The Durga puja din and bustle have died down when the idols of the goddess were immersed on Friday. The immersion started from Thursday afternoon across the state. But all committees will complete the immersion process only on Friday.
In Guwahati also, at least 100 puja committees immersed the idols in three places on the river Brahmaputra which took place till midnight. Others in the premier north eastern city are preparing to immerse the idols by 12 noon at the initiatives of the district administration.
People thronged in thousands at Kachari Ghat, Pandu Ghat and Noonmati to see the immersion from early in the morning.
Caught in a barrage of criticism, prime minister Narendra Modi is on a day long visit to Assam to take stock of the flood fury after the state counts nearly 80 people dead. According to sources in New Delhi, the prime minister is arriving in Guwahati at 10 in the morning and is scheduled to make an aerial survey in Lakhimpur and other worst-hit districts where properties worth several crores were ravaged. Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and senior colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma are also accompanying Modi in the day long programme. Modi drew flak across the state for failing to reach the marooned people forcing him to suddenly finalise his visit to Assam where lakhs if people in 15...
The Supreme Court’s verdict on Wednesday against the Assam Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2004 will have bearing impact in the north eastern states of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Both the north eastern states have 26 parliamentary secretaries in the 60member legislative assemblies. The apex court judgment came a day after new Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang appointed 26 parliamentary secretaries to appease the expelled NPF legislators who helped his unseat the incumbent. Same it was is in Arunachal Pradesh where Chief Minister Pema Khandu recruited parliamentary secretaries to help them...
In a significant judgment the Supreme Court on Wednesday called unconstitutional a law in Assam that paved the way for appointment of parliamentary secretaries in the rank of minister of state to pacify the disgruntled ruling party legislators enacted in 2004. A division bench of the country’s top court comprising Justice J Chelameswar, Justice RK Agrawal and Justice AM Sapre said that the legislation was unwanted in Assam to create these posts of parliamentary secretaries. The court said, “Article 194 does not expressly authorise the state legislature to create offices such as the one in question.” The Act allowed the government to accord the status of a minister of...
The anger against North East Electric Power Corporation (Neepco) refuses to die down. A leading organization in Assam starts mounting pressure on the government to rein in the state-owned hydel power company holding it responsible for the devastating flood scene in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji. Talking to Assam Times, North East Dialogue Forum officials demanded a judicial probe to ascertain under what circumstances NEEPCO has released excess water from the Ranganadi dam recently which brought brimful misery to lakhs of people. The influential KMSS has stepped up its tirade against NEEPCO and announced an agitation against big dams alleging it the main reasons behind the...
Petrol and LPG might not reach the people of Assam along with the other north eastern states if the Assam Petroleum Mazdoor Union resorts to an indefinite strike fromThursday reiterating a slew of demands. Talking to Assam Times, the Union leaders in Guwahati said they have found no option but to take resort to the strike in support of their long standing demands. “We have over one lakh members in the entire north eastern region deployed in at loading centres, oil and gas tankers and retail outlets and gas agencies. Our demands are not new. But the authorities are least bothered. What should we do?,” said a senior member of the organization. He said, “We are...
The flood toll in Assam stands at 77 this year with the death of yet another person in the north eastern state. But this year, electrocution death is much higher than that of the drowning death in the time of flood. In Guwahati alone, over a dozen of people died during the last two months triggering shock and anger among the people who blamed it all on the government failure to rein in the scene.
A marginal let-up in the incessant rains suggests some relief in the overall flood fury in Assam on Wednesday. But fear of more rains might again wreak havoc in 17 flood hit districts where life starts limping back to normal during the last 24 hours after the loss of 77 people apart from properties worth crores of rupees. But unofficial toll is said to have crossed 100. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), the current flood waves have hit 23,118 in nine worst hit districts. The Brahmaputra and its tributaries keep flowing above the danger level in many places where the surging waters have rendered lakhs of people homeless. More...
The United Liberation Front of Asom (I) has strongly lambasted forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma alleging her conspiracy to divide the indigenous people in the name of resettlement of homeless people in the Tarani reserve forest in Tinsukia. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the rebel outfit struggling fir independence said the senseless move is bound to disturb the delicate bio diversity.
Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday took oath as the 14th President of India five days after he won the polls. The second Dalit who takes over as the Pesident, took oath from Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, Chief Justice of India at a function in Parliament in the morning. Out going President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice president Dr Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his cabinet colleagues and opposition party leaders were present in the function.
After a brief lull, security forces are fanning in Kokrajhar intensifying the counterinsurgency operation in the trouble torn western Assam district. Police, army and para military forces claimed to have eliminted a hardcore NDFB(S) rebel at a fierce gunbattle on Tuesday morning. According to Police, acting on an intelligence input, security forces launched a joint operation on Monday night in a remote area where the gunbattle erupted to kill the rebel.
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