GUWAHATI, July 18 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said in the State Assembly that the State Government is eager to take all parties concerned into confidence while solving the mega-dam issue. The Government stand on the issue is formulated as per the advice of the experts, he said.
The Government is not for a confrontationist attitude. It will go for mutual understanding on the issue through dialogue, he said.
The Chief Minister, who was replying to the debate on the cut motion on the demand for grant for the police department, however, maintained that it was because of the memorandums submitted by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) that the issue of the dam projects could arise today.
Both the AGP and the AASU submitted memorandums to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the LC Jain Committee to set up the mega-dam projects over the rivers of the region. The dam projects of the region started coming up during the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule, he said.
The Congress-led State Government constituted the expert committee to go into the issues concerning the dam issue. Meanwhile, the opinions of the experts of the Roorkee IIT, who have earned fame for their expertise in earthquake-related issues, have also been sought for on the dam issue, the Chief Minister said.
Laying stress on the need for striking a balance between the risks involved in the projects and the benefits accrued from them, the Chief Minister said that getting disheartened in the face of risks is not at all a smart approach. For, risks are there in all spheres of life. Even in the case of fertilizers used by the farmers, risks are involved. But that should not deter one from applying fertilizers, he maintained.
The State needs to check erosion and store more water for the future. In the next couple of decades, water will become a scarce commodity, he said.
