Skip to content Skip to navigation

Anti-Dam Voices Heard in New Delhi

By Nava Thakuria |

While anti-big dam protesters have assembled in eastern Assam for a mammoth public rally at Thekeraguri, serious concern is expressed in the national capital in an intense discussion. Addressing the rally at North Lakhimpur, eminent environmentalist Medha Patkar reiterated her stand that the people living in the catchment areas own a river and hence their interest must not be sacrificed to please the corporate players while going for larger hydro-electricity projects in India.


Meanwhile, attending a dialogue in memory of pioneer environmental journalist and activist of international repute, Anil Agarwal various speakers put forwards their fears that the hydro-electricity projects in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam would leave a devastating impact on the northeastern part of India and also in Bangladesh.


Organized by the Centre for Science and Environment at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, the two-day meeting was started with a keynote address by Sunita Narain, editor of Down To Earth, a CSE publication, where hundreds of environment activists and journalists across the country have participated.


Addressing the gathering, Partha J Das of Aaranyak (Guwahati, Assam) highlighted the overview of the government policy for Green Clearance to various hydro-electricity projects in northeast India. He revealed in his presentation that already 147 MoUs (out of 168 planned large HEPs in the region) had been signed with the Arunachal government (till July 2011).


“At least 55 projects have obtained scoping clearance and 12 projects (LSHEP for 2000 MW at Subansiri, Ranganadi-I for 405 MW at Ranganadi, Kameng for 600 MW at Kameng, Siyom /Middle Siang for 1000 MW at Siyom, Demwe Lowe for 1750MW at Lohit, Tawang-I for 750 MW at Tawang, Tawang-II for 750 MW at Tawang, Pare for 110 MW at Pare/Dikrong, Tato-II for 700 MW at Siang, Khuitam Lewuitkare for 66 MW at Gang/Bishom/Kameng, Gongri for 90 MW at Kameng) have received the final Environment Clearance in the bio-diversity hotspot region,” Mr Das pointed out.


He however argued that the environment impact assessment process, based on which the clearances are given, are inferior and misleading. Moreover the cumulative environment impact assessment is not done in-spite of the fact that the basins of each major river would have multiple projects. Similarly, the adequate study on downstream impacts is ignored jeopardizing ecosystems, lives and livelihoods, he added. Moderated by Himanshu Thakkar of South Asia Network on Dams, River & People, the session was also addressed by Chandra Bhushan of CSE, Bimal Bhai from Matu Jan Sangathan with many others.

Add new comment

Random Stories

Army to step up action against ULFA

24 Jul 2007 - 5:08am | editor
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...

Minimum govt, maximum governance

31 May 2014 - 5:07pm | Rajiv Roy
These two dates - May 26 and 27, 2014 will go down in history as “good days are coming” coined by our new Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. The success story of this tea-seller-RSS-pracharak-...

Indo-Bangla border to be sealed by Dec

17 Jan 2018 - 6:32am | AT News
NEW DELHI: Come December. A porous Indo-Bangladesh border would be a thing of the past if Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal is to be believed. The Assam Chief Minister said it after he met...

Rangman memorial day

7 Jul 2014 - 8:03pm | SK Hasan
Rangman alies Robin Dey, the writer of popular Bhaskar series was a son of Nazira.  Nazira will observe the Rangman memorial day at Nazira Natya Mandir with a day long programme on ...

Other Contents by Author

Prodyut Bora to deliver GPC Lecture

Promising young activist and scholar Prodyut Bora will deliver GPC Lecture tomorrow (Jan 1, 2014) at 3 pm in the Guwahati Press Club (GPC) auditorium. An IIM graduate and presently a national executive member of Bharatiya Janata Party, Bora is scheduled to speak about the role of youths in the political sphere of India in the coming days.Bora, who studied successively at Rashtriya Indian Military (Dehra Dun), Delhi Public School (Noida), St Stephen’s College (Delhi) and Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) will also highlight the new generation politics in the country in reference to world scenario.Member-journalists are requested to attend the interactive program.

GPC Lecture to be delivered by Jahnabi Goswami

Prominent activist Jahnabi Goswami will deliver a lecture on the latest trend of HIV/AIDS across the globe, in reference to Assam, tomorrow (Saturday, 21 December 2013) at Guwahati Press Club. The lecture cum interactive session will begin at 1 pm. Member-journalists are requested to attend the same.Jahnabi Goswami was born in 1976 and brought up at Kampur village in Nagaon district. She lost her father when she was just in Grade VII. The eldest amongst four siblings, her mother arranged her marriage when she was 18 to a businessman of Guwahati in 1994, without ‘checking on his antecedents.’ In 1995, her husband passed away leaving Jahnabi all alone with their three month old daughter...

