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.
Four persons have been injured when a fully grown leopard attacked them after storming into a residential area in Guwahati on Saturday.
The leopard ran into a house on the Nabagraha Road in Silphukhuri area at around 12-30 in the afternoon. Immediately after it the leopard attacked four persons one after another. Many others managed to escape. The injured persons were rushed to GMCH. Later the leopard was taken for observation at the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati.
Six policemen were killed in a tragic accident in Mongoldoi on Saturday. The accident took place at around 6 in the morning when their vehicle collided head on with a bus on National Highway 52.
According to information, the policemen were travelling from Barpeta towards Dalgaon when the accident took place at Punia, killing all of them on the spot. The deceased were identified sub-inspector Surendra Nath Bora, constables Lwmsraw Boro, Arun Kumar Singh, Gunindra Bora, Sobin Rabha and driver Moinul Haque.
The United Liberation Front of Asom on Friday has backed Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s son Gaurav Gogoi for his efforts to give Assam a fresh lease of life on vital fronts.
In an email statement to media, the outfit’s Publicity manager Arunodoy Dohotiya thanked the efforts of the chief minister’s son to open the flood gate of foreign experts to carry out seminars in the state’s educational institutes. Dohotiya called it an effort to develop Assam economy. He said that the state no dearth of potential to develop on all fronts.
The Assam government is set to handover the sensational Anil Mazumdar murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation three years after the gruesome incident rocked the state.
According to information, the Criminal Investigation department probing the case has been failing to make any breakthrough and that’s why, the case is likely to be handed over to the investigation agency. Majumdar, the journalist who owned a vernacular daily in Guwahati was shot dead by unidentified gunmen just in front of his residence three years back.
The United Liberation Front of Asom is preparing a massive blueprint to strike in the run up to the Republic Day forcing the government to fan security forces across the state.
According to sources, the banned insurgent outfit’s anti-talk faction is likely to target the Hindi-speaking people in some pockets of upper Assam. This is apart from a string of attacks at vital bridges, oil and gas installations.
The government has sounded a high alert in upper Assam following intelligence inputs of possible attack on OIL and ONGC officials along with some politicians during the run-up to Republic Day. The soft targets are likely the outside officials.
District administrations across...
At least 30 workers sustained injury when the bridge they were building collapsed in Dhemaji district on Friday. The incident took place at around three in the afternoon where eleven of the seriously injured workers were shifted to the Assam Medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh.
The bridge linking Dhemaji with Dibrugarh collapsed when around 120 workers were engaged in construction work by Riterning Engineering. Altogether 11 workers have been rushed to the Assam medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh while others were shifted to Dhemaji and Chilapathar hospitals. Local residents blamed the construction company for sub standard work.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said that normalcy was back to Assam. Addressing the Seventh North East Business Summit in New Delhi, the Assam Chief Minister said that his state government has taken the lead in restoring peace in the region.
According to him, “Committed initiatives have led to significant reduction in violence in the state so much so that land prices in the State in the past decade have gone through the roof."
He said the importance of focused marketing of the North East to garner requisite investor interest. Agriculture, food processing, mining and minerals especially, tourism, cement and bamboo represent some of the sectors where Assam boasts...
The third edition of the Pragjyoti International Dance Festival will be held on February 2, 3 and 4. This festival, over the last few years, has won accolades from dance connoisseurs all over the world for acting as a major platform for the promotion of young talents and for acting as a space for social and cultural convergence. Dancers from different parts of India and abroad (Bangladesh, Nepal, Japan, Russia, U.K and U.S) had taken part in the last two editions of the festival. The Pragjyoti International Dance Festival is organized by Guwahati-based Kalpa.
Festival coordinator Anwesa Mahanta, a noted dancer herself, said, “This year young dance exponents from all the major...
Union home minister P Chidambaram on Friday said that normalcy is back to Assam and other northeastern states. Inaugurating the North East Business Summit in Delhi on Friday he said that the entire region was free from conflict. He said the insurgent outfits, mostly, have come forward for talks. He appealed to the top industrialists to invest in the region. DoNER minister Pawan Singh Ghatowar and Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi were prominent among those who attended the function.
A brainstorming round of talks between govenment has failed to break the deadlock over the NHPC-owned big dams in Gerukamukh.
Talking to KMSS, AASU, AJYCP and AJYCP delegations in Dispur on Thursday the group of ministers refused to force Arunachal Pradesh to stop construction.
The government would hold talks with the experts and prominent citizens on January 14. The protestors would decide the next course of action only after that.
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