SHILLONG: A high-level committee constituted by the Meghalaya government to probe the infamous job scam that rocked this north-eastern state earlier in 2011, today sought a six month extension to complete the task.
In an affidavit filed before the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court, Justice T Meena Kumari, the committee sought six more months time to complete the probe.
Citing non-availability of original documents and original files from the registry of the Meghalaya High Court and the CBI, the committee through the deputy secretary of the Education department B S Sohliya, said the chairman of the committee "would start the examination of the legality of the whole recruitment procedure as and when the documents are received".
An inquiry by the CBI had earlier indicted Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh (the then Education Minister), the CBI in its report said the then director of the School, Education and Literacy, J D Sangma, was "instructed" by the Minister to tamper with the score-sheets in all five sub-divisions of the state.
"Enquiry has established that majority of candidates were appointed in irregular manner by changing their original marks on account of experience, education, qualification in the score sheets by applying white fluid (correction ink)," the report said, adding that the board members were surprised to see the manipulated score sheets.
While the education department had appointed 350 names as successful candidates in the selection process, 255 were those who were recommended by the politicians.
A single bench of the Gauhati High Court had ordered for a CBI inquiry into the alleged anomalies in the appointment of assistant teachers in government lower primary schools in Meghalaya after adjudicating on a case of nine writ petitions filed by more than 100 aggrieved applicants from various districts of the state during April-May 2010.
Farmers at Assam’s Abhayapuri town in Bongaigaon district today
threatened to commit suicide in protest against the spurious quality of
maize seeds distributed to them by the state government.
Ironically, these farmers registered a record production last year by selling many quintals of produce in the market. However, this year they were convinced by the state agriculture department to use the maize seeds distributed by them, a local TV channel NewsLive reported.
The farmers today gathered in front of the agriculture department office in Abhayapuri and threatened to end their lives without adequate compensation.
NEW DELHI: Assam Police will soon approach a court in Kolkata seeking custody of Sudipta Sen, chairman of Saradha Group which has gone bust, for allegedly duping people in the state.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said a team of Assam Police is camping in Kolkata and in the process of approaching the city's Bidhanangar court to take Sen's custody as his chit fund company had a large presence and got investment in Assam before going bust.
"We are trying to get custody of Sudipta Sen. Out team is already in Kolkata," he told reporters here.
Gogoi said his government has already handed over the case to CBI for a thorough probe into Saradha Group's activities in Assam and find out those involved in it.
Asked about alleged links of a senior politician and former police officer of Assam with the chit fund company, the Chief Minister said "no one will be spared if found guilty".
Sen, his associate Debjani Mukherjee and another Saradha official Arvind Singh Chouhan were arrested from Sonamarg in Kashmir valley on April 24 while they were on the run.
Sen, the chairman of the Saradha Group, allegedly defrauded thousands of small investors, and the two others were today sent to nine days police custody in a fresh case by a court in Kolkata. They had already spent 14 days in police custody in a separate case.
Assam has demanded 'special' coal linkages from the Centre for two of its thermal power projects - one a greenfield project and the other a revival project. The state has also expressed its uneasiness for having made to bear the "huge burden" of under-recoveries by way of the policy of discount on crude oil prices to compensate the downstream oil companies.
The state government has sought long term linkage of 0.2 million metric tonnes of coal to revive the 60 MW thermal power plant at Chandrapur, near Guwahati, and 1 million metric tonnes for the proposed 500 MW thermal power plant in Margherita, in Upper Assam. The Marghertia project was envisioned way back in 2008, but due to non-availability of any coal linkage for the project, it hasn't yet seen the light of the day.
In a meeting with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has sought that coal linkages for the two power projects be ensured. Gogoi said Assam had been pursuing with the Union ministry of power and the ministry of coal to provide "special" coal linkages for the two projects.
