DHEMAJI, Nov 17 � The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today staged a massive protest meeting at Gerukamukh demanding a halt to construction of the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project at Gerukamukh.
The protest meeting which was attended by several State-level leaders of BJP, besides the former president of the party Rajnath Singh, was participated by more than seven thousand people coming from different parts of Dhemaji Dhakuakhana, Silapathar etc.
Delivering a lecture in the protest meeting, Ranjit Dutta, MLA and present State secretary of the BJP underlined the dangers that big dams are likely to pose to the people of Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Jorhat districts and called upon the people to be united to fight against its construction. Rajen Gohain, former State president of BJP, also spoke about the threat from the �water bomb� of NHPC and flayed the Tarun Gogoi led State Congress government for not taking any steps to stop the project. He demanded of the State government steps to stop the construction work of project for the survival of the people in the said districts.
Addressing he meeting, Rajnath Singh, former president of BJP and present MP, blamed the State and the central government for constructing the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric project. He urged the government for construction of multipurpose projects at Gerukamukh instead of mega hydroelectric project.
He also vowed to raise the issue in the Parliament and gave the assurance to the people of fighting against the construction of big dam.
The meeting was addressed by MPs Ramen Deka, Bijaya Chakravarty, State vice-president Sailen Sonowal Dhemaji district president of the party Jonaram Hazarika etc.
The meeting later submitted a memorandum to the Dhemaji ADC demanding a halt to construction work of the big dam at Gerukamukh.
Speaking on the NE insurgency issue, the former BJP president accused the UPA government at the Centre of failing to take initiatives for solving the insurgency problem plaguing the North East and called for creation of an internal security system to tackle the issue.
�An internal security system should be created to tackle the insurgency problem in the North-East. But this has not been put in place so far by the UPA government. They have taken no initiative to solve the insurgency problem or the foreigner problems and the development issues here,� alleged the senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh.
Singh also accused the UPA government of failing to understand the problems of the people. �The Bangladeshi infiltration problem is there in the region but no action has been taken to solve it till today. The UPA has no goodwill towards the North-East.�
PTI adds: Voicing his opposition to big dams in the highly seismic North-East zone, Rajnath Singh said India should have a water treaty with China to retain the water of Brahmaputra river in the region.
�China has a policy of diverting rivers to its southern region. It affects the rivers here. The Congress-led UPA should protest this. If UPA government has the good intention to retain the water of Brahmaputra here, then India should go for a water treaty with China,� Singh said.
The former BJP president also said India should have a diplomatic policy with China on water for safeguarding the rivers coming here through the neighbouring country.
