NALBARI, July 19 ? For the family members of the widow Prema Rajbangshi, Ajit Rajbangshi, Alam Ali, Bipin Rajbangshi, Nipen Rajbangshi and Girin Rajbangshi of Balajan (Digheli) village in Nalbari district, the Pagladia river has become a symbol of devastation as the river which breached the embankment in the village on the night of July 9 dashed all their hopes rendering them homeless. The flood waters of the Pagladia river totally washed away their dwelling houses as they resided just opposite to the breached portion which submerged their ?basti?. They are not in a position to go back to...

BADARPUR, July 19: Passengers? woes in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section, have now increased manifold due to severe landslides on this section in the last four months. The train services in this section is not likely to be regularised immediately. It is also likely that the situation in this hill section of NF Railway may get complicated further, according to higher officials of the railway administration. Expressing concern, they also said that in last few weeks due to heavy landslides in various places between Fiding and Mahur, Bagetar, Jatinga, Mailongdisa and Harangazao, Mahur and Fiding...

NEW DELHI, July 19 ? Assam along with other north-eastern States are forever crying for additional allocation from the Non-Lapsable Pool of Central Resources (NLPCR) but they have fallen far short in utilising the allocated funds. The details of the performances of the north-eastern States (NES) makes an interesting reading as barring Tripura, all have been left with unspent funds. Assam?s performance was the worst as bulk of the allocated funds were left unutilised. During the last fiscal the State was released Rs 113.94 crore out of NLCPR but it managed to spend only Rs 1.84 crore. Its...

GUWAHATI, July 19 ? The overall flood situation in the State aggravated further today with the floodwaters creating havoc in more areas even as the plight of the already affected areas still remained critical. The death toll in the current wave of floods has increased to 68. Floodwaters of the Kopilli and the Killing today overtopped the NH-37 at Palahguri and Nellie disrupting road communication between Lower and Upper Assam on the south bank. Significantly, this was the road through which road communication between the State?s northern part and the rest of the country existed so far since...

GUWAHATI, July 19 ? Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today presented a Rs 3138.54-crore deficit Budget for the State for the current year in the State Assembly. In his Budget proposals, the Chief Minister proposed hikes in tax on petrol and diesel, gutka, IMFL, tinned milk food, ice-cream, royalty on forest produce and entry tax on crude oil imported for the refineries of the State. At the same time, he proposed reduction of agriculture income tax, tax on agriculture tools, mobile phones, entry tax on plants and machinery, polyester fibre, paraffin, etc. He also proposed to exempt flood-affected...