quality control and safety measures in implementing hydro-projects.

Reiterating that it advocated harnessing of natural resources for development, the party said hydro-projects should be scientifically feasible and accepted in full conscience and understanding of the long-term impacts by the indigenous people, who were likely to be affected .

''Today we are witnessing several anti-dam protests. Going by these, it can be well construed that neither these people were consulted nor their consent taken before going ahead with huge projects,'' it asserted.

Raising doubts over the various Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) and Memorandum of Agreements (MoAs) signed with private and public sector companies, the BJP stressed that power developers need to be selected on merit through open and global competitive biddings as per the laid down guidelines.

''When the Assam Government can constitute an expert committee to study the impacts of Lower Subansiri project, why cannot the dispensation in Arunachal Pradesh invite global experts for studying the feasibility and implications of so many hydro-projects being proposed in the state?'' it questioned.

The party also negated the criticism of the APCC that ''Gao need not talk at national and international levels'', saying that river issues were international by virtue of their trans-national flow.

''Anything related to a river cannot be confined to one country as the waters of the same river may have impacts on several countries through which it flows,'' the party informed.

It also questioned the APCC if it could guarantee that there would be no catastrophe in the future from these mega-hydro projects or take the responsibility in case of any future disaster, the communique added.