Fishermen held a demonstration in the city on Tuesday against India’s controversial Tipaimukh dam saying it would adversely affect livelihoods and life of over three lakh fishermen in Bangladesh’s north-eastern districts.

Speaking at a rally in front of the National Press Club fishermen’s leaders said that at least 10 rivers in Bangladesh including the Surma, Kushiyara and Meghna would dry up causing gradual desertification in the northeastern districts of lower riparian Bangladesh.

They said it would directly affect the life and livelihood of the country’s fishermen.

IMPHAL, Feb 7 – Manipur- based Centre for Research on Environmental Development (CRED), an NGO, has been awarded the Green Globe Foundation award 2012 for outstanding contribution at the grass root level critical issues of environment degradation besides generating mass awareness on pollution related issues. The award was handed over to the representatives of the CRED at an award distribution ceremony at Taj Palace in New Delhi on February 2.

SIVASAGAR, Feb 6 – Unabated erosion caused by the Dikhow, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, is posing a serious threat to the existence of Hanhsora Manipuri Gaon in Sivasagar district. The erosion during the rainy season has been continuing for the last 15 years. The situation is very critical and it is feared that the entire area, inhabited by Manipuri people who came during Ahom era with Queen Kuranga Nayani, wife of Swargadeo Rajeswar Singha, will be washed away by the Dikhow in the coming years if effective measures are not initiated early.

Water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen on Sunday told the parliament that the government was selecting experts to constitute the Bangladesh side on the joint survey team for studying the impacts of the proposed construction of Tipaimukh Dam across the Barak River in the Indian state of Manipur.

‘Bangladesh has already sent a proposal to India for conducting a joint survey on the impacts of the proposed Tipaimukh (Multipurpose) Hydroelectric Project on Bangladesh. The process of forming the Bangladesh side on the joint survey team is in progress,’ he

SILCHAR: Foundation stone for the much-hyped and politically as well as from ecological angle, the most debated multi-purpose hydel project at Tipaimukh in Manipur, popularly known as Barak Dam, was laid down on December 16, 2006 by the then Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Union Minister of State Prithviraj Chauhan, Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh were present.

Guwahati, Jan. 19: Seventy-eight lakh trees will be chopped as part of the forest clearance process for the 1,500MW Tipaimukh hydroelectric project in Manipur, an exercise that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says will be taken up for “national interest”. The project, which has been in the eye of controversies following opposition from Bangladesh, has received support from the Centre, which has promised not to take any steps that would adversely affect the neighbouring country.

In a shocking disclosure it has been revealed that the country’s forest cover is decreasing and the maximum loss is being reported from the Northeastern states including Meghalaya once considered to be the last vestige of hope as far as tree cover is concerned.

India’s forest cover has declined by 367 sq km between 2007 and 2009, the yet to be released biannual Forest Survey of India Report, 2011 said. The largest dip in forest cover was evident in the Northeast which has lost 550 sq km.

Experts and right activists on Sunday urged the government to resist India’s plan for Tipaimukh dam on the river Barak by involving experts and the common people in the procession.

They also demanded a joint study on the environmental effects of the dam on the project area before India built it.

Socio-cultural organisation Moulik Bangladesh organised the roundtable titled ‘Tipaimukh dam and our interest’ at the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs in Dhaka.

AGARTALA: The first unit of mega Palatana project is all set to be operational by May next year, said Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman cum Managing Director (CMD) of ONGC here on Wednesday.

The CMD along with Director (HR) S K Jamestin and OTPC Managing Director SK Dubey called on Chief Minister Manik Sarkar at Civil Secretariat and discussed various issues related to the 726 MW power project.