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.
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Police have arrested four youths so far in connection with the molestation case of a girl in Guwahati on Monday night. Identified as Dhanraj Basfor, the youth was arrested on Wednesday evening on the basis of the footage beamed by the satellite TV news channels. Police further have also identified another three - Dhruba Jyoti Kalita, Sikandar Basfor and Dipak Dey.
Dhruba Jyoti Kalita, an employee of state government's IT development agency Amtron, was sacked on Tuesday and he is still absconding. Dhanraj and Sikandar reside in Horizon colony of the Indrapur area here and working at Gauhati Medical College Hospital. The other youth, Dipak Dey, is said to be an auto rickshaw driver who...
A major boost awaits Manas sanctuary in Assam along with the tea industry. DoNER has approved a comprehensive tourism master plan to be implemented by the North Eastern Region prepared by Tata Consultancy Services. The TMP will be implemented in three phases over a period of ten years and a total investment of Rs 3654.84 crore has been outlined for the implementation of various components and projects of the TMP. Nine inter-state tourism circuits have been identified in the TMP and will be taken up for development in the first phase.
Lawyers across the state joined their colleagues in other parts of the country by responding to the Bar Council of India's call to protest against the government's Higher Education and Research (HER) Bill on Wednesday.It will continue on Thursday also. Hundreds of lawyers gathered at the premises of the Gauhati High Court, which is currently on summer vacation, and burned copies of the bill. Similar protests were also reported from other parts of the state. The BCI had given the two-days' protest call, beginning, against the HER Bill, accusing the government of trying to usurp the power of advocates' apex statutory body to regulate the legal education and profession in the country.
Security forces recovered two Chinese hand grenades and ammunition from an encounter spot in Karbi Anglong district on Wednesday. According to information, acting on a tip-off, a joint team of army and police had launched a search operation at Rongmongwe area under Dalamara police station in the hill district on Wednesday morning, where a militant group of KPLT was hiding. The militants managed to flee from the encounter spot, but security forces recovered two hand grenades, two magazines and 30 rounds of live ammunition.
Assam agriculture minister said that the flash floods affected 2,54,000 hectares of cropland across 23 district affecting over 10 lakh families. Talking to reporters in Guwahati on Wednesday, he said that the state had lost a total crop worth over Rs. 992 crore.
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The Centre on Wednesday extended its bilateral ceasefire with the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) in North Cachar Hill districts to further extend suspension of operations for a period of six months upto September 30, 2012.According to an official release, an agreement of SoO between the security forces and DHD has been in operation with effect from January 1, 2003 and has been extended periodically and will now be valid upto September 30.Tripartite talks on the demands of DHD are continuing. A Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) headed by Joint Secretary (North-East), Ministry of Home Affairs has been constituted to review the implementation of agreed ground rules. Meetings of JMG have been held...
The Assam government is contemplating double cropping pattern in around 5 lakh hectares from next season to help the people get out of the flood aftermath. Addressing a press conference in Wednesday, agriculture minister Nilamoni Sen Deka said that the government has a slew of steps to boost the agricultural production. He said that the department has fixed the production target for autumn rice as 3,60,000 tonnes this year while the target for winter rice production stands at 48,00,000 tonnes. The department also seeks to produce 14,73,090 tonnes of jute, 14,68,800 tonnes of vegetables and 16,02,660 tonnes of sugarcane this year.
The overall flood situation in Assam marginally improved on Wednesday. The water levels of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries continue its receding trend. According to information, the water level in some of the rivers in the 27 affected districts was receding and maintaining a steady trend in some others. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and two central teams today reviewed the prevailing flood situation. Gogoi reviewed the situation with Agriculture Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka, Revenue Minister Prithibi Majhi, Additional Chief Secretary P P Verma and senior officials of the health, irrigation, revenue, finance and forest departments. Two central teams have also arrived in the state to assess...
Lawyers in Golaghat have joined the two-day nation-wide strike beginning from today, called by Bar Council of India (BCI) against the government's Higher Education and Research (HER) Bill aimed at usurping its control over the legal education. Members of Golaghat Bar Association staged a sit in demonstration in Bar premise against the draft of Higher Education and Research Bill 2011 which excludes legal education from the purview of the Bar Council of India. The Bar Council of India (BCI), the apex body representing 1.7 million lawyers in India is opposing certain provisions of the Draft Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011 and other connected bills which may have an adverse effect on...
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