Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has committed that the public sector hydro and thermal power projects would be converted into instruments of social development with the new policy of the Centre to allocate one percent of the total project cost for rehabilitation and development of the persons affected by the projects.
The Centre has frozen six mega hydel power projects with a capacity of 1,047 MW proposed in North Sikkim following an adverse report submitted by Centre of Inter-Disciplinary Studies of Mountains and Hill Environment (CISME).
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had taken the CISME report seriously and derailed the six proposed hydel power projects in North Sikkim, it is learnt.
In spite of economic slowdown and limited hospitality infrastructure in the State, around 2.8 lakh tourists visited Sikkim in the first five months this year, nearly 35 per cent more than the last year.
According to the State Tourism Department, the arrival of domestic tourists in the State between January and May this year rose to 2.73 lakh from the corresponding tally of two lakh last year.
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has said that he will take a leaf out of Switzerland to develop the countryside of the picturesque hill State.
Alarmed over the reported shrinkage of the 26-km Zemu glacier in the eastern Himalayas due to global warming, Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has sought an
Having declared the year 2010 as the Year of Tourism, the Sikkim Government has drawn up a plan incorporating as many as 13 local festivals in the list of popular events to be staged next year to woo tourists from across the country and abroad.
The construction of an alternative highway in land-locked Sikkim is expected to begin within the next six months, the State Government said today.
Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Kamal Nath directed his officials yesterday to expeditiously start the ground work for construction of the alternative highway within the next six months, an official release said here.
Gangtok: At least 12 labourers were killed when a dam being constructed by a private firm collapsed near Rongli in East Sikkim district, police said on Friday.
The Rang Po dam collapsed at about 9.00pm last night and so far 10 bodies have been recovered, but the toll could mount as it was still not clear how many labourers were at work at the site, Superintendent of Police M S Tuli said.
