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.
Once again a hard of wild elephants unleashed a rein of terror in Guwahati on Saturday.The terror strikes at Lakhora area where around 25 wild elephants who have come down from the nearby hills in search of food destroyed crops besides damaging several huts in the evening. A section of local residents have fled from the spot fearing attack amid darkness. Forest department was informed. Bt arrived in the spot two hours after to disperse the herd of wild elephants.
Four Dimasa insurgent activists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Dimahasao Saturday.According to information, four militants belonging to the Dimasa National Revolutionary Front were killed in an encounter at Mailoo village in Langting area during a joint operation launched by the army and police. Three AK-47 rifles with live ammunition was recovered from the ultras. In another operation, the police captured one NSCN(IN) militant from a nearby area.
AGP comes in support of PA Sangma in the country’s presidential polls slated for July 19. The regional party took the decision when it held its newly formed executive panel meeting at the Ambari-based party headquarters on Friday. The party further strongly criticized the Gogoi government alleging a string of anti-people policies.
The famed Kamakhya Temple remains closed for three days from Friday on account of Ambubachi being joined by thousands of people from the country and abroad. The temple door closed at 6:12 in the morning on Friday to reopen at 7 in the morning on June 25.
Devotees from all over the country and abroad are thronging in thousands at the temple atop the Nilachal Hills where a grand mela is underway amid tight security bandobast.
According to Kamrup (Metro) district administration, over 600 security personnel have been deployed on Nilachal Hills as more than three lakh devotees were expected to visit the temple during the three-day festival. Round the clock vigil would be maintained in and...
Speeding trains crushed to death two youths in two separate incidents on Friday. The first incident took place in the wee hours near Baihata in Kamrup(Rural) district. A youth had boarded the Dn Ernakulam Express at Guwahati and was standing near the door of a coach when he fell on the tracks near Baihata station. He died on the spot. Identified as Ujwal Paul of Nagaon, he was on the way to Kerala for a job interview.In another incident, a youth, who was trying to cross an unmanned railway crossing on his motor-bike at Koibaazar area under Gauripur police station of Dhubri district, was crushed to death by the Dhubri-Kamakhya train. The youth has been identified as Nurjamal Sheikh.
Three including two minor boys were buried alive in yet another incident of landslide that struck at a hillock in Guwahati on Friday. The incident took place at Lalunggaon in Gorchuk in the wee hours when the victims were in deep sleep. Land from the nearby collapsed the house in which they have been living in for the last six years. Local residents came to know the incident only a few hours later. They dug out the bodies and rescued others.
Hundreds of BJP activists on Friday joined the nationwide protest against the recent hike in petroleum products and inflation and participate in the 'Jail Bharo' agitation. More than twenty thousand party workers, led by party MPs and MLAs, courted arrested in the district and sub-divisional headquarters of the state. In Guwahati, party national Vice President and Guwahati Lok Sabha MP Bijoya Chakraborty led the protests and courted arrest.
National Human Rights Commission has asked Dispur to compensate the next of kin of five persons killed in an encounter with security forces on June 2009 in the state with Rs 25,000. On the basis of the post mortem and magisterial inquiry reports, and other materials on record the Commission observed that the killings were an execution and not an encounter and a criminal and grievous violation of human rights.
Five people - Allauddin, Sahjamal Hoque, Promtone Sangma, Jahangir and Salim Khan - were killed on June 20, 2009 in Dohikata Kadaldhowa reserve forest during a joint operation of Assam Police, Army and CRPF. The Commission had registered a case on an intimation, received from ADGP,...
Altruism has been reported among bacterial population and among humans and other animals, like monkeys, and elephants. But in mammalian cells at the cellular level the idea of altruism has never been described before. Fortunately Mr Bikul Das an Indian (Assamese) scientist who is doing his research at Stanford University School of Medicine has just found that altruism is far more common in Homo sapiens, and goes right down to our cells. Cancer cell is considered as a disease of cellular evolution to reach a state of self sufficiency and immortality. The final stage of these evolution is the appearance of aggressive and metastatic cancer cells. These aggressive cancer cells exhibit some...
Kamakhya Temple is all abuzz. Ambubachi Mela is set to begin from Friday. Thousands of pilgrims are pouring in the must –visit spot atop the beautiful Nilachal hill to attend the four-day religious festival. Security has been beefed up in the entire Nilachal Hills stretch with more than 500 policemen and some 150 NCC cadets have been called in for maintaining law and order at the shrine during the festival. Apart from this, paramilitary forces have also been given responsibility to carry out round-the-clock checking.
Comments
Pages
Add new comment