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.
DONER Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has stressed a Thailand model Self Help Groups (SHGs) in the North-East to boost the process of development.Inaugurating an exhibition of SHG products at Shillong on Saturday, Aiyar said its time for the North East to think of the one-village-one-product pattern in Thailand. He said the SHGs of the region should adopt that model to expand output, standardise and diversify the produce.According to him, if the SHGs focus on a particular product, it would help them in getting the products to international markets. He further said these SHGs have taught people how they should expand activity and make inroads into the international market.
The Asom Gana Parishad has unanimously decided to leave the prestigious Guwahati seat to BJP. But the formal announcement is expected this week when the leaders will be holding talks with BJP leader L K Advani in a day or two.According to information, despite stiff opposition by the Kamrup distirct AGP MLAs the steering committee meeting on Saturday evening finalised it citing seat sharing deal with BJP to defeat the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. MLAs Dr Kamala Kalita and Ramendra Narayan Kalita are stick to their guns.Later talking to media party general secretary Atul Bora said the final decision would be taken when president Chandra Mohan Patowary would be meeting in a day or...
The British Council (Kolkata) and Aaranyak, an active environment organization of Northeast India have joined hands to organize a two-day workshop on environmental journalism for the media persons of Guwahati in the second week of March. The workshop, designed to facilitate two batches of journalists (twenty in a batch) in two days, will be held at IIBM at Khanapra on March 9 (2 p.m. to 5 p.m.) and March 10 (9-30a.m to 12-30 p.m.). Guwahati Press Club has also extended support for the programme.Rob Edwards (55) will be the main resource person for the workshop. A free-lance, self-employed journalist specialising in environmental issues for more than 25 years, Rob was educated at Watford...
The AGP steering committee is holding a crucial meeting on Saturday afternoon to clear the decision to handover the prestigious Guwahati Lok Sabha seat to the BJP. According to AGP sources, the leaders are ready to leave the seat formally despite protests from several party leaders. On the other hand, BJP is ready to field its candidate in Guwahati after the AGP leadership agreed in principle to do so while they held talk with BJP top guns in New Delhi. But the deal bristled with difficulties in the face of vociferous protest from the Kamrup district AGP leaders.Notably, AGP earlier had several rounds of talks to end the deadlock but failed to clear the air.
The Higher secondary examination, 2009 begins on Saturday. According to the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council, altogether 1,68,548 candidates are appearing in the examinations. The Council officials say this time the examination is holding in altogether 645 centres across the state. A total of 12,737 students are appearing in science stream, 1,43,221 in arts stream while the number of candidates in commerce stands at 11, 840.
There is report of a tragic bus accident at Pathsala in Barpeta district on Saturday morning where several people are feared killed. Over 50 people, who have sustained serious injuries in the accident have been shifted to the nearest hospital after they were rescued by local residents and police. Rescue operation is on. Details are awaited.
Altogether 3,40,457 students are appearing in the Assam High School Leaving Certificate and the Assam High Madrassa examinations which begin on Friday across the state.Of these candidates this time, 2,37,249 candidates are regular while 96,932 others are private candidates.The Board of Secondary Education, Assam is conducting the examination in altogether 770 examination centres with 26 zonal supervising offers and 911 supervisors. Sources say the evaluation of the answer scripts will be completed by March 31 in 46 centres in different states in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has extended his best wishes to the examinees.
The new Bangladesh government seems to have reached an understanding to handover ULFA top gun Anup Chetia, who has been languishing in Dhaka jail since 1996.This was disclosed by Bangladesh's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hasan Mahmud told a private news channel on Wednesday. He said both the countries have mutually agreed on the handover.According to him, the mutual agreement will also include handover of Bangladeshi criminals who have fled to India.On the other had, he lashes out at the the previous Bangladeshi government of the Bangladesh National Party of "nurturing" terrorist groups like the Harkat-ul Jehad Islami (HuJI) adding that HuJI has cross-border linkages not...
The Sukapha Samanya Khsetra in Dhemaji saw a massive gathering at the fourth day of the Asom Sahitya Sabha session on Tuesday where president Rong Bong Terang stressed the role of litterateurs in infusing new life to Assam…and its language and literature. Lakhs of people thronged at the session site early in the morning to attend the session where the focus of attention was a cultural procession which was taken out in the morning with new president Rong Bong Terang. The outgoing president Kanak Sen Deka broke the tradition giving Terang his new company. In his address, the noted litterateur Terang said Assam and the Assamese will be remaining alive with the rich language and...
Massive gathering of at least 2 lakh people from across the state and outside make the Sukapha Samanya Khsetra a sea of humanity on Tuesday as the Asom Sahitya Sabha is holding the third day of the 70th session.The colourful grand event on Tuesday began with a cultural function with the newly elected Asom Sahitya Sabha president and noted litterateur Rong Bong Terang. Several political leaders including Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi along with his several cabinet colleagues were seen sitting on the stage at the open session.Notably, some anomalies and inconvenience have resulted in some resentment among the visitors and delegates who arrived in Dhemaji three or four days ago. But the...
Comments
Pages
Add new comment