A vociferous protest against big dams reaches its crucial stage when union environment minister Jairam Ramesh was greeted with protest as he was arriving in Guwahti for a public hearing on the NHPC owned big dam in Arunachal Pradesh.
As the Union minister started the public hearing at Machkhowa, ITA, hundreds of local organizations and political parties approached him to register stiff protest again the on going construction of the big dam in Gerukamukh by NHPC in the name of the lower Subansiri hydel project. Citing the expert panel report, these parties and organisations have told the minister that the big dam might spell an ecological disaster for the people in down stream areas.
PermalinkSubmitted by Hayang on Wed, 29/09/2010 - 05:16
--Lame Excuse by NHPC CMD S.K. Garg--
Despite strident protests in Assam with environmental concerns over construction of mega dams, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Chairman-cum-Managing Director S.K. Garg says that the project builders plan to commission three units in March 2012 and the remaining five units by December 2012. This is because Rs 4000 crore of the Rs 9000 crore project has been utilized. That means 40% of the expenses have been made. But is this a reason enough to sacrifice environment and the population of downstream areas which cannot be compensated even if the Indian central government bring all the riches in the world. When land is lost, existence is lost. When existence is lost, the very right to our natural habitat is lost.
In the devastating floods caused by the Tehri dam in Uttarakhand, the central government has promised a package of Rs 500 crore to the state government. That means every year there will be floods, the Indian government will dole out Rs 500 crore. So, within 8 years, Rs 4000 crore will have to be shelved out. If this is the economics involved, Rs 4000 crore is nothing for a rich country like India where many politicians and ministers have pocketed hundreds and thousands of crores. So, the justification of Rs 4000 crore by S.K. Garg sounds to be a lame excuse to keep the industrial corporations who fund the elections happy and satisfied.
The Assam government is set to launch a mega project to reclaim the land the state lost over the years because of erosion. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi announced it on Wednesday in Sualkuchi where he said that a pilot project is in the pipeline to reclaim the eroded land . He said it will be a first of its kind project as part of the efforts to stop erosion. He hoped that the pilot project to be implemented within six months and if the project is found successful the same technology would be applicable across the erosion-hit state. The land reclamation project will be implemented with the help of Asian Development Bank. Notably, the government has already set up an expert working group to...
Assam and Meghalaya are all set to hold a high level meeting on Thursday to defuse the simmering tension in Langpih. The meeting is slated to be held in the chief secretary level in Guwahati to discuss the recent eviction drive in the area where Kamrup district administration demolished a public hall allegedly built by West West Khasi Hills district administration. Kamrup district administration on Saturday dismantled a community hall of the Hima Raid Mynsaw at Langpih during an eviction drive. A section local residents had started constructing the hall, which was allegedly raided by Assam officials the following day.
Army GOC-in-C Eastern Command Lt Gen Bikram Singh on Wednesday called on Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi as part of his farewell visit to the region. Singh, accompanied by his wife Bubbles Singh, made a courtsey call on the Chief Minister before he leaves Eastern Command to take over charge as army chief. According to reports, there was no agenda of the meeting. It was merely a courtsey call. Singh had arrived at Tezpur on Tuesday, where he was received by GOC 4 Corps Lt Gen Shakti Gurung, and interacted with the troops.
Railway police personnel on Wednesday recovered a huge quantity of high power explosives from a resident of Bihar who was travelling in a general coach of Delhi-bound North East Express at the Guwahati railway station. The explosives including 12 high power gelatin sticks, 12 detonators, and fuse wires were seized during a routine check from a passenger of NE Express. He was identified as Mantu Singh who has confessed that he was carrying the explosives to Bihar after procuring the same in Mizoram bordering Myanmar. These were seized two days ahead of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s day long visit to Assam to attend the Tarun Gogoi government’s first anniversary of the third...
Over 300 students of a school have fallen ill after they were given iron folic acid tablets on an empty stomach under a National Rural Health Mission scheme in Sonitpur district on Wednesday. The girl students of four schools at Gohpur and one at Tezpur were given the tablets to prevent anaemia under the NRHM scheme but they complained of stomach-ache, nausea and in some cases also vomiting. According to reports, the girls, in the age-group of 10 to 18 years, were administered the tablet on an empty stomach which led to the problem but this was a temporary condition and not very serious.
Six persons were killed over 35 injured when to passenger buses collided head in Lakhimpur on Wednesday. The accident took place in the wee hours. According to police, a Silapothar bound bus collided its head on a Arunachal Pradesh State Transport Service bus on its way to Along. The injured passengers were shifted to the hospital
Petrol pumps across the state are running dry on Wednesday under the impact of the Assam Petroleum Mazdoor Union’s strike demanding adequate security for petroleum drivers. The drivers are away from loading and unloading of petroleum products on Wednesday in protest against the alleged failure of the state government to provide adequate security to petroleum workers. Several organisations resorting to protests, bandhs and other forms of agitations targeting petroleum workers with several tankers being set ablaze by the agitators.
Normal life in lower Assam remains paralyzed because of the 48 hour bandh call by the Akrsu to protest police atrocities and replacement of Bongaigaon superintendent of police within 24 hours. Akrsu alleged that the police had arrived fully prepared to foil their blockade at Rakhaldubi tri-junction of NH 31 (C) and NH 31 in Bongaigaon district on Tuesday. They said initially the police held a discussion with Akrsu leaders to end the blockade by 1pm. There were about 1,500 supporters at the venue. Dhubri district unit vice-president of Akrsu, Biswajit Singha, had also staged a blockade at Ratiadoh under Golokganj police station in the district. Vehicles remained off the road in the lower...
Sudden attack by swarms of venomous spiders strikes panic among the people of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts during the last couple of days. One person died and several others were injured after they were bitten by these spiders. The spiders were noticed in large numbers after sunset in the first half of May Chaulkhowa Na-Gaon, around 13km from Sadiya. Local residents came to spot these fatal spiders during a Bihu cultural. They started biting many people. Experts call these Latrodectus elegans, a variety of brown spiders, are found in neighbouring Myanmar, China and Thailand. A team of Assam University and Dibrugah varsity is camping in the area to examine the case.
Ulfa will greet Sonia Gandhi with 12 hour bandh when the Congress president will be on a daylong visit to the state on Friday. In a statement sent to media on Tuesday, the Paresh Barua faction of ULFA said that they have given the bandh call from 6 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon to protest the proposed visit of Congress president Sonia Gandhi who is set to attend the anniversary of the Tarun Gogoi government being organized in Sarusajai.
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