The chief minister sought Singh's intervention for allocation of power from projects located in Bhutan. "The hydroelectric projects in Bhutan have been set up with assistance from India over rivers which flow from Bhutan into Assam. However, there is negligible allocation of power to Assam from these projects. We, therefore, request your kind intervention for allocation of power from the Central sector quota or otherwise from these power projects to Assam. This would help improve the efficiency of the transmission system located in North-East."
Taking up the crude oil discount policy, Gogoi said the Assam has been made to bear the "huge burden of under-recoveries" by way of a policy of discount on crude oil prices "with a view to compensate the oil marketing companies". "Such discount policy has not only adversely affected the VAT (value added tax) and Entry Tax collection realised on post discount price, but also has badly hit the royalty collection of the state. Such discount policy on the international price of crude oil has led to loss of revenue of around Rs. 537 crore to the state on account of VAT and Entry Tax alone during the year 2012-13", he added.
Gogoi also took up the loss of royalty incurred by the Assam government due to discount on sale price of crude oil. Gogoi said that though the state government had taken up the matter with the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas on the need for redressal of the injustice being meted out to the state, the latter had not yet taken any favourable decision.
Gogoi requested the Prime Minister to keep crude oil and petroleum products outside the purview of Goods and Services Tax (GST). "We strongly feel that the existing provision of Clause 12A in Article 366 of proposed 115th Constitutional Amendment Bill to keep these products outside GST are in right spirit and should not be tampered with," he added.
SILCHAR: Production in Cachar Paper Mill, the only major industrial undertaking in south Assam and adjoining states of Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura, has once again come to a halt due to crisis of green bamboo shoots.
Industry sources said production in the mill, a unit of the public sector Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd situated at Panchgram in Hailakandi district, stopped five days ago due to non-availability of the main raw material.
The mill, with a capacity of producing 1,00,000 tonne of paper annually, has been shutting down every now and then for the last few years incurring huge loss. "There's insufficient supply of bamboo from its sources, including Mizoram and Dima Hasao for the last few weeks. This has compelled the authorities to stop production temporarily. However, when we have sufficient raw material, the production will resume," said an HPCL unit official on Tuesday.
The sources said the mill requires 300-350 tonne of bamboo daily for production of paper, but the unit is getting less than half the bamboo required since 2006-2007 leading to temporary shutdown of the production unit every now and then.
Situated at a remote place in the northeast, the mill also has poor infrastructural facilities. The mill is dependant on bamboo supplied from the jungles of Mizoram, Dima Hasao and Tripura. The supply of bamboo for the mill was resumed partially only recently after a long gap caused by bamboo flowering.
The unit fails to get bamboo regularly from Dima Hasao in an absence of a proper railway track to the area, while the Tripura government is yet to resume supply of bamboo to the Cachar Paper Mill after the devastating bamboo flowering in the state during 2007-08.
Members of Citu-affiliated Kajog Kol Thikadar Shramik Union and Cachar Paper Mill Mazdoor Union last Friday handed over a memorandum to Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar during his visit to Silchar urging him to take necessary steps to resume bamboo supply without further delay.
The two unions also requested him to start a pulp unit at Tripura. "One such unit is being considered in Mizoram by the state government. If another is set up in Tripura, it will be of great help to the Cachar Paper Mill," the union functionaries said.
Guwahati, May 8 — Assam's annual plan outlay for 2013-14 has been fixed at Rs.12,500 crore, a statement said Tuesday.
The annual plan outlay was fixed at a meeting between Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh
Ahluwalia in New Delhi, said an official statement issued by the chief
minister's office here.
The outlay is an increase of Rs.2,000 crore compared to last year's Rs.10,500 crore, the statement said.
Ahluwalia also praised the state government for the infrastructure
development and added that the state has been impressive in sectors like
agriculture, infrastructure development, health and education.
He also appreciated the state government for improving the key
parameters in so far as reduction of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and
Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR).
He said he would be keen to organize a major conference in
association with industry chamber CII in Guwahati in November this year
in which ambassadors and experts from South East Asia, Singapore and
other countries would take part.
He said that the conference will highlight the infrastructure
development that have taken place in the past ten years in Assam and the
changes that would usher in the next four-five years to attract
investments in a big way.
