Assam governor Janaki Ballabh Patnaik greet people on Eid-ul-Zuha

 

Governor Janaki Ballabh Patnaik has extended his greetings to the people of the state on the occasion of Eid-ul-Zuha on Friday.

Highlighting the importance of free observance of all religious festivals with the spirit of joy and brotherhood, and maintaining the right balance between piety and gaiety, Patnaik appealed all citizens to uphold the longstanding tradition of amity and communal harmony.

Meet for power supply to Bongaigaon grid

With successful generation of power from northeast's biggest gas-based thermal project of Palatana in south Tripura, officials from the Union power ministry met NE power department officials on Friday to make immediate arrangements to transmit power to Bongaigoan national grid.

The non-availability of power evacuation line beyond Silchar has created an obstacle in the commercial run of the first unit (363-MW capacity) of the project.

Officials of ONGC-Tripura Power Company Limited (OTPC) here said Palatana had produced 42 MW of power on October 22, and in two days, its power generation capacity reached to about 72 MW during test run. Very soon, the first unit of the project would be able to generate about 363 MW of power.

"Due to non-availability of power evacuation system up to Bongaigoan, the Palatana project can't produce power as per its capacity. After 120 MW, we have to put a cap on production, as the northeast load dispatch centre is yet to get the transmission nod," a top OTPC official said.

Tarun Gogoi & Okram Ibobi Singh to oppose Naga integration demand

 

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said he and his Manipur counterpart, Okram Ibobi Singh, will jointly oppose any move by the Centre to accede to NSCN (IM)'s demand for territorial integration of Naga- inhabited areas of Assam and Manipur with Nagaland. The duo had earlier blocked such a move during the NDA government's tenure.

The NSCN (IM) wants to carve out a greater Nagaland by including all Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur, Assam and Arunchal Pradesh to the present state of Nagaland. "I welcome a solution with NSCN (IM) but without territorial integration of Naga-inhabited areas of Assam or other states," Gogoi said here on Friday. He added that the Centre didn't hold any consultation with the state government in this regard.

Center okays floodlight project along the Indo-Bangladesh border

 

The Union home ministry has issued the much-awaited administrative approval to Cachar-Mizoram Frontier Force of the BSF to erect floodlights along the 138km-long Indo-Bangladesh border in Cachar and Karimganj districts in south Assam, in a bid to improve security.

A senior BSF official today said the Centre has sanctioned Rs 41.92 crore to set up the floodlights along the international boundary by the end of next year to check illegal migration.

He said an electrical firm in New Delhi had been assigned the task to install the floodlights.

National Investigation Agency is to recruit forensic experts for its Guwahati branch

 

The National Investigation Agency is planning to recruit forensic experts for its Guwahati branch to conduct scientific and expeditious investigation into cases.

“The NIA has started scouting for forensic experts for its branch office in Guwahati which covers the northeastern states,” an official source told The Telegraph today.

The source said the anti-terror probe agency intends to engage forensic experts on a contractual basis and they have approached some retired officials of the state forensic science laboratory at Kahilipara.