Guwahati, Jan. 6: The Assam government may be caught in a Catch-22 situation over the anti-dam lobby’s sustained demand to stop work on the Lower Subansiri hydel project, but will not hesitate to crack the whip to maintain order. A government official today said, “We will, however, not crawl. Necessary instructions have been issued to check law-and-order issues,” when asked about Dispur’s response to Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti’s (KMSS) vow to continue the blockade till the experts’ reports came in.

GUWAHATI: After they had succeeded in bringing the construction at the NHPC’s 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro-electric Project at Gerukamukh in Dhemaji district of Assam, the anti-dam brigade comprising several organisations were on Thursday called for negotiation by Assam government in Guwahati.

The anti-dam agitation has brought the construction to a grinding halt at the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) at Gerukamukh in since last month by blocking transportation of construction materials, and turbine parts to the dam site.

GUWAHATI: As the indefinite blockade in northern Assam against the NHPC dam site at Gerukamukh on Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border continued, the government today invited protestors as well as civil society activists, who have raised concerns for the dam, to sit for talks on Thursday.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) formed to deal with the anti-big dam movement met at the state secretariat here and decided to invite all concerned parties for talks on January 5.

ITANAGAR: Three districts of Arunachal Pradesh have been facing acute shortage of essential commodities due to on going indefinite economic blockade.

The agitation is spearheaded by Krishan Mukti Sangram Samiti(KMSS) in several parts of Assam in protest against the Lower Subansiri Hydro-electric Project (LSHP).

CHAULDHOWA (ASSAM): Police fired in the air and burst teargas shells for the second day here on Tuesday to evict protesters demonstrating against the construction of a hydro-electric project at Lakhimpur, even as authorities held talks with KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi to resolve the stand off.

Police acted on protesters who blocked NH-52 on the border of Lakhimpur-Dhemaji districts in Assam which links Arunachal Pradesh and pelted stones at security forces.

A late-night crackdown by the police and paramilitary forces on anti-mega dam protesters in Lakhimpur district triggered raging protests at several places in Assam on Monday.

The police arrested more than 200 protesters, who since December 16 had been blocking vehicles transporting equipment and construction materials, through National Highway 52, for the NHPC's 2,000-MW Lower Subonsiri hydroelectric project at Gerukamukh in Arunachal Pradesh.

GUWAHATI: Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) that is spearheading anti-mega dam protests in eastern Assam has called for indefinite bandh of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts from Tuesday (December 27) in protest against ‘police atrocities’ on anti-dam protestors who were forcefully evicted from the demonstration site at Ranganadi in the wee hours of Monday.

Anti-dam protests in Assam grow louder

GUWAHATI: A mass protest mobilized by anti-dam protestors from Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP)on Thursday stopped a turbine at Lakhimpur town in eastern Assam while on transit to the 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro-power Project of National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) being constructed at Gerukamukh in Dhemaji district of Assam bordering Arunachal Pradesh.

SILAPATHAR, Oct 17 – For the mega projects of Dhemaji and North Lakhimpur districts, boulders are being collected from the river beds of Likabali, Siji, Garo, Padi and Ego in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh for construction works. The people of West Siang feel that largescale collection of boulders from hilly areas is responsible for the devastation in the lower reaches of the river beds. The public expressed this before a joint team of Dhemaji district administration and journalists which visited West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh for geographical study of the Gai river.

GUWAHATI, Sept 30 – The subway breached by the Gai River at Gainadi area about a week back, was restored today by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) facilitating restoration of the road communication link between Silapathar, Jonai areas of Dhemaji district and the East and West Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh with the rest of the country.

The subway was breached by the Gai River on September 24. The BRO built the subway following the Gai washing away a portion of the NH-52 in the Gainadi area on August 15 last.