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.
8 Jan 2014 - 6:58am | Mowsam Hazarika
1st Assam International Agri-Horti Show 2014 will begin from Wednesday at Guwahati. Participants include the America, Italy, China, Myanmar, South Africa, the UK, Laos and Israel. "This is the...
17 Feb 2008 - 4:10am | editor
United People's Front, Manipur Organized a Mega Marathon 2008 in Manipur with theme 'Run for your Nation' on 17-02-08 from Khuman Lampak Main Stadium. This is second time which is biggest ever in...
15 Dec 2014 - 9:10pm | SK Hasan
The brutality of policemen once again hits media headlines. The victim this time is a woman Congress activist in Nazira. Identified as Arju Begum, she was mercilessly beaten up a police man of the...
31 Oct 2014 - 6:10pm | Jayanta Kumar Das
The carcass of a twelve years old wild makhna elephant has been found at Jiabharla river near Coramore in Udalguri district on October 31. According to information the elephant had died a week before...
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said that ruling Congress did not indulge in vote bank politics. Talking to reporters Gogoi said that there is simply no question of vote bank politics. Criticizing AGP and BJP, he said that the illegal immigrants are not the only problem to be dealt with. He claimed that only the Congress government would be able to complete work on the photo-IDs of voters.
Governor Janaki Ballav Patnaik and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi have greeted the people on the occasion of Eid-ul-Zuha on Saturday.
In his message, Patnaik appealed for upholding the tradition of amity and communal harmony in the state and urged the people to strengthen the bond of fraternity so that anti-social elements do not create any dent in their peaceful co-existence.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said that the Eid would spread the message of universal brotherhood, love, peace and sacrifice would further strengthen the bond among the people.
Curfew in Dhubri town has been relaxed on Friday two days after it was imposed following clashes between police and civilians. There is no report of fresh incident in view of Eid-ul-Zoha on Saturday. Shops, markets, offices and banks remained open during the curfew relaxation period. However, educational institutions were closed because of Durga Puja vacation.
In view of the festival, security measures have been augmented in vulnerable areas. Curfew was imposed in the district headquarters after three persons were injured in clashes between two groups in IG road area in this town.
Dispur would soon set up a commission to study the issue of unemployment in the State. It would also suggest measures to eradicate the problem. Disclosing this, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the Commission will comprise experts and besides studying the problem of unemployment in Assam, it will also suggest ways to solve it. The Commission’s report will be out by Bohag Bihu. The Commission will further look at the steps taken by the Government during the past decade to deal with unemployment and success and failure of various schemes.
A 5-day-long celebration of North East is going to be held at Dilli Haat, New Delhi on November 1-5. Titled as "Traffic Jam” the event is around the theme of community and unity. During these days, the event will bring people together around issues that break down community. There will be a special focus on Human Trafficking and in view of recent happenings also on discrimination towards the North East.
The festival will feature two event evenings (November 2nd and 3rd). Both evenings will be an assortment of music, live painting, cultural dances, and street theatre performances interspersed with short talks and presentations. The impact of the festival will be furthered...
In what could be described as a highly-encouraging news for Indian children’s cinema, a script that takes a look at the issue of witch hunting as seen by a small Assamese kid has found itself to be the only non-European project chosen for the co-production market of Cinekid, the world’s largest film, TV and cross-media festival for children.
Adapted from acclaimed Assamese writer Manikuntala Bhattacharjya’s children’s novel “Ishu” by National Award-winning film critic Utpal Borpujari, the script, also titled “Ishu”, is among the 15 film projects chosen to be presented before a high-profile panel of co-producers, distributors and sales agents...
Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi on Saturday released the white paper on the implementation of the Assam Accord saying that foreingers are no longer a huge problem to be dealt with. Gogoi claims with facts and figures that influx was on the decline. According to him, immigration was one of the issues like education, health and unemployment. He said that state will start the process for giving voters identity card after the completion final electoral roll.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Saturday visited the porous Indo-Bangladesh border in Dhubri district on Saturday. Shinde visited the Shishumara and Mohamayachar border areas by a BSF boat to take stock of the unabeted influx from across the border. He inspected the eastern flanks accompanied by senior officials of the Home Ministry and Border Security Force. Earlier, he landed in Guwahati in the morning from Delhi on a day-long visit and took off in a helicopter to the BSF border camp in Panbari near Dhubri.
One more rhino was found dead on Saturday a week after its horn was sawed away by poachers in Kaziranga National Park. The rhino was believed to have been shot at by poachers at Agoratoli range of the Park and its horn was removed on October 13.
Amid Durga puja festivities, a shoot out rocked Guwahati city on Friday where a person lost his live at the hands of a miscreant.The incident took place at Chatribari area where an armed miscreant shot dead a person when he tried to overpower the miscreant. Identified as Brajen Rajbanshi, the victim was rushed to the hospital but died on the way to it. Police officials rushed to the spot and the miscreant manage to flee from the spot.
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