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.
22 Oct 2008 - 4:53pm | editor
A huge gathering seen during period for submission of tender papers of vehicles at Oil India Limited’s contract office in Duliajan on 21-10-08. Photo: UB Photos.
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Japanese Encephalitis continues to wreak havoc forcing the authorities to step up measures to contain the situation. Within a short period of two months, the killer virus has claimed 31 lives in the...
23 Mar 2009 - 9:44pm | editor
The Gauhati High Court has fixed March 30 as the next date for hearing the bail petitions by MLAs Jiten Gogoi and Kushal Duwari in connection with the recent alleged assault on a Kaziranga forest...
5 Oct 2014 - 9:47pm | AT News
And now it’s the green bridge idea that strikes the mind of chief minister Tarun Gogoi. Lunching the Swachh Bharat campaign in Guwahati on Sunday, Gogoi announced a Green Brigade to boost the...
More than one hundred Adivasi people rushed to Guwahati on Wednesday to depose before the Justicer Manisana panel probing the Beltola incident but the chairman invited three of them to brief the infamous violence. Led by AASAA, these Adivasi people hold a rally in front of the Commission office demanding an impartial enquiry into the violence. Mostly, of them came from Kokrajhar, Udalguri and Nagrijuli. Those three who deposing before the commission were Lakhi Orang Ramsingh Tappu and Agtha Kerkata. On Tuesday former Kamrup Deputy Commissioner Avinash Joshi, magistrate C K Bhuyan deposed before the commission.
Despite a chilly Wednesday, the North East Games gets underway at a colourful fuction organised at the Sarusajai Sports Complex where Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi took salute of the march pass by the eight north eastern state teams. Sports Authority of India director Ratan P Watal attended the meeting as the guest of honour. As many as 2000 sports men are participating in the event to be concluded on February 2. The inauguration of the entire event was marked by a colourful march pass participated by the eight north eastern states. Altogether 240 players are from Manipur while Meghalaya has 224 players. It is followed by 175 sportsmen from Mizoram. Nagaland had 146 players while Sikkim...
Six people died and 38 others have been injured at a road mishap which took place on late Tuesday morning in Numaligarh near Babathan. According to information, a 609 bus bearing No. As-02-9791 from coming Lakhipur, Kaziranga on its way to Deopani Than in Karbi Anglong district fell down on the gorge. Five people died on the spot including the driver Reba Gogoi while one more died on the way to the Guwahati medical College Hospital. Other seriously injured people are under going treatment at the VKNRL Hospital. Some of the critically injured people have been rushed to the Golaghat Civil Hospital.
Eleven passengers were killed when a Guwahati-Silchar bus skidded off the road and fell into a over 100-metre-deep gorge near Mawryngkneng, about 40 km from Shillong, in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya on Wednesday morning. According to information, there were 40 passengers in the Assam State Transport Corporation bus and most of them escaped with minor injuries. The injured people have been taken to the hospital.
Situation in the city’s Betkuchi area is still tense 15 hours after the killing of a former NDFB cadre..According to information, the incident took place at when three unidentified youths fired at the courtyard of his residence. The deceased was identified as Gambaru Basumatary. He died on way to hospital. Immediately after the incident, the miscreants left the scene. The police officials later came and the investigation is going on.
Ten people were left dead and more than thirteen injured when a Tata Safari has a head on collision with a truck in Sonitpur district’s Santipur Tiniali near Dhekiajuli on Wednesday morning. The deceased include six women. Local people have rushed the injure people to the Tezpur kanaklata Civil Hospital. According to information, the incident took place while the Tata Safari bearing no AS01 X8676 coming from Dhekiajuli Moroni gaon had a head on collision with a truck AS 14C0334 on its way from Moran to Guwahati. All these ten people died on the spot. The deceased were identified as Basanti Boro, Rupeswari Boro, Jora Boro, Miloni Boro, Dhanjit Boro, Robindra Boro, Babul Chetri, Tilok...
The Congress is heading for a landslide victory in the overall scenario even as the ruling party is losing support in some of its strongholds. In Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Sonitpur and Dhubri the party is showing excellent performance while the Asom Gana Parishad is also improving its performance in some places. The counting of votes are still going on. According to state election commission information, the counting will be over by Wednesday as there was no use of electronic voting machines this time. Meanwhile, jubilation is there among the wining candidates and their supporters. There is report that a counting officer died of stroke at the Gordon High Secondary School in Nalbari in the...
The ruling party is set to scale a major victory in the panchayat polls towards the end of the vote counting on Tuesday. Congress is followed by the main opposition Asom Gana Parishad in most of the districts while BJP is brightening its prospect only in Dibrugarh district. The counting of votes in Jorhat district has ended at 11 in the morning. The ruling party has won 85 gaon panchayat presidents, 648 gaon panchayat memberships and 84 block level seats. The opposition AGP trailed behind Congress with 20 seats in gaon panchayat presidentship seats, 269 gaon panchayat memberships. The counting has ended also in Majuli and Kamrup metro, where Congress is enjoying a landslide victory. The...
Congress is moving neck and neck with the opposition Asom Gana Parishad in the initial trend of the counting of votes that has begun in the morning on Monday. In Guwahati rural, AGP is leading over the ruling party while the AGP trailing behind the Congress by 10 seats in Dibrugarh district. In Jorhat also, the ruling party is trailing behind the opposition by one seat. Counting of votes has been delayed in Darrang district by three hours. Nalbari too delayed the counting of votes followed by police lathicharge outside the counting stations.
Barring a few districts, Congress is heading for a comfortable victory in the panchayat poll even as the counting of votes is going on. The ruling party’s performance is expected in Kamrup both rural and metro along with Jorhat, Sivasagar, Tinsukia, Sonitpur, Nagaon, Dhubri, Golaghat and Cachar districts. The party was trailing behind the AGP in Golaghat, Darrang and Dibrugarh districts in the morning. But the entire picture has changed and has gone in favour of the ruling party. Both AGP and Congress are going neck and neck in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji district. Earlier, the counting began this morning amidst tight security measures in the headquarters in altogether 19 districts. The...
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