Development / Assam

GUWAHATI, May 18 ? Early rainfall this year resulted in early outbreak of malaria in Assam and according to official records alone, altogether 44 persons have died of malaria in different parts of the State, of which 19 were confirmed malaria cases and 25 were suspected cases. As per official records, upto May 17, one person died in Barpeta, one in Darrang, nine in Golaghat, one each in Jorhat and Karbi Anglong, four in Kamrup, three in Kokrajhar, five in Nagaon, three in Nalbari, six in Sonitpur and 10 in Tinsukia.

Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, the Joint Director (Malaria) of the...

GUWAHATI, May 17 ? Almost all the 23,191 bigha, 4 katha and 6 lechas of settlement area of the Government land in Guwahati city is under encroachment. The city has in all 24,283 bighas of Government land which include khas, ceiling surplus and VGR land. The city has two revenue circles ? Guwahati and Dispur. All Government land under the Guwahati Circle, including 110 bighas of hilly land in Kharghuli area, are under encroachment, said official circles here today.

However, it is worthmentioning here that the official documents have treated 4,500 bighas of Government land in the city area...

GUWAHATI, May 16 ? Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today stated that the ongoing eviction drive by the State Forest department would continue till all forest areas including wildlife sanctuaries and national parks were cleared of encroachers. Talking to this newspaper, Sri Gogoi said the State government was bound by the Supreme Court directive to purge forest areas of encroachers and could not stop the eviction drive despite the resistance from encroachers or the criticism from different quarters. When his attention was drawn to the incidents where a couple of ruling party MLAs tried to interfere...

GUWAHATI, May 16 ? Continuing with its crackdown on the encroachers in the city reserve forest areas, the district administration today demolished 355 houses in the Lechubagan area at Hengrabari. The eviction drive started in the morning and continued till the evening. Many of the encroachers had already left their homes apprehending eviction. Meanwhile, a delegation of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) led by its city committee president Ramendra Narayan Kalita today submitted a memorandum to the Chief Secretary, decrying the ?inhuman? eviction drive. While reiterating that the AGP was not...

NEW DELHI, May 16 ? In a significant development, Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar has assured that creation of the proposed Rangiya Rail Division was on tracks and that a sum of Rs 1 crore has been earmarked for the project. This undertaking was given to a delegation of Congress leaders including Madhab Rajbongshi MP and Bhubaneswar Kalita MLA, when they called on him to expedite the process of creation of the division.

Later, Sri Rajbongshi later told this newspaper that the Railway Minister assuring them that the project had not shelved gave a new lease of life by announcing sanction of...

GUWAHATI, May 16 ? The Congress Government in the State is determined to prevent any future encroachment of forest land, stated G C Langthasa, Minister of Forest, Social Forestry, Hill Areas Development Mines and Minerals. In an official release on the status of forest land in the State Langthasa said that the best way to tackle encroachment and check illegal felling of trees is to adopt a carrot-and-stick policy. The masses will have to be enlightened via various social education programmes on the positive as well as negative aspects of these issues. And to make the move practical, the...

NEW DELHI, May 14 ? In a classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, engagement of 150 road contractors by the State PWD to renovate 100 km stretch of roadwork of the historic Dhodar Ali road has thrown the project behind schedule by over a decade. The State PWD?s practice of distributing works among contractors has raised quite a few eyebrows in the government circle, as even after engaging 150 contractors to renovate 100 km stretch of the road, it has taken the department over a decade to execute only 80 per cent of the work. The road improvement of the Dhodar Ali was sanctioned in...

GUWAHATI, May 13 ? The State Animal Husbandry and Veterinary (AH&V) Department has launched an ambitious project, called Swarnadhenu Scheme (The Golden Cow Concept), with a view to upgrading the State?s local cattle breed into a cross breed through intensive Artificial Insemination (AI) within a span of five to seven years. The scheme drawn under the World Bank-aided Assam Rural Infrastructure Agriculture Services Projects? (ARIASP) Livestock Development Component (LDC), will require an investment of around Rs 40 crore in the first phase of its implementation. The new breed of the cow (50...

GUWAHATI, May 13 ? State PWD Minister Sarat Borkataky today informed that a proposal under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana had been submitted to the Government of India for conversion of the earth and gravel roads of the State connecting areas with over 1000 population to black-topped roads by the end of the year 2003.

Addressing a press conference on the occasion of completion of one year in the office by the incumbent Government, the PWD Minister further informed that all damaged black-topped roads would be upgraded and all the earth and gravel roads connecting areas with over 500...

GUWAHATI, May 12 ? The Hindu Yuba Chattra Parishad, Asom, has termed the ongoing eviction drive at Batahghuli as a conspiracy aimed at safeguarding a particular section of encroachers while harnessing the indigenous people of the State. In a press release, the parishad alleged that while the authorities concerned had been turning a blind eye to the rampant encroachment by suspected foreigners at Kaziranga, Kurihamari, Kochmara, etc., it showed an unusual enthusiasm in committing atrocities on the local indigenous people under the pretext of eviction at Batahghuli. It is a move to protect the...