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.
Normal life has also been hit by the 48 hour-bandh called in the two districts from 6 am on Monday by the five organisations against police action on Sunday.
The 48-hour bandh has been called in the two districts by the five anti-dam organisations KMSS, AJYCP, TMPK, All Tai Ahom Students Union (ATASU) and All Deori Students Union (ADSU). They have threatened an economic blockade against Arunachal Pradesh if its Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and his Assam counterpart Tarun Gogoi did not stop construction of the hydro-electric project.
Several persons sustained injury when security forces sprang upon then with lathis and teargas shells for the second day in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts.
Police flogged the protesters when they refused to clear the National Highway 52 linking Arunachal Pradesh. Some of them pelted stones at the security forces.
Lakhimpur deputy commissioner Anwaruddin Choudhury talked to KMSS general secretary Akhil Gogoi to resolve the crisis. But of no avail. They said that would to sit on peaceful protest only if the security forces are restrained.
Gogoi gave three conditions -- the government hold talks with the protesters, the arrested protesters be released and those injured in the...
At least two persons dead and nine others sustained serious injuries when a roof of a hotel collapsed in Tezpur on Saturday. Several other workers have been retrieved hours after they were trapped. The tragic incident took place on Saturday evening near Mission Chariali when around 20 workers were engaged in the construction of a hotel building. A portion of the roof collapsed where two of the workers died on the spot. Thirteen others have been taken to the Tezpur Civil Hospital. Some others are still feared to be trapped inside the site.
Assam is reeling under severe cold wave along with other north eastern states even as weathermen predict more chill in the entire state. Guwahati on Saturday witnessed further dip in temperatures which is expected to last for the next couple of days. Guwahati alone recorded maximum temperature of 17.4 degree Celsius and a minimum temperature of 9.8 degree Celsius. Regional Meteorology Centre predicts more chill during the next few hours. Dense fogs have disrupted normal movement of traffic in Guwahati streets. The northeast frontier railway has also rescheduled a number of trains because of the fogfall.
A local court in Guwahati on Saturday remanded Phani Talukdar to jail a day after police arrested the land mafia from his residence. Talukdar was arrested by Dispur police alleging his involvement in a number of land grabbing cases. Notably, he was arrested by Dispur police on the basis of the FIR field by district administration.
Tension prevails in Gogamukh in Dhemaji district on Saturday when security forces were trying to collect petrol and diesel from a section of vehicles on the streets. According to allegations, the petrol and diesel thus collected would be sent to Gerukamukh which goes dry following the halt of traffic to the areas bordering Arunachal Pradesh at the height of the anti-mega dam protest. Police have reportedly rough up a few media men as they were covering the incident near the NRL petrol pump.
The Assam government is chalking out a slew of steps to uplift the state's film industry which has been ailing for the last few years.
This was what state's minister for cultural affairs Pranati Phukan said when she was holding a meeting recently with a few top filmmakers.
Attended among others by film directors Munin Barua, Manju Bora, Bani Das and noted actos Nipon Goswami and Biju Phukan, in the meeting, she expressed the willingness to solve the problems relating to the production of films and poor condition of Assamese cinema halls. Taking part in the deliberation, owner of a major chain of cinema halls in the city, Chinmoy Sarma, assured all steps will be taken to upgrade the...
The ruralelectrification scheme has been failing to percolate benefit for the poorpeople living in Assam. This was what came tolight when power minister Pradyut Bordoloi has to faced barrage of criticismand questions on the fourth day of the Assam Assembly’s winter session onThursday.As soon as the question hour began at nine in the morning, several members on thefloor raised questions on the benefit of the rural electrification schemes forthe BPL families. They said the scheme has yet to cover thousands of remote villages which have not been able to see the light of success in thescheme. In his reply power minister Pradyut Bordoloi assured said that the government would take steps...
TheSahitya Akademi Award this year goers to noted poet, translator, academician and critic late Dr KabinPhukan. The Sahitya Akademy would award Dr Phukan, noted scholar, writer andpoet would be posthumously. Dr Phukan,who was a senior Professor of English Department in Dibrugarh University, died on May 24 this year.DrPhukan, who wrote many Assamese and Englishbooks, did his PhD from Leeds University, England, received aFulbright scholar at Yale in 1983-84. He also received the Krantikal SahityaSanman.Twoothers from the north eastern region to have received the award are PremanandaMosahari for Bodoand Kshetri Bira, a novelist from Manipur. Phukanand Mosahary have been chosen for their works...
The GNRC Hospitals has recently opened the First Pain Clinic of Assam. Prof. U C Sarma, Vice Chancellor of Srimanta Sankardeva University of Health Sciences, Assam, inaugurated the clinic in the presence of medical experts and media personnel on December 17 in the city.
A two-day national seminar on Pain Management was also organized at GNRC Hospitals, Guwahati on the occasion. Titled as PAINCON 2011 the seminar was addressed by several resource persons of National repute.
The physicians say that the pain is a curse to the mankind. Conquering pain in any form has been a great challenge for the entire human race. Through indomitable spirit and constant endeavours, mankind has already...
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