SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC) has been given the "Powerline Award 2012" as the "Best Performing Generation Company of the Country-hydro" category. The award has been conferred based on the judgment of an eminent jury headed by former Union Power Secretary R.V.Shahi, supported by research conducted by Powerline magazine in recognition of outstanding performance of JKSPDC in the Indian Power Sector.

Guwahati: The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), a powerful and well known farmers’ body in Assam, on Tuesday accused the Congress government in the state of taking away “space” for democratic protests and warned this will only help forces like the Maoists to grow.

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti general secretary and anti-dam activist Akhil Gogoi said here that the Maoists would take over the whole of Assam and dominate the state with their power if Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his government deprived the common people of the space for democratic movement and protests.

The Supreme Court has refused to re-examine its judgement and expunge the adverse remarks made in it against Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on the issue of land acquisition for Omkareshwar Dam project in Madhya Pradesh. The apex court dismissed the review petitions filed by the NBA saying that the May 11, 2011 judgement “does not suffer from any mistake” and “no ground is made out” for review of the September 29, 2011 order by which it had declined to expunge the adverse remarks against the NBA in the verdict.

CHENNAI: The Supreme Court-constituted expert panel to study the safety of Mullaiperiyar Dam has overstepped its brief in making suggestions for resolving the inter-state issue, Tamil Nadu PWD Senior Engineers Association (TANSEA) observed on Monday.

“The AS Anand Committee was only asked to report on whether the dam was safe or not. It did not have any business making recommendations to Kerala to build another dam,” TANSEA secretary A Veerappan, said addressing a press conference here.

GANDHINAGAR: A high-level committee of Government of India's (GoI's) finance ministry has cleared a proposal that would enable the Gujarat government to receive nearly 90 per cent of all funds over the new five-year plan, 2012-17, for completing the unfinished task of building canal network of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). Well-placed Sachivalaya sources said, the proposal, made on the basis of a plea from Gujarat, would mean all desert zones of India would be treated as drought prone.

KOCHI: The structural stability, strength, safety, height of water, effect of seismic forces, hydraulics, effect of leakage etc on Mullaperiyar dam are basically to be decided by expert civil engineers, IIT panels etc. It is learnt that in the report, the Empowered Committee has considered the reports by the civil engineers, IIT panels/technical bodies, technical members in the committee etc. Accordingly, the dam is safe and sound and the height of water can be increased.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday observed that anything affecting ecology and forests cannot be allowed. It was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) urging that work on the Kondhane irrigation dam, being built on the Ulhas river in Raigad district, be stopped. A division bench of Justices D D Sinha and V K Tahilramani was hearing a petition by four activists, including Mayank Gandhi, a coordinator of India Against Corruption , which said there had been large-scale corruption in the construction of dams in Maharashtra.

GUWAHATI/NORTH LAKHIMPUR: The anti-big dam groups like the KMSS, Asom Jatiyatabadi Tuva Chattra Parishad, All Assam Deuri Students’ Union, TMPK and others have said that they would continue their protests against the Lower Subansiri Project on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

Addressing the reporters jointly on Sunday, the members of the agitating groups, including KMSS general secretary Akhil Gogoi said that the anti-big dam groups would continue to block the transportation of construction materials to the Lower Subansiri Project site.

A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on May 3 dismissed petitions filed by Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan to review an apex court judgment and expunge adverse remarks made against the organisation in connection with the issue of land acquisition for Omkareshwar dam project in Madhya Pradesh.

A Bench of Justices R M Lodha, Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan observed in its order that they had decided to dismiss the review petition filed by the NBA against its May 11, 2011 judgment after careful consideration of the available material.

Supreme Court lawyer and anti-corruption activist Prashant Bhushan has said the Maheshwar dam project, the country's first privately-financed hydropower project, mired in financial irregularities, is unviable.

Mr. Bhushan was addressing in Maheshwar on Sunday a rally, taken out by oustees of the project against the recent decision of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) allowing raising the water level in the reservoir up to 154 metres.