<p>Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of News Item titled "Assam: PCCF MK Yadava accused of illegally clearing protected forest for Commando Battalion" appearing in the Northeast
The reconstruction of Naryanguri dyke is going on in full swing bringing ray of hope to the people of that area especially those affected by floods in Barpeta and Baksa district. The construction which started in February 3, 2008 would be completed in March. The Narayanguri dyke was washed away in 2004 by the strong currents of Beki river which was overflooded due to the release of excess water of Kurisshu dam by the Royal Government of Bhutan. As a result Beki river changed its original course and flowed through Kalpani and Palla causing havoc in a number of villages. That year, though the dyke was repaired costing more than Rs 3 crore, the quality of work was poor and it collapsed on July 31, 2007. Since then about Rs 1.5 lakh people in Barpeta and Baksa district has been suffering from floods. On December last year the reconstruction work was formally inaugurated by BTAD chief Hagrama Mohilary, assuring quality work this time. An official with the Water Resource Department informed that the structure of the bundh will be the stronger this time. Depending upon the depth of the water,
PATACHARKUCHI, Feb 26
SIVASAGAR, Feb 26
The Central Government has declared 14 water resources projects as National Projects for which 90 per cent project cost of irrigation and drinking water component of the project is to be provided as Central Grant. The projects include the Kulsi Dam in Assam, Upper Siang and Nao Dihang Dam Projects in Arunachal Pradesh. The Planning Commission would take up the projects after techno-economic appraisal of the Detailed Project Report and Investment clearance. The projects in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh would be funded on the 90:10 basis. The irrigation benefits from these projects is estimated to be about 21 lakh ha apart from additional indirect irrigation benefits and availability of drinking water, said Union Water Resources Minister, Prof Saifuddin Soz, in a Rajya Sabha reply.
Nagaon district tops the list among all districts of Asom in having the highest number of illegal saw mills operating in different prohibited forest reserves. An unofficial source also alleged that the district at present has more than a hundred illegal saw mills which are functioning under the very nose of the forest and police officials. The different prohibited forest areas include Dabaka, Lumding, Kaki, Salana, Chapanalla, Anjukpani, Lawkhowa, Garajan, Ambagan, Borghuli, Amchai, Madartoli and other forest reserves. All of these reserves have now been converted into a haven of illegal timber smugglers, many of whom are being given protection and shelter by a section of powerful political leaders of the ruling party, sources added. In the meantime, the DFO Nagaon has launched several drives against the timber smugglers and illegal saw mills, and have even managed to detect and lay seize to several such mills, notably from Panikhati, Arjuntol, Jagari, Hatichung, Kawaimari, Jakhalabandha, Chapanala, Silghat, Mairabari and Dhing areas. But such operations have proved to be ineffective in curtailing the spread of the net of timber smuggling which is assuming alarmingly proportions in all the forest areas. It has been found that even after the seizure of mills, the proprietors easily manage to free them from the court, due to their nexus with higher officials of the forest and police departments. Recently, owing to the initiative of the forest officials of Salana Range several such illegal saw mills were seized by the district forest officer from different places of Kaliabor area, but no follow-up action has been taken by the forest department against the timber smugglers and saw mills till date. Most of the mills are freely operating is different places of the Samaguri LAC. More than 37 such illegal mills were functioning under the shelter of a section of political leaders of the ruling party of the LAC, it is alleged. It is also alleged by the conscious people of the areas that in the Samaguri LAC itself there are many such mills illegally functioning at Lawkhowa, Ambagaon, and Borghuli. The people of the Kaliabor and Samaguri LAC have requested the Forest Minister of the State, an elected MLA of the Samaguri LAC to give his personal attention to the matter, and to also visit the forest areas to take stock of the situation. It may be mentioned that, Nagaon district alone is endowed with 9 forest reserves, but except a couple of them the others have all turned into barren land due to indiscriminate felling of trees resulting in slow disappearance of the flora and fauna. According to an unofficial source, more than 200 big saw mills are functioning in the district with timbers brought from different forest reserves, in open disregard of the prohibition order of the Supreme court in this direction. If the civil, police and forest department continues to be so indifferent it is not long when forests would altogether disappear from the area. It is worth mentioning that in the last couple of years, encroachment in Lawkhowa wild life sanctuary and other reserve forest is rampant with thousands of encroachers (suspected illegal immigrant Bangladeshis) having entered the forest and feeding off the valuable timber wealth and also eliminating the wild life in the forests. Wild animals have been found to be moving into the neighbouring villages, causing great concern among the department officials and naturalists. The Lowkhowa forest reserve is perceived to be the home of more than 200 varieties of migratory and local birds. However, in view of the depletion of the forest reserves, a conscious section of people appealed to the Forest Minister of Asom who hails from Nagoan to take appropriate measures to save the forest resources and also to take stern measures to punish the guilty, sources added.
