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.
A senior official of a Chennai-based firm has been missing since Sunday from near Kaziranga National Park.
According to police, Ganapat Kumar, a project engineer of Afcon Infrastructure, went missing while he was on his way back to his official residence in the city. His wife had lodged an FIR at Jorhat sadar police station on Monday. Afcon Infrastructure has been operating at various places in Assam including in Cachar, Jorhat, Golaghat and Sivasagar districts in the past couple of years.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday claimed to have improved the state’s law and order front. Replying to the motion of thanks on the floor of the Assam assembly he said the negotiation process with militant groups should go on.
He said that his government can’t wait so much for the presence of ULFA C-in-C Paresh Barua and that the talks should be carried forward. He said,”talks have been started with both the groups of NDFB and other smaller ultra groups and we are keen that the anti-talk faction of the ULFA should also join the process.
In a major sigh of relief, suspected KPLT militants have freed Chief Conservator of Forest Abhijit Rabha and Range Officer Ranjan Barua in Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday.
The duo were freed near a highway at Bokolia in the hills district on Monday midnight. Police rescued them in the wee hours before being taken to a hospital in Diphu for treatment. The abductors had reportedly demanded a ransom of one crore rupee as ransom. The duo were kidnapped on Sunday when they were returning from Sighasan Hills where they had gone with a 60-member delegation, including some Japanese botanists to conduct a forest department survey.
An Aligarh Muslim University-like varsity is likely to be set up in Assam. But the Centre must approve the proposal Dispur sent to Delhi recently.
Disclosing this on the floor of the Assam Assembly on Tuesday, education minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the proposal was made to Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal recently during his visit to Delhi. If the proposal is given the go-ahead, Assam would have a university on the lines of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia, which have been granted the status of minority university.
The Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti on Tuesday urged the Assam government to emulate the chief ministers of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Tamil Nadu and oppose the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
MASS general secretary Dilip Patgiri told said that the proposed NCTC is against the federal structure of the Indian constitution and there is no need for creation of such a body.
He said that Assam did not require any draconian law as most of the militant and separatist groups have come ahead for negotiations with the government.
Chief Conservator of Forests Abhjit Rabha and Ranger Ranjan Baruah were released unharmed at about 1030 hrs IST near Bokoliaghat Forest Range Office last night. What first appeared to be a rumour was confirmed by Bakoliaghat Police. The duo were found approaching Bakoliaghat by forest patrolmen in the morning and brought to the Bakoliaghat Range Office. Superintendent of Police B.B Chetry rushed to Bakoliaghat and escorted them back to Diphu Civil Hospital. Even though declared to be otherwise fit they are yet under physical checkup and are being administered upon.Family members of both the officers are in Diphu with them. Rabha and Baruah accidently fell into the hands of insurgents on...
Leopards are still unleashing terror in among the residents of Guwahati. Local residents in Maligaon area rescued full grown leopard on Sunday.
The full grown leopard was spotted at a deep gorge in Gotanagar in the morning and rescue it. Later, it was handed over to the forest officials.
Normal functionings at the Lepetkota gas cracker project have come to a grinding halt following the workers protest over the CISF firing where one worker died and three others injured. A high level meeting of the Gas cracker officials, district administration failed to break the logjam. On the other hand, Dibrugarh district ATTSA has called for 12 hour district bandh on Monday in protest against the incident.
A NEEPCO owned power transmission tower damaged in Sivasagar district on Sunday when ULFA’S Paresh Baruah faction exploded a powerful bomb.
Three IEDs, weighing nearly a kg, were planted on the power transmission tower and one of them exploded in the morning. The other two IEDs were later defused by the army bomb squad. The tower transmits electricity from Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited's Lakwa Thermal Power Station at nearby Maibella.
Dispur is waiting for Centre’s clearance to carry out joint operations with Arunachal Pradesh against Maoists.
Director General of Police Jayanta Narayan Choudhury said in Jorhat that they had sent reports to the Union Home Ministry and were waiting for its nod to flush out Maoists along with Arunachal Pradesh government from the area.
He said the Maoists were also working with some over ground organisations for fresh recruitment and extortion drive in certain areas of upper Assam.
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