Prime Minister Manmohan Singh filed his nomination papers in the Assam
assembly on Wednesday afternoon for a fifth straight Rajya Sabha term
from the state. His fourth term ends on June 14.
His visit was
marked by a series of protests as members of students’ organisations and
political parties showed black flag and staged sit-ins seeking reasons
for his ‘step-motherly treatment’ to
the state.
Singh has been representing Assam in the Upper
House since 1991 after he became the Union finance minister. Former
chief minister Hiteswar Saikia offered him a Rajya Sabha seat that had
fallen vacant and even made Singh a tenant to justify his nomination.
“I hav
e been representing Assam in the Rajya Sabha for the last 21 years,
and I cannot be grateful enough to the people of the state. I shall
endeavour to ensure all-round development for Assam,” he said after
emerging from the assembly.
Singh is expected to win the seat
comfortably with the Congress and its allies occupying 94 berths in the
126-member assembly. The Congress candidate, preferably one from the
Adivasi community, is also likely to win the second seat as the combined
strength of the opposition is 32.
The opposition has failed to
come up with a consensus candidate with the pro-Muslim All India United
Democratic Front (18 MLAs) differing ideologically with the Asom Gana
Parishad (nine) and the BJP (five).
The last date of withdrawing nomination is May 20 and the elections, if necessary, will be on May 30.
A day after she received the prestigious Srimanta Sankaradeva Award from President Pranab Mukherjee at a function here, Sharmila Tagore on Tuesday became an indirect target of Paresh Barua's ULFA(I), with the outfit questioning Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi why the award instituted in the name of the 16th century saint-reformer was conferred on the actor.
"The ULFA(I) considers the Assam government's conferment of the Srimanta Sankaradeva award to the bikini-girl of Hindi cinema Sharmila Tagore (Begun Ayesha Sultana) a gross insult to the greatest saint of Assam. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, whose government had only recently insulted Sukafa, the founder of the Ahom dynasty, now owes an explanation as to why his government chose Sharmila Tagore who is in no way associated in propagating the ideals of Sankaradeva," a statement emailed to media offices by the ULFA(I) on Tuesday said.
Interestingly, Sharmila in her acceptance speech not only recalled her Assamese connection but also the contributions of her maternal family towards shaping modern Assamese culture and society.
GUWAHATI: The state government is contemplating to conduct a study to find out whether the state has benefited from the ambitious North East Industrial and Investment Policy announced by the Centre in 2007 to boost industrialization in the backward state as well as the entire region.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said, "The government would constitute a committee to study whether Assam has benefited from the incentives under NEIPP."
Gogoi's remark comes close on the heels of the Planning Commission increasing Assam's annual plan share to Rs 12,500 crore after it appreciated the efforts of the state government in infrastructure development and agriculture.
The policy is loaded with fiscal incentives and other concessions to attract investors from within the country and abroad to this geographically isolated region but official records show that since 2001, no industry has been set up in the state sector and of the 16 state public sector units under the industry and commerce department, 11 have been closed down, one is sick and two are incurring losses. Only one is making profit and one has just started functioning.
The Economic Survey of the state for 2012-13 states, "Assam is still making efforts desperately for gearing up industrial activities. The manufacturing sector's contribution to the state economy maintains a downward trend and is pegged at 4.05 per cent."
The policy, which is applicable to all industrial units except those producing tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes, pan masala and plastic carry bags of less than 20 microns, refineries and units engaged in peripheral activities like preservation during storage, cleaning operations, packing, re-packing, labeling or re-labeling, sorting and alteration of retail sale price, extends to Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.
Gogoi and industry and commerce minister Pradyut Bordoloi have made numerous trips abroad in search of investments to the state since 2001. But all their efforts have drawn a blank so far. Sources said there is no direct foreign investment proposal for the state from the Centre.
"In many cases, investors have been found to retract because of lack of easily available land," the source said. The industry department is optimistic and claimed that six big Indian business houses are now showing interest in the state, which include Hindustan Lever Limited, Ind-Swift Laboratories, McLeod Russel (India) Limited, North East Pulp and Paper Private Ltd, Kohinoor Pulp and Paper Private Ltd and Globe Power and Steel Ltd.
Guwahati: Even as an ill-fated woman Guwahati fell prey to the flash
flood in the city after a spell of rain on Thursday night, Assam Human
Rights Commission (AHRC) has asked the state government to pay a
compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of Binoy Mohan Das who faced
the same fate two years back.
Das, the then Superintendent of Kamrup Treasury, fell into an
unguarded drain as he was walking along the footpath after a spell of
rain which submerged the city on October 21 in 2011 at the R.G.B Road,
in Guwahati.
A Division Bench of the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
comprising its Chairperson, Justice Dr. Aftab H. Saikia and Member,
Tarun Phookan, by its order dated 08.05.2013 passed in AHRC Case
No.238/24/11-12 recommended to the Government of Assam to pay
compensation of Rs.10 lakh within three months to the next of kin of
late Binoy Mohan Das.
Ajay Hazarika, Chief coordinator, Consumers’ Legal Protection Forum
(CLPF), Guwahati, filed a complaint before the Commission in that behalf
and the Commission after taking up the case directed the Guwahati
Municipal Corporation (GMC) and the APWD (Roads) Guwahati City,
Division-I, to separately enquire into the said fatal incident and
submit their respective reports. The reports were accordingly submitted
in due course and after considering the same the Division Bench passed
the order of the recommendation. The State Government was given liberty
to realize the compensatory amount in equal proportion from those two
Departments fixing responsibilities in that regard upon their respective
officials/staff concern.
Another middle aged lady Basanti Devi, who originally hails from
Bihar, stepped on a live electric wire as drain water submerged the Anil
Nagar area in the city after a spell of rain on Thursday evening.
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.
