GUWAHATI, Aug 13 � The All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today accused Union Forest and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh of double standards vis-�-vis mega dam projects in the State and other parts of the North-east, saying that the minister on the one hand talked about environment protection and on the other did not seem opposed to the big dam lobby.
Addressing a press meet, AASU adviser Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya, president Sankar Prasad Ray and general secretary Tapan Gogoi said that Ramesh�s recent statement in Parliament smacked of being on the side of the mega dam lobby, and his stand on the issue of mega dams was far from being firm.
The AASU would hang effigies of the minister all over the State on August 16 in protest against the latter�s �dithering� stand on a issue critical to the well-being of the region and its populace.
Dr Bhattacharya said that the expert committee on dams had made unambiguous recommendations for stopping work on the Lower Subansiri hydro-electric project and was also against all the large dams proposed in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra basin in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) has also decried the reported statement of Jairam Ramesh, and said that there had been a clear deviation in the latter�s stand on dams.
�Within two days, Ramesh made contradictory statements on big dams in the North-east�the people of Assam will continue a united struggle against any move to go ahead with big dams,� the AJYCP said in a statement.
Pointing out that the Centre had stopped midway construction works on mega dams in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand following justified protests, the AJYCP said that there was no reason why the Lower Subansiri project could not be abandoned midway in view of the public protests and the expert committee recommendations against the dam.