Ahluwalia also requested Gogoi to extend support to the Subansiri
hydro electric project as "it would bring huge benefits not only to the
northeast region but the country as a whole". Gogoi, however, told him
that the state government is only concerned about the safety aspect of
the project.
AKANKSHYA CHALIHA
The Hidesign store in Guwahati.
India’s premier leather brand, Hidesign, has set its sights on the Northeast
and is looking to open a factory in Guwahati.
“Though we are yet to identify the place, looking at the business prospects I
am indeed very keen on opening a factory in Guwahati,” Hidesign founder and
president Dilip Kapur said in Guwahati recently.
The company currently has three factories — one in Pondicherry and two in
Himachal Pradesh — from which the products are distributed worldwide.
The retail partner of Hidesign in the region, Design Wale, a local business
firm, is ready to go the extra mile to promote quality leather bags here.
The entrepreneurs behind Design Wale, Kangkan Chakravarty and Mehtaj Zaman
Ahmed, are optimistic about the custom factory. “It will take some time, as
these things do not happen overnight. Moreover, since we are based in Guwahati,
the factory will be opened here. But, it will happen for sure,” Chakravarty
said.
The factory is, however, not the only deal struck by Design Wale with
Hidesign. Three standalone stores in Dimapur, Gangtok and Shillong are also in
the pipeline.
“It has been only 13 months, and the Guwahati store is performing better than
our expectations. This has encouraged us to further explore the Northeast market
and open independent stores. The three chosen cities are heading towards
urbanisation, yet retain their past glory and heritage — the same concept that
drives Hidesign,” Kapur said.
The company will open its doors for the Dimapur crowd in January next year,
followed by stores in Sikkim and Shillong in a phased manner.
Barring these three, Hidesign will also have a section for themselves at the
Sohum Emporio in Guwahati. “I have already visited Sohum Emporio and checked the
space. It will take us two months to develop the store,” Kapur said.
With an annual domestic turnover of Rs 110 crore, Hidesign has 63 boutiques
across the country, with additional outlets in departmental and specialty
stores.
Despite prices being on the high side, Hidesign never fell short of what it
did best — lure people.
“When we decided to open a boutique in Guwahati, we did not conduct any
market survey like our contemporaries do. We worked on our instincts. The
Northeast is full of impulsive buyers, which gave us the confidence to open more
stores here,” Ahmed said.
GUWAHATI: Taking a cue from Tripura, Assam government is exploring ways of involving members of United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) in rubber cultivation in Karbi Anglong district.
The Karbi outfit had signed a peace accord with the Centre last month. Over 300 cadres, including leaders of UPDS, are to lay down their arms at the Karbi Anglong Sports Association ( KASA) stadium at Diphu on December 14.
State soil conservation minister, Ardhendu Kumar Dey told TOI on Sunday that he has already discussed rubber cultivation plans in the district with UPDS leaders. Dey said with UPDS joining the mainstream, rubber plantation could be the best option for economic rehabilitation for members of the outfit.
"In Tripura insurgency was successfully contained by ushering in rubber cultivation. The economic benefits from rubber cultivation can also be replicated for members of insurgent outfits in Assam. In fact, I had talks with leaders of UPDS for taking up rubber cultivation in Karbi Anglong," Dey said.
Rubber cultivation in Karbi Anglong was prevalent many years ago, but the spell of insurgency affected its promotion for over a decade in the district.
Rubber Board member, Siby Monipally said, "Rubber plantation has proved to be the most dependable source of income. This sector is going to uplifting economic activity in Karbi Anglong in a big way."
Mrinal Chowdhury, Rubber Board's field office in-charge at Diphu (Karbi Anglong district headquarters) said, "The situation has changed in Karbi Anglong now. Former militants who have joined the mainstream are showing interest in taking up rubber cultivation. More than 50 members of militant groups in Karbi Anglong have already started rubber plantation for economic benefits." At present, about 2,500 hectares in Karbi Anglong district is under rubber plantation.
