Guwahati Sep 29 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday visited erosion-hit areas in Biswanath district and instructed officials concerned to implement permanent solutions to the perennial problem On the first of his three-day tour of northern and upper Assam Sarma visited areas affected by erosion caused by the Brahmaputra an official release said He asked Additional Chief Secretary Water Resources Syedain Abbasi to take durable measures using geo-bag sloping for embankments to give permanent succour to flood and erosion affected people Responding to the request of local people he said that a high school will be constructed at Batiamari and the Monabari Road will be repaired and renamed after freedom fighter Kanaklata Baruah Sarma visited the under-construction Ghahigaon stadium at Gohpur and asked authorities concerned to complete the work by March next year He also inspected an Anganwadi centre at Behali and spent some time with children it said The chief minister also met the family members of freedom fighters Kanaklata Baruah Mukunda Kakoti and Rampati Rajkhowa and assured them all help from the government PTI TR ACD ACD

Guwahati Sep 28 PTI All educational institutions in Assam will reopen in a phased manner from next month with physical classes in colleges universities and technical institutions as well as for class 9 students to resume from October 1 Offline classes for students of classes 1 to 8 will begin from October 19 an education department notification said on Tuesday Physical classes for final year students of higher secondary degree and post-graduation courses as well as technical courses have resumed from September 6 while those of class 10 commenced from September 20 All classes have to be conducted as per COVID-19 protocols and attendance in the educational institutions is not compulsory the notification said Parents or guardians are required to give their written consent for their wards to attend offline classes it said The institutions will also have to ensure the continuation with online classes it added However educational institutions in containment zones will not reopen until further orders it said The decision to reopen the educational institutions has been taken given the improving COVID-19 situation the notification said However the deputy commissioner of a district reserves the right to close them if the COVID positivity rate in that district breaches 2 per cent on a particular day The deputy commissioner in his capacity as the chairman of the district disaster management authority will order the closure of the educational institutions after consulting the managing director of the National Health Mission the notification said For students from classes 1 to 8 classes will be held three days a week on alternate days There cannot be more than 30 students in a section and hostels will not be reopened for students of these classes Classes for students from classes 9 to 12 will be conducted on a day-to-day basis Hostels will be available only for students of classes 10 and 12 Similarly classes in all colleges universities technical institutions will also resume on a day-to-day basis and boarding facilities will be available only for the final year students In case of detection of any COVID-19 positive case in a school the local government authority has to be informed and classes have to resume the following day itself after testing all students and staff for the infectionIf multiple COVID-19 cases are detected the educational institutions will be closed for seven days as per the notification At least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine is compulsory for all teaching and non-teaching staff while both doses are mandatory for boarders and the staff of hostels and residential schools barring students of final years under the age of 18 years it added Educational institutions in the state had closed from the later part of April this year due to the outbreak of the second COVID-19 wave PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Sep 28 PTI By-election to five assembly constituencies of Assam will be conducted on October 30 the Election Commission of India said on TuesdayCounting of votes will be undertaken on November 2 and the entire polling process will be completed by November 5 it saidWith the announcement of the election dates the model code of conduct in the districts where polling will be held would come into immediate effectBy-polls to Gossaigaon and Tamulpur have been necessitated due to the death of the sitting MLAs while the incumbents of Bhapanipur Mariani and Thowra resigned to join the ruling BJPThe last date for filing of nomination is October 8 with scrutiny of the papers to be done on October 11 and October 16 is the deadine for withdrawal of nomination the EC saidIn the House of 126 seats the ruling BJP has 60 MLAs which includes the seat held by Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal who was on Monday elected to the Rajya SabhaIts allies Asom Gana Parishad and United Peoples Party Liberal have nine and five MLAs each respectivelyThe Congress has 27 legislators AIUDF 15 Bodoland Peoples Front 3 and CPIM has one There is one Independent MLA as well PTI SSG RBT RBT

Guwahati Sep 28 PTI Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal who has been elected to the Rajya Sabha resigned from Assam Assembly on Tuesday hours after the Election Commission announced the schedule for by-poll in five seats in the state on October 30 Sonowal a two consecutive term MLA from Majuli seat was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Monday His resignation from the assembly was accepted by Speaker Biswajit Daimary OSD to Assam Assembly Amarendra Deka said With Sonowals resignation BJPs strength in the 126-member Assam Assembly has come down to 59 The ruling allies AGP and UPPL have nine and five MLAs respectively Opposition Congress has 27 MLAs AIUDF 15 BPF three and CPIM one MLA There is one Independent MLA in the House Earlier during the day the EC announced dates to hold by-poll in five seats of Assam -- Mariani Thowra Bhabanipur Tamulpur and Gossaigaon The Majuli constituency was not included in the list as Sonowal had not resigned by then PTI TR KK KK KK

Guwahati Sep 27 PTI The Assam government will work with the Spices Board of India to explore potentiality of large-scale commercialisation of such agricultural products in the state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday He asked the state agriculture department to start coordinating with the board for the purpose The scope for enhancing prospects and potential of the spices sector in the state was discussed during a meeting between the government and the board officials according to a statement issued by the CMO The chief minister took an area-specific overview of the cultivation of spices in the state and stressed on the processing of the agricultural items to maintain quality it said Considering the potentiality of high-value spices such as ginger chilli and their varieties he asked the agriculture department to use expertise of the Spices Board for large-scale commercialisation of these items According to the statement Sarma said the state government will provide land for setting up a quality control laboratory The need for infrastructural and entrepreneurship development in the spices sector in the state was also discussed during the meeting Sarma asked Agriculture and Horticulture Minister Atul Bora to create modalities to work with the Spices Board for promotion of the sector in the state Both the agriculture department and the board will extensively work on the development of the sector it said With at least 116 existing exporters of spices in the state the state government will organise a conclave in Guwahati Principal Secretary to the chief minister Samir Kumar Sinha Agriculture secretary Vinod Seshan and functionaries from the Spices Board were present at the meeting the statement added PTI SSG BDC BDC

Guwahati Sep 26 PTI The Assam government is considering procuring food grains from local farmers for distribution among eligible beneficiaries under government schemes Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said here on SundayThe Union minister of state for consumer affairs food public distribution and rural development expressed satisfaction at the state governments performance in providing free food grains to beneficiaries under government schemes according to an official statement While the state government is procuring food grains from other states currently it is now considering procuring the grains from local farmers to distribute under government schemes Jyoti said She said the provision of providing free ration to the poor which started last year when people lost employment due to lockdown has benefited the public immensely The Union minister around 80 crore people are now getting free ration in the countryShe also said 535315 houses have been constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in the North-eastern region and 433010 of them were built in Assam PTI SSG NN NN

Guwahati Sep 21 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said 453 people have been arrested for allegedly being involved in illegal land broking activities The state police will continue to take action against those who are harassing people in land revenue offices he said Taking to Twitter Sarma said 453 land brokers picked up so far in continuing raids by assampolice in our concerted pledge to end AssamFightsDalalRaj This notorious practice of brokersdalals in revenue offices harassing commoners must end Our fight against nefarious activities will go on relentlessly These people were apprehended on Monday night for their alleged involvement in unlawful activities related to land purchase a senior police officer said The chief minister in a meeting with officials of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department on September 7 had said middlemen must be eliminated from the system and people should be empowered to get their land-related works done without any hassle In line with directions of the Hon CMOfficeAssam the teams of assampolice have arrested more than 450 persons last night indulging in unlawful activities involving land salepurchaseholding Special DGP Law and Order G P Singh said on the microblogging site PTI SSG BDC BDC