This Report of the Standing Committee on Water Resources (2021-22) deals with the action taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in their Twelfth Report (Seventeenth Lok Sabha)
Built on the logic of "development', big dams have wreaked havoc on indigenous communities in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with regular flooding. By pursuing predatory development the central and state governments are equally culpable of visiting disaster on the region.
The people of Paro are busy battling and sabotaging each other's community water supply systems over disputes on an increasingly scarce drinking and irrigation water supply. Representatives of people from the three gewogs of Dopshari, Doteng and Lango are in the Thimphu high court over the former two's refusal to share their excess water with Lango even on government orders. In between, even the newly constructed concrete water tank and iron pipes for Lango were demolished with patangs and hammers overnight. In Dogar gewog, a water supply pipeline was also cut and destroyed.
A limited health work force and inadequate human resources were some of the biggest problems faced to tackle HIV/AIDS in the country, according to health officials. This lacuna was followed by a lack of core competency to provide capacity building of other stakeholders to fight HIV/AIDS and inadequate research capacity for evidence-based programming. With about 144 cases reported until today, an increasing trend of HIV/AIDS infection was seen with 37 cases detected in 2007 alone.
The Thimphu national referral hospital has diagnosed several people, from outside Thimphu, with the dengue infection this month. "Two are above 50 years and four are under 10,' said officials from the public health laboratory (PHL). The dengue infection was confirmed from blood samples. Records from the in-patient department (IPD), however, indicate only five dengue positive cases this month. "Some patients directly go to the out-patient department (OPD) and some just give their blood and don't come back,' said the record section in-charge.
Bs Reporter / Mumbai July 22, 2008, 0:12 IST Tata Power Company (TPC) has agreed to pick up a 26 per cent stake in the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) promoted 114 mw hydro electric power project over river Dagachhu through Druk Green Power Corporation (DGPC). The project will be executed by a special purpose vehicle Dagachhu Hydro Power Corporation (DHPC). "This partnership consists of equity participation and off-take of power by the company and Tata Power Trading Company," said Prasad R Menon, managing director, Tata Power.
- It has been estimated that around Nu 442 billion will be required in funds if Bhutan is to generate around 10,406 MW by 2020. The figure is only an initial estimate, not taking into account inflation over the years. "At the current rate of 8 percent inflation, by using simple compound interes,t we can expect it to double within 8-10 years,' said a power official. Tala started at a Nu 14 billion estimate but touched 43 billion at completion.
On Thursday evening Thimphu residents went home safe in the belief that the flash flood coming down from the Tango Cheri area was nothing to worry about. But that night several families residing in Changzamtog area could not sleep at all. With heavy rain all night, drain water flooded several homes and kept the residents awake right through the night. Karma, a tenant of a traditional house, which belongs to Ap Gomchen, said that drain water, which flows above their house gushed inside through the kitchen window.
Situated at the foot of the hills that rise up to Zhemgang dzongkhag, Serzhong village is a fertile stretch of flat land perfectly suited for paddy cultivation. But only seven of the 63 households in this village, eight kilometres from Gelephu town, cultivate paddy. This is because monsoon torrents keep washing away irrigation channels and deposit sand and gravel into the fields making cultivation impossible. And so about 100 acres of paddy land in the village have become fallow land filled with shrubs.
- Bhutanese believe that the sight of this pachyderm, The Precious Elephant, one of the Seven Jewels, brings good luck and prosperity. Ironically, for farmers living in the southern dzongkhags, it is quite the opposite. The elephant also symbolizes strength and this aspect is more apt as herds of wild elephants running wild and destroying acres of crops have been a regular routine every summer. The most recent incident reported from Sarpang involved a herd of 12 elephants ravaging crops and destroying huts and semi-permanent houses on the night of July 12 in Singhe gewog.
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