Guwahati Apr 23 PTI Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the ongoing India Industrial Fair in Guwahati during his day-long trip to the city on SaturdayHe was accompanied by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma state Commerce and Industry Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary and president of Laghu Udyog Bharti Baldev Prajapati among othersSharing photographs of the visit on Twitter Sarma wrote Accompanied Adarniya Raksha Mantri Shri rajnathsingh Ji to UDYAM 2022 organised by Northeast Chapter of Micro Small Medium Enterprises Industry body Laghu Udyog Bharti in Guwahati sic Our gratitude to Adarniya Raksha Mantri Shri rajnathsingh Ji His visit to the fair will motivate participants and inspire many budding entrepreneurs across the country he addedSarma said the fair has been organised with the call for Atmanirbhar Bharat and Vocal for LocalUnion Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises MSME Narayan Rane had inaugurated the fair on Friday PTI SSG SOM SOM

Guwahati Apr 21 PTI All the seven panels formed by the Assam government to propose measures for the overall development of indigenous Assamese Muslims submitted their reports on Thursday an official release saidChief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma received the reports and said his government will take measures for the all-around welfare of the communitySarma had held a meeting with eminent personalities from the minority community across the state after assuming office in May last yearThe seven subcommittees were constituted as per a decision of the meeting to undertake studies and give recommendations on cultural identity health education skill development population stabilisation financial inclusion and women empowerment of indigenous Assamese MuslimsThese panels have conducted studies and made recommendations in their respective reports the release saidBased on the recommendations the state government would formulate plans and implement them to achieve socio-economic and academic empowerment of the indigenous Assamese Muslim community it saidState minister Chandra Mohan Patowary CMs political secretary Jayanta Malla Baruah members of the subcommittees and senior officers of the government were present on the occasion the release added PTI SSG BDC BDC

Guwahati Apr 21 PTI A man arrested in a rape case was injured in firing when he allegedly tried to escape from custody in Assams Nagaon district police said on ThursdayThe man was arrested from the Batadrava police station area on Wednesday on the allegation of raping a girl they saidAs he complained of chest pain he was being taken to a hospital on Wednesday night they saidOn the way to the hospital he wanted to relieve himself But as soon as he got down from the vehicle he pushed our personnel and started running a police officer saidWhen the man refused to stop even after repeated warnings police had to fire and he was hit on the leg the officer saidHe is at present undergoing treatment at the Gauhati Medical College and HospitalIn another incident at Agomoni in Dhubri district an operation was on to nab those involved in shooting at a former ULFA cadreWhen police tried to take the person involved in the shooting into custody he allegedly attempted to escapeWe had to fire and he was hurt on the leg He is in a stable condition now police saidAltogether 46 people were killed and at least 110 injured in police firings while allegedly trying to flee from custody or attacking the personnel after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma assumed office in May 2021 PTI SSG SOM

Guwahati Apr 20 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu here on Wednesday and announced that the two Northeastern states will form district-level committees to resolve the longstanding border disputes in a time-bound mannerThis was the second chief ministerial-level meeting between the two states over the boundary issue Sarma said in a series of tweetsThe two northeastern neighbours had previously met over the issue on January 24 this year during which Arunachal Pradesh climbed down from its initial demand of transfer of 1119279 sq km land to 859 sq kmWe decided to form district-level committees in both the states to resolve the issue in a time-bound mannerThe district committees will undertake joint surveys in the disputed areas to find tangible solutions to the long-pending issue based on historical perspective ethnicity contiguity peoples will and administrative convenience of both the states the Assam chief minister saidThe terms of reference of the committees were also finalised at the meeting Sarma saidAssam Border Area Development Minister Atul Bora and chief secretaries and senior officials of both the states were present at the meetingAssam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 8041-km-long border and there are 1200 points of dispute along it Arunachal Pradesh has a grievance that the re-organisation of North Eastern states unilaterally transferred several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities to AssamAfter Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987 a tripartite committee was appointed which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal Assam contested this and the matter is before the Supreme CourtArunachal Pradesh was a centrally-administered region initially after Independence and became a Union Territory later before attaining full statehood in 1987Besides Arunachal Pradesh Assam also has boundary disputes with Meghalaya Nagaland and Mizoram and soon after assuming office in May last year Sarma has been making efforts to resolve these through negotiations PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Apr 20 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu on Wednesday and announced that the two Northeastern states will form district-level committees to resolve the longstanding border disputes in a time-bound mannerThis was the second chief ministerial-level meeting between the two states over the boundary issue Sarma said in a series of tweetsWe decided to form district-level committees in both the states to resolve the issue in a time-bound manner he saidThe district committees will undertake joint surveys in the disputed areas to find tangible solutions to the long-pending issue based on historical perspective ethnicity contiguity peoples will and administrative convenience of both the states he addedThe terms of reference of the committees were also finalised in the meeting Sarma saidAssam Border Area Development Minister Atul Bora and chief secretaries and senior officials of both the states were present in the meetingAssam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 8041-km-long border and there are 1200 points of dispute along itArunachal Pradesh was a centrally-administered region initially after Independence and became a Union Territory later before attaining full statehood in 1987 PTI SSG SOM

