Skip to content Skip to navigation

Anti dam protest greets Jairam Ramesh in Guwahati

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.


Comments

Hayang's picture

--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.

Pages

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

NDRF-led mock drill in BVFCL campus

22 Nov 2017 - 2:48pm | Akshaya Pranab Kalita
The National Disaster Response Force with the help of the BVFCL based CISF, home guards and police conducted mock drill to make the people aware of the preparedness to deal with the disasters....

Administrative Building at KVK Goalpara inaugurated

27 Mar 2014 - 12:10am | Benjamin Kaman
Secretary, DARE & Director General, ICAR, Dr. S Ayyappan inaugurates Administrative Building of KVK Goalpara in presence of Dr. S N Puri, VC, CAU; Dr. K M L Pathak, DDG, ICAR; Dr S V Ngachan,...

Tremor: 2 hurt in Kokrajhar

28 Jun 2015 - 10:33am | Hantigiri Narzary
Two people sustained injury when a wall collpased under the impact of the moderat earthquke on Sunday morning.The quake was felt at .37 in the morning striking no less panic among the people forcing...

Security forces busted KCP hideout near Imphal

23 Apr 2011 - 4:01am | AT News
A combined team of Imphal West commandos and personnel of 43 Assam Rifles on Friday busted a hideout of the banned Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) faction of Lamyanba Khuman and apprehended a...

Other Contents by Author

A fake financial institute has once again duped lakhs of customers during the last two year. The institution in question is Jivan Surakhya Group. Proprietor Chandan Das, who has recently sold out a satellite TV news channel is absconding. That too a week ahead of the date of payments to its agents and customers.Hundreds of customers vandalized its Hatigaon based office on Wednesday a day after another section of customers did it in Sonari at Sivasagar. Police have already registered a case against Das who is remaining untraced.
Rows and rows of earthen lamps and worship of tulsi plants marked the kati Bihu with traditional religious fervor across the state on Wednesday. In the rural areas people planted tusli plants seeking divine help to keep their paddy fields fine. Paddy fields were also kept shining with earthen lamps in the evening.Notably, the Kati Bihu fervor failed to reach Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Majuli along with other flood ravaged areas on Wednesday.
Police arrested two infamous dacoits in connection with a robbery case at Kamrup Rural district on Wednesday afternoon.Police picked up the duo - Babu Ali and Dildar Ali - from a dhaba at Kalajal in Baihata police station when they had gone there to have a meal.
It’s a narrow escape from a powerful explosion in Barpeta Road. Police recovered a powerful bomb from a train track in Barpeta Road railway station on Wednesday.Weighing 800 gm, the explosive was planted with electrical wires, was hidden under boulders of track number one on platform two.After noticing it, a local resident informed the police who later defused the bomb at around 9.30 in the morning. But by then a train left the spot.Police cordoned off the area and took away the bomb to be safely defused later. A letterhead of a little known insurgent outfit 'Bengali Sangram Mukti Bahini' was found near the bomb.
Pride of Assam Mirdu Paswan Joon strikes a silver medal at the Indo-Sri Lanka Karate Championship 2012, held in Colombo.The Karate player received the second position in the Senior Male Black Belt Kumite event organised by the World Sunakoshi Sutukan Karate Organisation, Sri Lanka.
Dima Hasao hill district is all set to get chopper service and a wildlife sanctuary. The proposal is in its initial stage. Authorities call it a major boost on the district’s tourism front. It would further help the hills district improve surface connectivity. Sources told assamtimes that the recent agreement between DHD and Centre has no dearth of provisions to set up these.
In what could be termed as a mega cultural event, internationally acclaimed Sarod player Ustad Amjad Ali Khan will be performing in the city for the first time. The Sarod maestro will be accompanied by his two sons – Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, who have both nurtured out to be prodigies in themselves.This was informed by North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) Director Som Kamei in a crowded press conference in their cultural amphitheatre Shilpgram here today. Assam Governnor JB Patnaik will be the Chief Guest and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will be the Guest of Honour in the event. NEZCC Chairman Nikhil Kumar, who is also the Governor of Nagaland, will be the Chief Host of the...
Good news for government employees. Dispur has raised the Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief for its employees and pensioners from 65 to 72 per cent. The revision is effective from July 1.Following the increase, the DA will be at par with Central Government employees. The arrear will be paid in cash and an additional expenditure of Rs 400 crore will be incurred by the Government during the current financial year.
Atleast three children were feared to have met watery grave after two boats collided in the river Brahmaputra in Barpeta district on Tuesday.The incident took place on Monday midnight when a country-made boat collided with another boat in the Brahmaputra river at the remote Pub Aandabhanga-Saldiyapara area of Chenga. Over 50 passengers travelling in the two boats were rescued or were able to swim ashore, three kids are missing. They were identified as Sanidul Hoque, Kamal Badshah, Phulbahatan Nesa.
A 18 member gang of poachers who have been behind the killing of least ten rhinos in Kaziranga National Park over the past three years have been arrested.The gang leader Lyngdoh Rongpi was arrested from Jamelangshu hills on Monday night and based on his interrogation his accomplices were netted at a village in Bokolia.According to information, two forest employees were also held on suspicion of killing the one-horned pachyderm.An AK-47 rifle, 37 rounds of ammunition, two 303 rifles and one gun were seized from them.