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.
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Good news for ministers and MLAs. Courtesy the Assam government. The government on Wednesday proposed to hike the salaries and allowances of Chief Minister, Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker,...
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As the researchers has been writing continuously that soft drinks are injurious to health and its bad effects, at Bhella area in Barpeta district found a packet of gutkha (Sikhar 1000) in a bottle...
A 50 member special contingent of special security unit has left for Kaziranga to counter the poachers who have already killed more than 15 rhinos. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi flagged off the team at a function in Guwahati on Tuesday. Handing over SLRs to the members before leaving for Kaziranga, Gogoi hoped that the special team would help the park authorities to efficiently deal with the poachers.
Abhijit Baruah set multiple record on his hectic Sunday when the longest barefoot runner arrived in Jhanji in Sivasagar district on foot within four hours. Then he left for Sivasagar via Bhatiapar and went back to Jorhat by bicycle within three hours. He showed 20 push ups at the prowling Jorhat Stadium. This was followed by his 200 KM barefoot race with 40 KG weight. IBR observer handed over a certificate to Baruah after the events were properly recorded.
A rhino is battling for life after poachers left it dehorned in the Kaziranga National Park. A team of veterinarians finds it quite difficult to keep the profusely bleeding rhino alive. The efforts are not expected to keep the animal alive which lost a vital organ. The park authorities have restricted entry of media people.
AGP on Sunday resolved to take a stand against construction of big dams in the state and came out against the proposed Brahmaputra River Valley Authority.
Party president Prafulla Kumar Mahant said in Lakhimpur that the BRVA would not solve any issue and will in fact be a non-starter. Mahanta also called for immediate steps to solve the issue of illegal immigrants, besides asking the government to commence work on updating the National Register of Citizens and for implementation of all the clauses of the Assam Accord.
More and more media houses may be driven by the business interest, but at the end of the day the media should not miss its missionary character. More over, the media house owners should not engage the media space only for its profit sacrificing the media’s immense social responsibilities, commented His Excellency Bharat Vir Wanchoo, Governor of Goa. Inaugurating the 9th Annual South Asia Media Summit 2012 at The International Centre Goa, Dona Paula- Goa today morning the Governor also added that irrespective of increasing challenges, the media should continue its presence in the society as a watch dog and conscience keeper.
Organised by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) India in...
Petroleum dealers across the state operate in a single shift from Monday. The petrol depots would be operating from 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening. The decision was taken to press for their demands on payment of commission as per the cost-based structure as recommended by Apoorva Chandra Committee.
The petroleum dealers in Assam and other north eastern states will operate only one shift in order to cut costs. They said that there has been no revision in commission for past two years. In these years, the cost of operations and investments have gone up substantially.
The Nilotpal Lahan death case takes a new twist on Saturday when his mother lodged a complaint before police claiming it a conspiracy.
Lahon’s mother Nilima Lahon on Saturday filed and FIR before Jalukbari police station to investigate her son’s mysterious death near the Kamakhya temple recently. Notably, initial investigation called it a case of suicide.
Abhijit Baruah on Saturday set yet another record. The pride of Assam punched 300 times at a pair of punching pads within a record single minute. The historic deed took place at the Jorhat Stadium in the morning in presence of observers of India Book of Records and Asia Book of Records. He required only 150 times within the timeframe to be eligible for a claim in the Guinness World Records as there was no such global record in the category.
Just after 72 hours of two high profile visits to Kaziranga National Park, one by Union Environmental Minister Jayanti Natrajan and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and the other by state Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain, the silence of KNP was broken once again by the booming of gun. All the assurance of providing safety to the wildlife of KNP especially to the rare one horned rhino fell flat as poachers gunned down a rhino and dehorned it. The incident took place at around 1 pm between Sohola and Duramari forest camp under Agoratoli range. The poacher brutally severed the horn from the bullet ridden rhino and let it to languish. Till the filing of this report the rhino is struggling for...
Guinness World Record holder Abhijit Baruah will attempt eight more records in different events this weekend. The immediate one is slated for Sunday. The attempts by the Assam policeman on both days are organised by the Great Run Club. The whole event with each moment was recorded and all the necessary guidelines of the Guinness World Records was followed and formalities were observed to make a claim in the record book.
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