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.
The Asom Gana Parishad has removed MLA and former minister Nurul Hussain from the central executive committee charging him with secretly meeting a few suspected ISI agents at the Guwahati Central Jail. The revelation came up on the floor when health minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma disclosed that the minister and MLA Ananta Deka visited a few suspected ISI agents inthe jail.
The Centre has sent a set of stringent guidelines to Dispur to firmly deal with ULFA who have been mongering more trouble. According to information, these guidelines were sent after home minister held a security meeting on Monday in Delhi. The meeting further considered a regional security coordination centre to ensure a better coordination and joint operations in the north eastern region. Chidambaram also directed the security forces to finalise their operational strategies. Also, the high level meeting studied the inter-state movement of insurgents in the region and their linkages across the states bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar.
A powerful grenade was defused on Tuesday morning at Geetanagar area in the city of Guwahati 12 hours after an encounter between police and ULFA where a rebel was shot dead.According to information, the policemen on duty found a grenade besiude the Kanya Mahavidyalaya at around 11.30 on Tuesday morning which was later defused at a safe place at around 11-30. In the same same spot an ULFA rebel died at an encounter with police on Monday midnight. The deceased has yet to be identified.
A man carrying 'borali' fish and yoghurt along with his child at Rongdoi Noimukh village in Jorhat, Assam on the eve of the Magh Bihu on 12-01-09. Photo: UB Photos.
The Maligaon blast toll has gone up to 4 as Rajiv Sarmah who sustained injury died on Sunday at GNRC. He was a computer engineer and an entrepreneur. He married last month.
Some sporadic incidents of violence marked the 12 hour total Sivasagar bandh called by All Tai Ahom Students Union on Saturday. There is report of clash and police lathi-charge in some parts of the district during the bandh hour called to protest against the custodial death of ATASU Sivasagar vice president Harshajyoti Handique. According to information, thousands of people came out on Saturday in the town and staged demonstration in front of the office of the deputy commissioner demanding strict action against the police officers involved in the custodial death of Handique. The bandh was total. All establishments were remaining closed and the streets across the upper Assam district were...
A day after a powerful explosion rocked the north eastern city of Guwahati, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has alleged that Assam DGP G M Srivastava and IGP Khagen Sarma have been stagemanaging these explosion to blame it all on the rebel outfit. The outfit asked the duo to refrain from these. In a statement received here on Saturday, the outfit's central publicity secretary Anjan Borthakur said the entire campaign is being led by Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
There is report of encounter between police and ULFA cadres in Guwahati a day after the militants struck the city again with blast where three persons died and seven others have been injured. According to information, the fierce gun battle is on in Maligaon's Kalibari area in the city. Unconfirmed report has it that an ULFA cadre died in the encounter after it began in the wee hours on Saturday. The ULFA rebels reportedly lobbed grenade at the police during the encounter. On the other hand, police have arrested five ULFA cadres on Saturday from Chandmari area in its full scale operation against ULFA.
The Assam government is contemplating a slew of measures to revive the state's ailing industries in the state.Disclosing this on the floor of the House on Saturday in the winter session, industry minister Pradyut Bordoloi said these measures will be applicable to those sick industrial units which can be revived.According to the minister, the government will close down some ailing industries which cannot be revived.On the other hand, the House further discussed the public distribution system where Opposition leader Chandra Mohan Patowary alleged that the scheme has been failing to percolate benefits for lakhs of people. Another AGP MLA Girin Baruah alleged large scale anomalies in the...
"Community radio is the real voice of the people, it is a communication service that caters to the interests and needs of a certain area, its culture, craft, cuisine and above all social and development issues," said Mridul Srivastava, the station director of 'Lalit Lokvani'.'Lalit Lokvani', is a village community radio planned to be operational in Lalitpur region of Uttar Pradesh state (India). It is a joint initiative of a Sai Jyoti Gramudyog Seva Sansthan (a non-governmental organization) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), situated just 22 km from Lalitpur in Alapur village of Birdha block.The 15 km transmission range will take in its fold 60 villages comprising...
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