GUWAHATI, June 5? The Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), set up in September 2001 to act as the nodal department of the Centre to deal with matters pertaining to the socio-economic development of the eight states of the region, has expressed dissatisfaction with the rate of progress in the implementation of development schemes and programmes in the North East.

Speaking to newspersons here today, Union Minister of State for DoNER and Small Scale Industry (SSI) Tapan Sikdar said that the department has taken the matter ?very seriously.? Sikdar, along with Union Minister...

GUWAHATI, June 5 ? The water resources management projects in the NE region will require some relaxed economic criteria, said Sri A Sekhar, Advisor (Water Resources) of the Planning Commission of India. He was talking to The Assam Tribune on June 3 at Tezpur. Sri Sekhar, who had been to the State on a three-day visit in connection with a two-day workshop on policy framework for efficient management of water and land resources for poverty alleviation in NE region, organised by the Tezpur-based North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management (NERIWALM), was replying to a question...

Shillong, June 5: The Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) is going ahead with its plan to set up a uranium-processing unit at Domiasiat in Meghalaya, ignoring protests by various organisations.

Its chairman-cum-managing director Raminder Gupta today allayed fears about the hazards of radiation, saying there was no truth in reports that children born to people living near the site would suffer from congenital defects, including skeletal deformities. ?These are rumours designed to prevent development of Domiasiat,? he said.

Gupta, who is here for a two-day seminar on Environmental Impact of...

Guwahati, June 5: A few minutes into his new assignment as the Governor of Assam, Lt. Gen. (retd) Ajay Singh laid down his ?mission statement? ? he will sail with Dispur, unlike his predecessor, Lt. Gen. (retd) S.K. Sinha.

?He is the boss,? the Governor said, pointing to chief minister Tarun Gogoi. ?I will dive into the Brahmaputra if he wants me to.?

Gen. Singh?s statement, just after being sworn in at the Durbar Hall of Raj Bhavan, left many stunned, though it was apparently in jest. Visibly embarrassed, Gogoi rushed to lighten the moment. ?We will swim and cross the river together.?

The...

New Delhi, June 5: The 400-year-old Tawang monastery ? one of the finest expressions of Buddhist architecture and culture in the country ? could soon lose its glory and unique character. Newer buildings, structures and colour schemes in the famed monastery have dramatically altered its original skyline.

A report by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) has virtually sounded a red alert, recommending a masterplan for its upkeep. The only surviving original building in the entire complex is the Kanjur Lhakhang or the library, states the report titled Conservation...