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.
20 Nov 2012 - 7:30am | Jayanta Kumar Das
“At least 45 thousands of 303 series rifles and nearly 10 lakhs rounds of its bullets are lying idle in various police armors in the state with the modernization of Assam police with AK series...
25 Jan 2012 - 2:45am | editor
A poetry collection of Jatindra Kumar Borgohainsi was released January 22, at Guwahati Press club by veteran poet Hirendra Nath Dutta. The book was released in a discussion, “Adhumik Yug...
18 Mar 2008 - 5:45am | Dibya J Borthakur
Members of the Kampur unit AASU and Asom Shena seized two quintal of ganja on October 16 morning from a train bound for Guwahati from Dimapur. The members of the said organizations revealed that one...
4 Jan 2017 - 2:38pm | Sira Kharay
Ibobi's Manipur today resembles an Orwellian dystopian allegory and the world may witness the inflaming Manipur to re-read the Orwellian "Animal Farm" and one thing would be certain: the end is...
The recent declaration by the United Nations to commemorate October 2 ( birthday of Mahatma Gandhi) as 'International Day of Non violence' is simply a reassertion of the need for a violence free society. The year 2007 is the centenary year of the Satyagrah Movement launched by the Apostle of Peace.Nothing much seems to have changed on this front. The world today has become a cauldron of hate and strife. As our aspirations scale new economic heights and our possessions multiply, our tolerance and sensitivity levels get reduced.Whether it is the cruelty of the military junta in Myanmar, the suppression of democracy in Pakistan, the threat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the continued...
Assam thrashed Tripura 6-0 in their inaugural match of the first N E Challenge Cup Hockey Tournamnt which got under way at the Md Tayabulla Hockey stadium on Sunday. Prasanta Das (3), N Ibomcha Sing, Lalthazula and M Ramen scored the goals for the winner.Meanwhile Manipur got walk over in the inaugural match of the tournament as Nagaland, their first opponent, failed to turn up to play the championship. Earlier the meet was inaugurated by G M Srivastav, the president of the North East Hockey Association, in a simple function which was also attended by the sports commissioner Pradip Hazarika.
More than 3000 young professional NRIs in 58 locations across US and other countries including India, participated in a global vigil for farmers. "The tragic farmers' suicides are, finally, an extreme symptom of a much deeper rural distress - the result of a decade-long onslaught on the livelihoods of millions. The crisis now goes way beyond the families ravaged by the suicides" says senior journalist P Sainath, who was also awarded the 2007 Magsaysay Award.Just in Vidarbha, 836 farmers had committed suicide in 2007. Undoubtedly it is a wake-up call after years of neglect the farmers have been facing. Remarkably, these vigils drew thousands from urban India and NRI community who...
The Journalists' Forum, Assam on Thursday urged the Government of India to create diplomatic pressure on the Burmese junta to refrain from repressive measures against those carrying on the democracy movement in the country. In a citizens' meeting at the Guwahati Press Club with JFA president Rupam Baruah in chair, the newsmen's body asked the Union Government not to remain silent on the happenings in the neighbouring country and do the needful within its powers to facilitate a peaceful transition to democracy. Extending its whole-hearted support to the movement, the Forum demanded that Aung San Suu Kyi, the globally recognized pro-democracy leader, be immediately released from...
A citizens meeting has been convened on October 4 to discuss various Burma issues in the city. Organized by the Journalists' Forum, Assam, the meeting will commence from 2 pm at Guwahati Press Club. Mentionable that the recent uprising in the military ruled country that is adjacent to northeast, a number of people (including a Japani photojournalist) were killed. To suppress the pro-democracy campaigners and also the media, the Burmese junta (the present group of Generals is known as State Peace and Development Council) has already taken numerous unethical means, where the military continued massive crackdown on the unarmed monks and the common Burmese with strict restriction on the...
Indian Cricket League (ICL) has picked-up another cricketer from Assam and this time it is the former Ranji captain Zakaria Zuffri.The wicketkeeper batsman has signed the contract paper in Guwahati on Saturday.With Zuffri, altogether six players from Assam, had signed the rebel Indian Cricket League. Abu Nascim Ahamed, Parvez Aziz and Sujay Tarafdar joined the party first and later Pritam Das and Arlen Konwar followed their steps.Commenting on his decision to join the ICL, which is a brainchild of the Subhash Chandra-owned Essel Group, Zakaria said, "I was overlooked by the Assam Cricket Association for the last few years and I was also not sure whether they will give me proper...
The Assam police and district administration, who will involve with the security related matter in the forthcoming One day International match between India and Pakistan, will take several steps to ensure that the match can be organized without any trouble. As an extra step of caution this time they are planning not to allow spectators to go inside even with packet food.A discussion in this regard already held recently in the office of the deputy commissioner ,Kamrup (metro), which was attended by the officials of the Assam Cricket Association and the state police department. Later a joint team from the Assam Police and the district administration visited the Nehru Stadium, the venue of the...
GUWAHATI: The cricket season of the state will get under way with the S P Barooah Cricket Tournament, which will begin at Railway stadium, Maligaon, from October two. Altogether six teams, including three from outside the state, will be seen in action in the tournament.As per the schedule, released by the Assam Cricket Association (ACA), the President XI will face Assam 'A' in the inaugural tie of the tournament. The other teams in the meet are Secretary XI, CAB XI, Tripura Cricket Association XI and RS Academy, Delhi. All the group league matches will be two-day affairs while the final will be a three-day game.Meanwhile cash award will also be introduced in the championship from...
Kaziranga National Park (KNP) has lost a total of 44 animals in the three floods in 2007, starting from June 19, July 27 and September 5. However, in the first wave of floods no animal had died. In the second wave of floods, 3 rhinos, 3 wild boars, 2 swamp deer and 10 hog deer got drowned, 8 hog deer, one wild buffalo got drowned and a civet cat were hit by vehicles. And during the third wave of floods, vehicles hit 8 hog deer. One rhino was also killed by miscreants. This was revealed at a press meet, by KNP director S Buragohain on September 20. Bankim Sarmah, DFO, Eastern Wildlife Division, Bokakhat, also attended the press meet and added that the flood had washed away 5 wooden bridges...
Guwahati: Applications from competent reporter-journalists are invited for the 3rd GNRC media fellowship 2007-08 to study the healthcare scenario in Northeast India. The three-month long fellowship, conceived by Dr NC Borah, CMD of GNRC hospital and implemented with the help of Guwahati Press Club, is open to all mid-career journalists based in the region. The applicant must be a working journalist and have experiences for at least three years in any filed of print, visual or web journalism. The fellows will receive Rs 10,000 (ten thousand only) per month that would commence from December 1, 2007.The number of fellows has been increased this time to five, where two seats will be reserved...
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