The All Assam Gramin Sramik Santha (AAGSS) and the Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Krishan Sramik Sabha (KANCKSS) have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the office of the Deputy Commissioner demanding an CBI inquiry into the alleged NREGA scam involving issue of job cards which came to light after a Comptroller and Auditor General interim report. The organizations have alleged that original candidates who applied for the job cards have been ignored. They have demanded that the State Government hold a special session of the State Assembly to discuss the failure of the implementation of the NREGA scheme and issue a White Paper on the matter. The memorandum stated that there must be strict legally enforceable provisions whereby 100 days salary is cut from the pay of panchayat and block officers if 100 days job guarantee and payment of minimum wages is not ensured. It also stated that the policy of restricting the poor to a pre-fixed "BPL quota' be rolled back and publish a fresh list based on comprehensive ground survey. It also demanded that job cards must be issued to all poor families who demands it. The scheme must also guarantee 200 days of work per family in a year and make the number of job-card holders the basis for budgetary allocation for NREGA. Both the AAGSS and KANCKSS have stated that if the Government ignore their demands they would resort to an agitational programme from March 1.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) announced discoveries of four sites of crude oil and natural gas in one month after its board meeting on Monday. It said it has notified the director-general of hydrocarbons about the discoveries. Three of the discoveries are onland and the fourth in offshore. The board also cleared three major investments for growth-oriented projects. The onland discoveries have been made in well Kosamba-41 and well Chaklasi-8, both in western onshore and in well Mekrang-7 in Assam. The offshore discovery has been made in well B-12-11 in PEL Block BOFF 1,2,3 on the Arabian Sea. The three projects are the revised configuration of Dahej Petrochemicals Project, the augmentation of the gas-processing capacity of its Hazira complex and the additional participation in the GulfA joint venture. ONGC will take up addi tional participating interest (PI) of 30 per cent in the development phase of Gulf-A in the joint venture block of CB-OS-1, at the northern-most end of the Gulf of Cambay. ONGC's share of 55.26 per cent of the capex would be $57.209 million. The other partners in this joint venture are Tata Petrodyne and HOEC.
The poultry industry, which has suffered losses on account of the recent outbreak of avian flu in West Bengal, is eagerly waiting for the government's subvention on interest rates charged on loans extended to them by banks. The Reserve Bank of India, last week, had issued guidelines to banks suggesting a one-year moratorium on repayment of outstanding loans, conversion of working capital loans into term loans, and re-schedulement of term-loan repayment as a relief to the affected poultry industry. According to sources, the finance minister P Chidambaram may announce the government's subvention rates on loans extended to the poultry industry either before the Budget or may spell it out in his Budget speech. The Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had earlier announced that the government would work out separate relief packages for the poultry sector - one exclusively for poultry farmers in West Bengal and the other for the poultry industry in the country as a whole, which has suffered in sales due to a dip in prices in the country and the ban imposed by different countries on Indian poultry imports. The government's package would include subvention rates on interest charged by banks. He had assured that the financial package would be an improved one over that announced in March 2006 on account of the outbreak of bird flu. The March 2006 package contained 4% interest subvention, a one-year moratorium period for repayment of loans, conversion of working capital into loans, and extension of fresh loans for working capital. "The poultry industry had demanded zoning of poultry areas in the country based on geo-climatic conditions, so that exports from bird flu-free zones can be business as usual, ban on export of corn and soybean to augment feed availability, 7% central government's interest subvention on loans, and a two-year moratorium on repayment of loans,' said Anuradha Desai, chairperson of the National Egg Coordination Committee. The government has turned down the proposal for zoning of poultry areas, even though the industry had pointed out such zoning or compartmentalisation exists in the US and is allowed by the world animal health organisation - OIE. It has also refused to impose a ban on exports of corn or soybean. India has a poultry population of 489 million (nearly 3% of world's poultry), out of which 51% is concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Due to the recent incidence of avian flu in West Bengal, culling operations were undertaken not only in those states but also in parts of the neighbouring states - Assam, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
Heaving a sigh of relief after the prolonged bird flu scare in the State, the All Assam Poultry Farmers' Association (AAPFA) has divulged that the poultry industry in the State has managed to regain the lost market up to at least 60 per cent ever since the ban on the import of poultry products was lifted, excluding the West Bengal origin products. The association further informed that as the sale is going higher with every passing day, the prices of the poultry products, especially livestock would go up, thanks to the limited stocks of birds and other poultry products in the market. The State Government, it may be mentioned, had lifted the ban on the import of the poultry products a couple of days back. Culling of birds in bordering districts of Kokrajhar and Dhubri followed the ban, which was imposed after the outbreak of the avian influenza in the neighbouring West Bengal. Rajib Sarma, secretary of AAPFA, predicting a stiff rise in the prices of the poultry products in the next 10 to 15 days, said, Though chickens are now being sold at Rs 50 in the wholesale market, it is expected to go to around Rs 65 at least. "At present, as no livestock is being imported, the industry has failed to meet the demand, especially in the city,' Sarma pointed out. He, however, asserted that the local production would certainly get a boost in the next one month as the import of bird feed to the State has been allowed. "Our primary concern was regarding the acute shortage of feed, the ban on which was virtually throwing the entire poultry industry to the jaws of death. But the early decision on the part of the State Government to lift the ban has averted a major blow to the poultry industry,' Sarmah reiterated. It needs mention here that the region depends on States like West Bengal for at least 7,000 kilograms of chickens per day. Meanwhile, the association has also urged the State Government to release the money under the development project so that the industry can be revitalised quicker.
