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.
30 Oct 2007 - 9:22am | editor
The Early Birds, an organization for animal care recently conducted a free veterinary vaccination cum treatment camp around the Pobitora Wild Life sanctuary on 27th and 28th Oct'07. Altogether...
22 Sep 2019 - 10:30pm | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
Kokrajhar: The 22nd edition of the Daoharu Mungkhlong Football Trophy 2019 began here at Dotma HS School playground in Kokrajhar district on Sunday.
10 teams from the state and West Bengal are...
16 Aug 2008 - 3:25am | editor
As many as ten people including a police man were injured when a tear gas shell exploded in Chaygaon when police tried to disperse a group of people when they were on the way to block the Lokpriya...
14 Sep 2009 - 12:01pm | editor
The name of the media fellows, selected for the fellowship programme to study the issues of climate change and disaster risk reduction has been declared. Sponsored by ActionAid (Northeast) and...
Bijni : A bomb exploded near Lasaiygaon Hosipital in a High Voltage Electricity Tower. Altogether 4 bombs were discovered and only one exploded. The rest of the three bombs were discovered alive. No casualties have been reported and power supply is also on. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast but police suspect the hand of ULFA in the blast. ULFA observes Martyr day on 27th July and hence every year it is observed that the subversive activities go up on or before this day
Sonapur : One person has been killed and many injured when one bus and one truck collided at 8 pm on Tuesday at Sonapur near Guwahati in NH 37.The person who has been killed has been identified as Dhal Chetri, Age 35 years. Many of the injured are in critical conditions and have been admitted to the Gauhati Medical College Hospital.The critically injured people are Arun Vaidya of Sapekhati, Prakash Choudhury ( location unknown) . Sajad Ahmed of Bokakhat, Pranjit Dutta of Birubari in Guwahati, Daulat Singh and Mrs Pabitri Singh of Nepal.
Dhemaji : The flood situation in Dhemaji district is improving and communication via road and train has also started.Road transport via Gogamukh to Dhemaji has been established after Army built a temporary bridge in Tengakhuwa.The Rangia Murkakselak rail route to Arunachal is operational again. This meter gauge railway line is the only connection to Arunachal Pradesh and is a major supply source to the State. This route was also badly damaged because of the flash floods caused by Kumotiya (Jiyadhal) on 12th of July 07. NF railway had worked overtime to repair it from the next day itself.
Shillong: Julius Dorphang, the chairman of the dreaded Hymmetrip National Liberation Council (HNLC), a Khasi militant organisation based out of Meghalaya surrendered alongwith four others before the Meghalaya Chief Minister, DD Lapang. The HNLC is a banned organisation. The HNLC was formed in 1992 and is the oldest militant organisation of Meghalaya.
Guwahati : AASU had called for a Rail Abarodh on Tuesday between 11 am to 3 pm. Trains services were disrupted in Guwahati, Lumding, Lakua, Sarupathar, Kokrajhar and various other places in Assam.CPRO, NF railway has communicated that a goods train was blocked in Guwahati and this delayed many outgoing trains. The Brahmaputra Mail, NE express and Amritsar Express were amongst those mails which were effected.In Sarupathar, AASU activists were lathicharged as they tried to stop the Lumding- Tinsukia inter-city.
Tezpur: The army has decided to step up action against ULFA.This was decided in a Senior Commanders meeting held at the Headquarters of IV core in Tezpur on Monday. The meeting was presided by GOC Lt General R K Chabra and was attended by the GOCs IN C's of all divisions under IV core. PRO, Colonel Narender Singh said that the decison to mount pressure on ULFA was taken to prevent the threat that ULFA creates ahead of its martyr day on 27th July and the Independence Day of India on 15th of August. It has been observed that ULFA increases its subversive activities on or before this period every year.It has also been decided to keep strict vigilance on the Assam-Meghalaya border and the...
Guwahati : Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi will leave for New Delhi today for three days to attend the swearing in ceremony of Pratibha Patil, the 12th President of India. He would be returning to Assam on 26th of July 07.
Guwahati: A young couple Raj Kumar Choudhury and Priti Choudhury commited suicide in Ganeshguri Chariali at Sinha Lodge on Sunday night as they were unable to stay together as Priti was married to another person. The couple committed suicide together and left behind a note donating their dead body to the Guwahati Municipality Corporation Hospital Raj Kumar Choudhurys father is a Mouzadar in Ghagrapar in Nalbari and he himself was an active Congress worker. Priti Choudhurt and he had known each other for a long time but she was married to another person and hence due to peer and family pressures they could not come together. Priti had come to Guwahati on 14th April 2007 for Athmangala and...
Gurgaon : The “Millennium City” that’s the word that has been coined for Gurgaon. The Millennium city with its huge Assamese population formally got its own Assam Association with the completion of the registration formalities on 13th of July 2007.The association has been registered under the Societies Act 1860 of India. Assam Association of Gurgaon was formed on 11th of Feb 2007 by a group of people from Assam and well-wishers of Assam, currently residing or having his place of business in the Millennium city of Gurgaon. The association is a socio-cultural non-profit society. The main objectives of the association are to achieve harmony, bonhomie, camaraderie of the...
Golaghat : One ANLA activist was killed while three others managed to escape in a fierce fighting between the ANLA activists and a joint team of CRPF and Golaghat Police at Naojan Pachim Beelpar bordering Dhansiri Sarupathar subdivision.Golagaht police received a tip off on the ANLA activists in the area and they laid an ambush for the activists alongwith the CFPF team. The ANLA activists were armed heavily and hence heavy fighting broke out. There were no reports of casualities or injuries from the police side.
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