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.
25 Jun 2007 - 10:13am | editor
Noted sports organizer and senior Congress leader Phani Sarma breathed his last at his own residence at Bamunimaidam here at 7.15 a.m. today. He was 76.He was the treasurer of ruling Assam Pradesh...
12 Sep 2012 - 8:37pm | editor
A protest meeting organised by Journalists’ Protection Committee Assam at Guwahati Press Club today urged the authority to nab the culprits involved in the assassination of Raihanul Naium, a...
20 Feb 2010 - 2:23pm | Aiyushman Dutta
Last year around this very time, a new rock festival started off in Silchar. It was being organized by NIT and was labelled “Thundermarch”. At that time, I was kind of apprehensive about...
8 Oct 2016 - 3:34pm | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
Devotees and visitors throng to the Durga Puja Mandhaps on the Maha Saptami day of the ongoing Durga Puja celebration in Kokrajhar,heart of BTAD administration. Over 150 puja mandhaps have been...
In the year 2011-12, 71 maternal deaths were reported in Nagaon district. As per Annual Health Survey 2010-11, the MMR (maternal mortality ratio) is 367 per 1,00,000 live births as compared to 440 of the RRC-NE, 2009 survey. The reduction in maternal death in Nagaon is possible because of many initiatives of NRHM. Deployment of Skilled Birth Attendance trained GNM/ANM, EmoC trained Doctor, launching of 108 Services, Mamoni, JSSK and Adaroni Scheme are few of them. Particularly it is possible for increase in Antenatal care (ANC) of pregnant women. In the year 2010-11 ANC figures were only 45637 and gradually in the year 2011-12 it has gone up to 48454 .The Govt. of Assam has put extra...
At least eight people have been injured when a section All Bodo Students' Union activist clashed with a group of Non-Bodo Protection Forum workers during band calls on Thursday. The ABSU had blocked the NH 31 at different places of Lower Assam in support of their various demands while the Forum had called a 12-hour Assam bandh demanding non-inclusion of non-Bodos within the Bodoland Territorial Council. Activists of both groups clashed at Bhogpur area under Goreswar police station of Baksa district leading to the injuries of eight people with condition of one of the injured stated to be critical.
More than five thousand ABSU activists had blocked NH-31 at Bhetakuchi area near Rangiya and...
Former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is all set to take over as new AGP president on Thursday.The decks for the two time former chief minister was cleared at crucial meeting of the outgoing central executive body meeting on Wednesday. Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling and Zoramthanga, the former chief minister of Mizoram are expected to attend the conference to be held in Guwahati on Thursday.
At least 20 persons have been injured and properties worth lakh of rupees have been ravaged when a ravaging storm lashed many parts of Assam on Wednesday midnight. The midnight storm uprooted thousands of trees, electric and telephone posts disrupting surface communication in many places. The worst-hit areas include Kokrajhar and Barpeta districts where it at least 20 people sustained injury when their houses collapsed under the impact of the storm. It would take several hours to clear the roads. The storm struck Guwahati also at on Wednesday midnight.
Normal life in Rabha Hasong dominated area areas of Assam remains crippled following a 12 hour bandh call which began at 5 in the morning on Thursday. All vehicles are off from the roads. Shops and markets, schools and colleges, banks and offices are remaining closed soon after the bandh started at 5 in the morning.
The All Assam Rabha Council called for the bandh in protest against the government’s failure to rescue two teachers who were kidnapped by suspected GNLA insurgents along the Assam-Meghalaya border in Goalpara district of Assam.
A major explosion was averted at gas pipeline in Sivasagar district when security forces defused a powerful IED on Thursday. The IED weighing 3 kg was planted at a gas pipeline in between Aaideopukhuri and Aaideobari in Sonari which was spotted by the local residents in the morning. Senior police and army officials rushed to the spot and defused it. It is suspected to be a handiwork of ULFA’s anti-talk faction.
Both Delhi and Dispur have drawn High Court’s ire after DHD(J) leaders Niranjan Hojai and Juel procured bail in two nefarious case involving crores of rupees. The country’s deputy solicitor general appeared before the Gauhati High Court on Wednesday on behalf of the attorney general in response to a summon issued in connection with two notorious cases where two DHD(J) leaders procured bail.
The court summoned attorney general to explain how top DHD(J) leaders Niranjan Hojai and Juel Garlosa procured bail from NIA where three others were denied bail. They were JK Ghose, G Daulagapu, Mausakimi and Achintya Warisa. Notably, they were charged of siphoning off a huge amount of...
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has welcomed the decision of Team Anna member Akhil Gogoi to form a political party.Talking to reporters in Guwahati on Wednesday, Gogoi said that Akhil's decision to form a political party is a welcome step. The KMSS general secretary announced that he would form a political party around 2015 or 2016.However, he had said that his party would not contest the next Assembly polls in 2016 and would only highlight issues like ill effects of big dams and for land rights to indigenous people.
Assam and Meghalaya are set to get Spices Parks to promote value addition and help farmers by reducing their dependence on middlemen. According to information, feasibility study for the park in Meghalaya is under the process of preparation by the IIM-Shillong for which the report is awaiting. The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry will provide funding for the proposed Spices' Park. The Spices park will act as a common centre where farmers bring in their produces in bulks. Assam on the other hand, produces Bhut Jhalokia and mustard besides ginger and turmeric and is considered the gate to the North East. The region has also exported 37,38,597 MT tonne of spices, mainly fresh ginger and...
The representation received from the joint forum of Assam Tea Planters Association, North Eastern Tea Association and Bharatiya Cha Parishad has appealed for declaring tea as a national drink as it is consumed by large sections of people and this would also contribute to its brand building exercise. This was what Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya M. Scindia disclosed in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. He said that there is no fixed criteria for according national status to any particular product/commodity. A proposal to declare tea as the national drink of India was earlier examined during 2006 in consultation with the Central Ministries concerned and the States/UTs. He...
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