DPS Guwahati shines at zonal meet

Delhi Public School, Guwahati has emerged champion in both the girls-14 and boys-14 category at the recently concluded CBSE east zone tennis tournament held at Taurian World School, Ranchi from 22 to 24 October last.In the final match of Girls-14 category, the DPS Guwahati team comprising Shivangi Ray Baruah and Jyanashree Saikia convincingly defeated their opponent team from Amity International School, Noida by 2-0. On the other hand, the DPS Guwahati team comprising Ronit Bora, Tathagat Tulsi Gogoi, Jishnu Baruah, Prateek Joy Phukan were declared joint winners in boys-14 section along with the Lotus Valley International School, Noida team.However the DPS Guwahati team in the boys-19 and...

Celebration of Hostel-6 Assam Engineering College

Assam Engineering College, Hostel-6 was established in the year 1963 to provide accommodation to the students of the College. From the day of its establishment, it has been "a home away from home" for a generation of engineers. As of now, the Hostel produces around one thousand technocrats serving various places of the world on service to the mankind through technology. The following programs are organized in connection with Golden Jubilee Celebration.Competition on Technical/Research Paper: To create awareness and increase popularity on research and project work, technical/research papers are invited from the Engineering students of Assam with theme “Conservation of Natural Resources”. 3(...

Physiotherapy concluded in press club

Over 60 media persons participated in a day long physiotherapy...

Physiotherapy camp for scribes in press club

The city based Purbanchal  Educational  Welfare Society in collaboration with Guwahati Press Club has organized a free physiotherapy and health camp for the scribes in the press club premises on 29 September next. The camp will start at 9.30 am and will continue till 4.00 pm. Organized as a mark for the occasion of World Physiotherapy Day, the event is supported by the Assam Branch of Indian Association of Physiotherapists.During the camp, the physicians and physiotherapists will provide consultation treatment for various pain related problems along with general heath check up including the blood sugar analysis .Dr NN Sharma will attend the camp as the consultant physicians and Dr...

Better working condition for media persons demanded

Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) expressed concern at the helpless working condition of media persons, particularly those employed with private television channels. ''Nearly 80% working journalists of the state have to work with pitiable salaries, unlimited working hours without even a break in need and without any insurance facilities'', JFA President Rupam Barua said in a statement. Working journalists, engaged with satellite news channels of Assam, have to perform their duties in a vulnerable atmosphere with low wages, more than eight hours working period in a day, without appropriate leave days and off-days, and with no facility of life and health insurance coverage. Whenever the demand...

Media workshop on conflict reporting concludes

Several important issues of Armed Conflict Reporting and International Humanitarian Law were discussed during a day-long media workshop on the subject of armed conflict reporting and humanitarian law organized at the National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam (NLUJA) today.The day-long workshop was organized jointly in collaboration with International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), NLUJA and Journalists' Forum Assam (JFA). The programme was aimed at providing vital information to the working journalists of the region. Over 50 working journalist from different parts of Assam and Manipur participated in the workshop.ICRC Communication Coordinator Marek Resich explained the ICRC...

JFA welcomes PCI team to Guwahati

Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) has welcome the initiative of the Press Council of India (PCI) to send a sub-committee to Guwahati for interaction with local journalists on the issue of safety to working journalists in Assam. The PCI team is scheduled to meet the journalists on 11 September next between 10:30 am to 1:30 pm in the local circuit house to examine the matters related to safety of journalists in the State.The JFA argues that the media persons of northeast India, most of them without insurance cover are subjected to numerous threats from insurgents, surrendered militants, anti-insurgent government security agencies and even various so-called social organizations. Amazingly Assam...

Assam photo journalists to demonstrate tomorrow

Assam Photo Journalist Association (APJA) expresses shock over the gang-rape of a photo journalist in Mumbai and demands actions against the culprits. It is reported that the 22-year old photo journalist went on an assignment to Shakti Mills under the Mahalaxmi area on the evening of August 22, where she was targeted by five assailants. She was accompanied by a male colleague, who was also beaten up by the goons.The APJA will stage a silent demonstration tomorrow at 11 am (till 12 noon) in front of Guwahati Press Club, said a release issued by APJA president Rajib Bhattacharjee and secretary Rituraj Konwar. Journalist Forum Assam (JFA) has also condemned the incident and urged the...