Guwahati, Feb. 5: The Union power ministry has called a meeting on Wednesday in Delhi to break the impasse over the 2,000-MW Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project. There has been no work at the project site since December 16 — the longest halt to the project — thanks to the continuing agitation in Assam by the anti-dam brigade led by the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti.

“The revenue loss in terms of delay per day is Rs 6 crore, apart from claims of contractors and additional establishment and warehouse expenditure,” a top NHPC official told The Telegraph.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests gave a green signal to Ratle Hydro Electric Project Pvt Ltd, a GVK Group company, to increase the capacity of its power project from 690 MW to 850 MW.

Ratle Hydro Electric Project, which is constructing the project on Chenab River in Kishwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, is expected to start operations in 2017 and it will provide 16 per cent of its output to Jammu and Kashmir free of any charge.

Tamil Nadu wants it to maintain that dam will continue to serve its purpose

The Surpeme Court-appointed Empowered Committee indicated on Tuesday that it would submit a report on the Mullaperiyar dam to the court in February third week. At a meeting here, it discussed various technical reports on the dam's safety and strengthening measures.

SUBMERGE the polemics, legal tangles and conflicting technical claims, and the participants in the inter-State dispute over the Mullaperiyar dam – one of the oldest and highest ‘solid masonry gravity dams' in the world – will no longer be able to ignore the anxiety and panic that the 116-year-old structure has created among the people in Idukki, especially, and four other districts in Kerala.

Tamil Nadu sticks to its contention that the Mullaperiyar dam is safe and the construction of a new dam is unwarranted. THE Tamil Nadu government's display of calm confidence in its stand-off with Kerala over the Mullaperiyar dam issue is in sharp contrast to the anger among farmers in Madurai, Virudhunagar, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts over what they see as Kerala's attempts to precipitate matters on the issue.

Interview with Ramaswamy R. Iyer, former Secretary, Union Ministry of Water Resources. THE controversy over the Mullaperiyar dam has acquired emotional overtones, with both Kerala and Tamil Nadu adopting intractable positions on the future of the dam. Is there a middle ground? In this interview, Ramaswamy R. Iyer, a well-known expert on inter-State water disputes, offers a sensible way out of the imbroglio.

KOLKATA, 18 JAN: River expert Kalyan Rudra today said that few more issues have to be studied before submitting the report on sharing of the Teesta river water with Bangladesh. Mr Rudra heads the one-man commission, set up by the state government, to find an acceptable solution to the issue.

GUWAHATI: Erosion was a graver problem in Assam compared to floods as it resulted in permanent land loss and crippled a family”, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Wednesday.

“It is an area where much importance has to be accorded by the Central Government and the Brahmaputra Board”, Gogoi said at the 6th High Powered Review Board Meeting of Brahmaputra Board here.

He said over eight lakh people had been rendered homeless and over 4 lakh hectares washed away by Brahmaputra.

SHILLONG: The State Government is targeting to complete the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for tackling the flood problem faced by localities close to the Wahumkhrah River within March.

“We want the DPR to be ready by March as it will allow the State Government to approach the Centre for allocation of funds for the flood management programme,” State Water Resources Minister AL Hek told reporters on Wednesday. While informing that the Government is intending to construct checks dams right from Umkaliar River upto Mawlai Bridge, Hek said that they are also planning to construct proper drains on the small streams which lead to Wahumkhrah.