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.
14 Oct 2015 - 8:58pm | AT News
NorthEast United FC is prepared for a brave fight against FC Goa in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) clash in Guwahati on Thursday. NorthEast United played two matches away and lost both of...
14 Sep 2024 - 10:24pm | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
The 36th Martyr's Day of the former NDFB was commemorated at the Kajiamati Thulunga Fwthar in Udalguri on Saturday with a day-long program.
The event, organized by former NDFB members in...
13 Nov 2016 - 11:22am | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
Security forces apprehended a cadre of NDFB(S) from Nabinagar forest village under Kachugaon PS in Kokrajhar district on Saturday. Based on information about presence of militant cadre, a joint...
18 Mar 2014 - 9:57am | AT News
Yet another leader has deserted AIUDF. He is none other than Bijay Krishna Nath.The top contender for Silchar seat resigned from the party immediately after Dr Pervez Ahmed Ali was fielded from...
Guwahati Frontier BSF steps up effective border management and supervision of functioning of field formations along the 495 km of the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam and West Bengal. Addressing the troops during the First Raising Day of the Frontier at Patgaon in Guwahati on Monday Inspector General P K Wahal said that the new Frontier have been carrying out civic action programmes. He said that the troops on the border have been found dominating their respective area of responsibility round-the-clock through observation posts, patrolling on foot, patrolling both on vehicle and boat during day time. In addition to human efforts, troops have been making extensive use of force multipliers...
Stages have been set to airlift a rhinoceros to a national sanctuary after the rare animal reached Sualkuchi in the outskirt of Guwahati.The full grown rhinoceros is believed to have strayed from the Pobitora sanctuary which is being guarded around the clock against poachers with an IAF helicopter. The efforts to airlift the rhinoceros failed on Monday because of bad weather. Top ranked forest and district administration officials are camping in the Rani Chapori area to guard the animal from poachers. The rhino was spotted by local people at Rani Chapori of Sualkuchi near here in Kamrup Rural district and was suspected to have strayed from the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary near Guwahati.For...
Fresh incidents of violence gripped Dima Hasao distirct after the district administration relaxed curfew in Haflong on Monday.Supporters of the North Cachar Hills Indigenous Poples Forum turned violent where policemen were attacked in Haflong town. Bandh supporters pelted stones at security forces at Mahadev Tilla and Harangajao. Policemen on duty were forced to fire rubber bullets to disperse the mob.Some NCIPF activists came out into the streets in Haflong during the curfew relaxation period and set on fire a bike at Kalibari Road. This is apart from an incident where an autorickshaw was damaged at Gunjung area. Indefinite curfew was reimposed in the hills town following the incident.
Three persons were killed by lightning and two others seriously injured in Goalpara district on Monday.Two of them hail from a family when the five persons were inside a house at Nolanga Reserve when they were struck by ligtning killing a man and his son and a neighbour on the spot. Three persons were killed by lightning in Dhubri district and two girls in Golaghat district on Sunday.
Tension is simmering along Assam-Mizoram interstate border when a Barak Valley-based NGOs launched a fresh indefinite blockade on NH-54.The blockade on the road connecting Mizoram was launched at 6 in the morning demanding that non-tribal workers from Cachar district be allowed to enter Mizoram's IOC Veng locality of Vairengte without inner line permits.The All Barak Youth Students' Association demanded that the governments of both the states find a solution to Assam-Mizoram boundary disputes and implored the Assam government to destroy the 'boundary pillars' erected by Mizo NGOs.
A UGC sponsored national seminar on the Problems of Industrial Labourers in Assam was held in ADP College, Nagaon on September 28-29. The seminar was inaugurated on Sep 28 by Dr Narayan Ch Barman, President of Governing Body by lighting lamp. Dr Sarifuddin Ahmed, Principal of ADP College welcomed the guests and scholars. Dr Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti, Working President of the Seminar Organizing Committee dedicated the seminar to the hallowed memory of Anandaram Dhekial Phookan who was the pioneer of economic analysis in Assamese literature.Prof Nirankar Srivastav, Dean, School of Social Science, North Eastern Hills University presented the key note address. He highlighted the problems of...
The ravaging inferno at an ONGC-owned plants in Titabor on Friday mires in controversy. ONGC authorities blamed technical fault resulting in the fire that left reduced properties worth crores of rupees to ashes. But ULFA’s anti-talk claimed to have blown up the plant alleging that the attack would continue. In an e-mail statement, the outfit claimed to have blown up the plants. Notably, on several occasion earlier ULFA owned up responsibilities.
Security forces arrested six cadre of United Peoples Democratic Front in Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday. They were arrested from Changlang district bordering Tinsukia during an anti insurgency operation. Police interrogation is going on in Tinsukia.
An ULFA militant was killed and two policeman have been seriously injured at an encounter in Tinsukia district on Saturday. The encounter took place at Bordumgsa when ULFA militants faced security forces on patrolling duty resulting in a fierce firing in the evening. ULFA militants lobbed a grenade in which one policeman was injured and he was admitted to Assam Medical College Hospital at Dibrugarh. Then the militants managed to escape.
National Human Rights Commission has registered one more case in connection with the murder of PhD scholar from Assam Pritam Bhattacharjee at Naugachia railway station in Bihar.
The case was registered after Silchar district bar association appealed to NHRC to ensure that the culprits are brought to book. The NHRC has registered the suit, its assistant registrar (legal cell) informed the bar association secretary Champak Dutta. Bhattacharjee, who hails from Silchar had boarded the Assam-Avadh Express from Guwahati on July 8 and went missing from Naugachia station the next day.
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