Memorial to be unveiled for 2008 Guwahati blast victims

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi will unveil a swahid bedi below Ganeshguri flyover at the site of the 2008 serial blasts on Tuesday to honour those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

October 30 marks the fourth anniversary of the tragedy and a memorial service is also being organised by the Kamrup (metro) district administration in collaboration with the state government.

Around 90 people died and many were injured during the serial blasts, which occurred at Ganeshguri, Panbazar and near CJM Court at Kachari.

Assamese sculptor Biren Singha has created the memorial at an estimated cost of Rs 25 lakh.

“Like every year, this time, too, we are organising a memorial service to pay tribute to the people who had lost their lives during the serial blasts. A prayer service will be followed by lighting of lamps by the public. The chief minister will inaugurate the memorial on the occasion. The families of the victims are likely to be present during the service,” said Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Ashutosh Agnihotri.

250 Kids joined workshop on songs of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika

Children here got a taste of Bhupen Hazarika’s music during a three-day workshop on the maestro’s creations that concluded at Gauhati Commerce College today.

Organised by Dr Bhupen Hazarika Literary and Cultural Forum — a body formed in August to promote Hazarika’s creations without distortion among people, especially the young generation — the workshop was attended by around 250 children from different parts of the city.

Hazarika’s brother, Samar, was the resource person during the workshop.

Though the depth of Hazarika’s lyrics apparently eluded the young minds, they enthusiastically learned these by heart and sang along with Samar Hazarika. The fact that most of them were from English medium schools did not stand in the way.

Milk set to get costlier by Rs. 5 to 6 per litre

The morning cup of brew is likely to become dearer with price of milk likely to increase within the next fortnight in the city.

The Brihattar Gauhati Go-Palak Sanstha is contemplating to increase the price of milk by about Rs 5-6 per litre to meet the rising costs of production.

The Sanstha today said rising cost of inputs like cattle feed and fuel have resulted in a sudden increase in the production cost of milk. As a result, for the past few days, the 5,000-odd dairy farmers here are incurring losses.

Interacting with the media today, Mridupaban Baishya, adviser to the Brihattar Gauhati Go-Palak Sanstha, said, “After the rise in fuel prices, the cost of cattle feed has suddenly gone up. Besides, prices of other inputs and labour cost of rearing the livestock are increasing continuously. It is becoming exceedingly difficult for us to meet the production cost. The livelihoods of innumerable families are directly associated with this business. While the present price of milk is Rs 33 per litre, the production cost has increased to Rs 37.50 per litre in the last few days. Hence, we have no other option but to increase the price by the second week of November. We appeal to the public to understand our position.”

GMDA set to go online for building permission system

The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority will move to a computerised building permission system in order to reduce the hassles of the manual system.

The new system is expected to make the whole process of building permission more transparent and user-friendly.

“We get a lot of complaints from the present manual building permission system and want to make it totally error-free,” said GMDA chief executive officer M. Angamuthu.

The new system will be a computer-aided design-based computerised solution for automatic building permission scrutiny. CAD is used to assist in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimisation of a design and many private organisations use it in varied applications.

The move comes in the wake of the recent meeting between Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers Association president P.K. Sharma and Guwahati development department minister Ajanta Neog, where Sharma requested the entire process be made online with strict penal provisions for offending officials.

Tezpur Medical college hits the Eco hurdle

An expert panel of the environment and forests ministry has found that construction of Tezpur Medical College and Hospital has begun without obtaining the mandatory environmental clearances, which is in “violation” of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification.
The issue came up for discussion at the 116th meeting of the expert appraisal committee for building construction, coastal regulation zone, infrastructure development and miscellaneous projects that was held from September 19 to 21 at New Delhi.

“The committee after discussion (has) concluded that since construction has already begun, this is a case of violation,” the committee report stated. According to the details of the meeting, an executive engineer of the public works department revealed that construction for the above project had already begun.

Environmental clearance for certain developmental projects has been made mandatory by the ministry of environment and forests through its notification issued on January 27, 1994 under the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Dhemaji ready to export Organic paddy to European Countries

Dhemaji district in Assam is getting ready to export organic paddy (bao dhan) to European countries.

The development took place after the agriculture department traced the high protein and iron content in four traditional bao paddy varieties in the flood-prone district, during a recent study.

Dhemaji deputy commissioner M.S. Manivannan said samples of four bao paddy varieties have already been sent to the desired European farm through a New Delhi-based institution.

The local administration is waiting to get a green signal from the authorities concerned for sending as much as 40 metric tonnes organic paddy in the first phase.

A team of European experts will visit the district within the next month for a detailed study of the concept of bao paddy cultivation and the visit will follow a direct link between the Dhemaji farmers and the European paddy exporters.