North East fumes at LPG hike

The Centre's decision to hike the price of non-subsidized cooking gas (LPG) by Rs 26.50 on Thursday evoked sharp reaction from consumer forums and people across the northeast.

Chief coordinator of the Consumers' Legal Protection Forum ( CLPF), Ajoy Hazarika, termed another hike in LPG cylinders as "anti-people". "Commoners will be badly hit by this decision. Black marketeering of LPG cylinders is already rampant. If the Assam government does not take steps to curb this, there will be total chaos. It seems many families will have to shift to firewood from LPG if the hike goes on this way," said Hazarika.

Madhurima Saikia, a housewife residing in the Narengi area of the city, said the UPA government has lost the confidence of people. "We just can't tolerate such a decision. The hike in LPG prices has become a joke. How we will run our kitchens," she added.

Relieve me of duties, DGP to govt

The director general of Assam Police, Jayanto Narayan Choudhury, is seeking to move out of the state and be relieved of his current responsibilities after the panchayat election in January next. The former additional director of the Centre's Intelligence Bureau may return to the central government services.

Choudhury is waiting for the state government to release him but sources said that chief minister Tarun Gogoi needs some time to find a new DGP before he approves Choudhury's release.

"I have written to the chief secretary that my tenure expires on January 16 next. I have also conveyed it to the chief minister verbally. The panchayat election will be held in January and I will see the elections through, after which I intend to leave," he said.

Ghatowar call for tech use

PRANAB KUMAR DAS

DoNER minister Paban Singh Ghatowar today said science and technology play a critical role in the process of development and its application can help in transformation of the natural resources of a region into a real economic resource.

Speaking at the inaugural function of TechXetra, the annual technical-cum-cultural festival of Tezpur University at Kalaguru Bishnu Rabha auditorium here, the minister urged the students to work for society.

Ghatowar also said the students should come forward to deal with problems and facilitate all-round development of the Northeast.

“Universities and institutions of higher learning have a great responsibility to develop science and technology tools and strategies. They should also create the much-needed human resource as well. This university has a well-developed school of science, which focuses on both fundamental and applied aspects of the subject,” the minister said.

Assam Police unable to track assets of NC Hills scam kingpin R H Khan

The vigilance and anti-corruption wing of Assam Police is finding it hard to track down the huge amount of money and assets belonging to the prime accused in the NC Hills multi-crore scam, R H Khan, that are hidden in several locations.

Following inputs, anti-corruption sleuths raided two places on Wednesday night but it ended in a wild goose chase. The two places raided simultaneously by the sleuths were the house of one Hari Borah at Borbari area and the plot of Nur Islam at Satgaon area of the city. However, nothing was found in the raids.

"We have information about the locations where R H Khan might have hidden his black money and on the basis of these leads, we made the last two raids. We have to act according to inputs but one can't expect success in every move. We have more information and we should hit upon something concrete soon," said a senior official of the anti-corruption wing. Both the Wednesday operations were meticulous — the sleuths stripped the walls, floors and even opened septic tanks during the searches.

Minister praises DoNER role

DoNER minister Paban Singh Ghatowar today said the Congress-led UPA government was well aware of the problems of the northeastern states and fully committed to develop the region.

“The Centre has been giving special attention for the development of the region and DoNER ministry is a result of its commitment,” Ghatowar said during a party rally in Itanagar organised to mark the completion of one year in office of the Nabam Tuki government.

“The Centre has sanctioned Rs 6,000 crore for the 1,325km trans-Arunachal highway to provide inter-district connectivity to the state,” he said.

Assam gets Rs 9 crore for sports development

The Union ministry of youth and sports on Thursday sanctioned Rs 9.31 crore to the state for development and maintenance of playgrounds in 666 village panchayats and 44 block panchayats under Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA).

In 2009, the ministry had sanctioned an amount of Rs 4.81 crore to the state for the development and maintenance of playgrounds in 333 village panchayats and 22 block panchayats.

Under the PYKKA, which was introduced in 2008-09, playgrounds were developed and maintained in villages and block panchayats across the country in a phased manner. Competitions are conducted annually at block, district, state and national level in these playgrounds.

Jorhat Science Centre-cum-Planetarium to open in January

The Assam government is offering the people of Upper Assam, especially children, an out of this world New Year gift in the form of the Jorhat Science Centre-cum-Planetarium.

The construction of the double-storey building has been completed and installation is in progress. The project, coming up next to the Ahom-era Rajmao Barpukhuri, is likely to be inaugurated in January.

The building is being constructed on a six-bigha and four katha plot of land at a cost of Rs 5 crore approximately, and will be the first of its kind in Assam with Dispur and Delhi both funding the project.

The Assam Science Technology and Environment Council is the implementing agency of the project and the National Council of Science Museum has designed the project and all its technical specifications.

Five geckos rescues by Assam Rifles at Moreh

Joining the multi-pronged drive against the increasing poaching and smuggling of tokay geckos in the state, Assam Rifles personnel seized five geckos meant to be smuggled to China via Myanmar from two smugglers at the border town of Moreh.

Personnel of 9 Assam Rifles launched an operation to curb such smuggling and apprehended the two, along with five specimen of the rare reptile species, at Moreh Gate No 2 on Monday, said Assam Rifles officials here on Thursday.

The geckos were supposed to be smuggled from Moreh to Myanmar and were to be sent to China, the statement said, adding that the estimated cost of a gecko is about Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 in the local (grey) market.

Lets debate on influx : AASU says to Tarun Gogoi

The All Assam Students’ Union today dared chief minister Tarun Gogoi to start an open debate on the problem of illegal migration in the state to find concrete ways to solve it.

The student organisation’s challenge came a day after Dispur asked the former to substantiate its allegation that the government’s recently published white paper on the foreigner problem was a “half truth” or a “white lie”.

On Monday, the AASU had come out with a 90-page booklet accusing the governments at Dispur and New Delhi of betraying the state’s people by not implementing the Assam Accord for the last 27 years.

The union also alleged that the government’s white paper had suppressed many important historical facts to mislead the people of Assam.

Assam's jails are clogged with life convicts

More than half the convicts lodged in jails across Assam are undergoing life imprisonment.

This was revealed by the latest prison statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau recently, which states that the percentage of convicts serving life sentence in the state was 59.7 in 2011. The report added that this was more than the national average — 53.6 per cent.

Besides Assam, the other two northeastern states where the share of convicts serving life sentences is more than the national average are Manipur (62.5 per cent) and Tripura (55 per cent).

In Assam, out of a total of 1,874 convicts serving life sentences, 60 are women, while in Manipur out of 20 such convicts, one is a woman and in Tripura out of 313 such convicts, nine are women.