"With the improvement of law and order situations now, we are all set to usher in plantation economy through rubber in Karbi Anglong," Chowdhury added.
The state soil conservation department has targeted to cover 50,000 hectares in the state under rubber plantation in the next five years.
"Assam's potential area for rubber cultivation is two lakh hectares. Right now we have set the target of bringing 10,000 hectares under rubber plantation each year and in five years we are going to cover altogether 50,000 hectares," Dey said.
The potential yield from 50,000 hectares is estimated to be 375,000 metric tons of rubber latex in five years, expected to generate an income of over Rs 10,350 crore.
Guwahati, Dec 12 : Assam government will assist in bailing out the state's ailing film industry, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said today. "Films being a powerful and effective means of communication can be gainfully utilised in a number of ways as an instrument of creating public awakening and to promote oneness by enlisting public cooperation in the task of nation building," Gogoi said here at the mahurat of an Assamese feature film 'Baandhaon' being directed by celebrated film maker of international repute Jahnu Barua. The film is being produced by Assam State Film (finance and development) Coporation, which was lauded by Gogoi. Barua, thanking the corporation for its help, demanded that it should help in promoting at least three Assamese feature films a year. The shooting of the feature film is scheduled to begin next month, he added. State Cultural Affairs Minister Pranati Phukan also spoke on the occasion.
Monkey menace has reached alarming proportions in a zoo in Guwahati, Assam, as they harass the visitors and leave them injured.
Despite the fact that the zoo has a dense forest within its fold, the monkeys seldom stay there. Instead, they cross over to the visitors' zone.
The monkeys have destroyed zoo property and attacked people in the past. An environment of fright and chaos has gripped the zoo.
Pinku Borkuch, a visitor to the zoo, said that this had become a perennial problem in the zoo premises.
He added that many a time the monkeys have shown aggression towards children and have harmed them, leaving them injured.
"The monkeys here as you can see are roaming freely. They come here because during winters they don't get much to eat up in the hills. Here they snatch fruits or chips etc from the hands of the visitors. So, if they steal from the hands of a child then the child can get hurt or get an infection from it. If you try to chase them away they counter-attack," added Borkuch.
The primate problem had become such a big headache that the zoo authorities and Dr. M.L. Smith, a vet at the zoo, were considering sterilizing them to prevent rapid multiplication of the population.
Smith also said that capturing the monkeys was a herculean task and was far from easy.
"Our steps to control this menace are in the initial stage. We want to surgically sterilize the monkeys so that their breeding rate comes down. Also, catching these monkeys is not easy, especially catching them for a second time. So, this is in a trial and error stage as of now," added Smith.
The zoo authorities have already started the sterilization process and they are bringing the monkeys one by one, under the scalpel to perform vasectomy and tubectomy on them. So far, five monkeys have been operated upon.
The monkeys operated upon will be marked to identify them from the rest. Apart from this, the authorities have also decided that all the enclosures in the future would be built in such a way, that the monkeys cannot breach them.
The monkey population in the zoo was estimated to be over 500.
GUWAHATI: Wildlife conservation in the state is all set to get a foreign fillip with the Taiwan government coming forward to assist in conservation activities by funding NGOs in the field.
The Taiwan government has already been supporting eight conservation programmes in the state since 2007, at a cost of US $ 48,000. Taiwan will now fund Aaranyak, a Guwahati-based NGO, to the tune of US $ 6,000, for a project titled 'Monitoring of greater one-horned rhino in Jaldapara wildlife sanctuary'. Besides,it will provide US $ 5,000 to another NGO, Rhino Foundation for Nature in North East, for compilation and production of a monograph on 'Mammals of North-east India review'.
Taiwan ambassador to India Wenchyi Ong will be here on Wednesday to hand over the cheques to the NGOs on behalf of Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture of Taiwan. "As a token of support and friendship, Taiwan wishes to make a small contribution to the daunting task of conserving wildlife in the region," Ong said.
