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.
24 Mar 2016 - 5:35pm | Shajid Khan
With the rest of the state Holi, the festival of colours, was celebrated with all the traditional mirth and religious fervour in the town on Wednesday and Thursday. People cutting across age,...
31 Mar 2012 - 4:32am | editor
KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi on Friday alleged huge deployment of security forces to ensure mega dam construction at Gerukamukh. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Friday, Gogoi said that...
19 Apr 2014 - 11:58pm | Hantigiri Narzary
Police arrested 12 persons from Baksa and Kokrajhar district on Saturday for involving election related incidents.Eight persons including 5 minor students and three ABSU members last late evening...
10 Jul 2013 - 7:58pm | Peter Alex Todd
Hundreds of Buddhist followers and monks from the northeast took out a peace rally in Guwahati on Wednesday, protesting against the recent terror attack in Bodh Gaya, in Bihar. The rally marched to...
Flood waters continue to wreak havoc in Dhemaji district destroying paddy fields besides rendering thousands of people homless. According to information, floods have inundated 10 villages in the entire districts following incessant rains that lashed the district during the last 72 hours. Most of the houses have been severely damaged in the village.
Exodus seems to have stopped. Suggesting a gradual return of normalcy, hundreds of people from the northeast are back to Bangalore in three special trains from Guwahati on Monday. According to Northeast Frontier Railway, three special trains had left for Bangalore on Sunday taking back those who had fled from Bangalore fearing attacks. After four days of panic-driven exodus, the situation eased on Monday with police and railway officials saying it has stopped in Karnataka and reduced to a trickle in Tamil Nadu.
Normalcy is back. There has been no report of fresh incident of violence even as security has been beefed up on the occasion of Eid on Monday. Police and security forces have been deployed in all districts and regular reports have been received.
Eid celebrations are over in Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri, which bore the brunt of the recent violence.Chief minister Tarun Gogoi participated at a community Eid prayer in Guwahati in the morning and called for peace and harmony in the state.
Three more bodies were recovered on Monday taking the toll in violence on board the Guwahati-bound train to five. Two bodies were recovered from a place between Belakoba and Raninagar stations. Two more bodies were found later at a place near Halakata, close to New Jalpaiguri station. The body of a man was found on Monday close to the tracks near Manguraj railway station on West Bengal border under the Northeast Frontier Railway.NF Railway authorities have yet to ascertain the reason. Besides, it was not clear if the five were among those fleeing Bangalore fearing backlash after the Assam violence as the police and railway authorities remained tight-lipped pending an investigation.
The...
Assam Gana Parishad legislator Alka Sarma on Monday said that the BTAD violence is not a conflict between Bodos-Muslim. Talking to reporters in Bangalore, she said that the implementation of the Assam Accord could have averted the tension. Sarma slammed Dispur for failing to deal with the tension by building up confidence among the people.
A team of the National Council of Churches in India is on a two-day visit to BTAD areas to take stock of the situation. They expressed solidarity with the victims of violence. Led by Solomon Rongpi, the Executive Secretary for Unity, Mission & Evangelism, the nine-member NCCI team has representatives from the Presbyterian Churches of India, the Young Women Christian Association, the Lutheran Church and others.
Seven Joint Secretaries are scheduled to arrive on BTAD areas and Dhubri to monitor the rehabilitation after the clash. The delegation of joint secretaries will visit Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang and Baksa districts to oversee the steps for relief and rehabilitation of those affected during the recent violence.
Apart from Joint Secretary (Northeast) in the Home Ministry Shambhu Singh and Joint Secretary (Disaster Management) RK Srivastava, the other officers belong to the Ministries of Health, Rural Development, Food, Department of Drinking Water and Planning Commission.
The team will hold meetings with state government officials and take stock of the plans being chalked out to implement...
Body of more Assamese youth was recovered in West Bengal on Monday. Identified as Anil Das he hails from Majuli, who is a security guard with a hotel in Hyderabad. His body was recovered near a railway station in West Bengal.
Top pro talk ULFA leader Hira Sarania was arrested in connection with a sensational kidnap and murder case in Guwahati. Sarania was arrested by Guwahati police from Nalbari on a complaint lodged by Binit Jain’s family members who has been missing from August 1. He was arrested along with three others including a Gauhati High Court on Monday morning. The complaint was lodged at Dispur police station.
The Asia Book of Records has formally recognized the rarest sacred lamp at a Vaishnavite temple near Jorhat on Saturday. The lamp gets rare recognition for burning continuously for the past 484 years after it was lit up by the saint Madhavdeva in 1528 in Dhekiakhowa Bor Namghar.
The formal certificate was handed over to Jorhat Lok Sabha MP and former Union Minister Bijoy Krishna Handique.Madhabdeva, set up the historic Dhekiakhuwa Namghar in 1528 and since then the lamp has been burning continuously. Receiving the certificate, Handique said that the recognition would help in furthering the teachings of the two Vaishnavite saints Srimanta Sankardev and Mahapurush Madhabdeva.
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