Guwahati Mar 28 PTI The Assam government on Monday introduced five bills to repeal obsolete laws related to education and industry to minimise compliance burden on citizens and businessesEducation Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu introduced The Assam State Higher Secondary Education Council Repealing Bill 2022 to reduce regulatory compliance burden on citizens and businesses to improve the index of ease of doing business according to the statement of objects and reasonsThe Assam State Higher Education Council Act 2017 had already ceased to be in force and become obsolete it addedPegu also brought The Assam Elementary Education Provincialisation Repealing Bill 2022 in the House as the original Act of 1974 had become obsolete with the enactment of the Assam Education Provincialisation of Services of Teachers and Re-Organisation of Educational Institutions Act 2017 as amended in 2018The Assam Venture Sanskrit and Pali Educational Institutions Provincialisation of Services Repealing Bill 2022 was also introduced by the minister as the original Act of 2012 had ceased to be in forceSimilarly Pegu introduced The Assam Classical Institution Sanskrit and Pali-Prakrit Provincialisation Repealing Bill 2022 with the original Act of 1996 having become outdatedIndustries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary introduced The Assam Industries Commerce and Public Enterprises Repealing Bill 2022 to revoke The Assam Aid to Industries Small and Cottage Industries Act 1955 in line with the governments decision to reduce regulatory and compliance burden on citizens and businesses PTI SSG BDC BDC

Guwahati Mar 28 PTI The Assam government on Monday introduced a bill in the assembly to constitute a commission to empower youths of the state and protect their rightsSports and Youth Affairs Minister Bimal Borah introduced The Assam State Youth Commission Bill 2022 in the House with the statement of objects and reasons mentioning that the body will implement programmes for educating and empowering youthsAssam State Youth Commission will function as a protector of the rights of youths and effectively monitor and implement programmes for educating them it saidThe proposed body will also look into implementation of laws for the welfare of youths and advise the government on all matters relating to themIt will strive that residents of Assam are given priority for employment in the private and non-formal sectors within the stateThe commission will ensure that the interests of youths studying or working outside Assam are protected and the Assamese diaspora also retains a link with the stateIt will be a common platform for youths to register their grievances the government saidThe commission will provide training facilities to students of Assam for competitive examinations and also mobilise them at the grassroots through active youth clubs and identify talent through involvement of local organisationsThe expenditure for the commission will be met from the consolidated fund of Assam through budgetary provisions PTI SSG BDC BDC

Guwahati Mar 28 PTI As many as 28056 suicide cases have been registered in Assam since 2012 the Assembly was informed on MondayIn a written reply Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who also holds the Home portfolio said inquiry into such cases has revealed that individuals have taken their own lives for various reasons including family dispute financial crisis or a relationship gone wrongSarma also said that in the last 10 years 12703 cases of murder 111 rape and murder 18519 rapes and 31360 molestations have been registeredThe CM to another question said a total of 119800 cases pertaining to nine types of crimes including theft rape kidnapping murder and dacoity have been recorded from 2017 till February 28 2022The figure for similar crimes between 2011 and 2016 stood at 85224 he notedApart from that 10651 cyber crime cases were registered from 2016 till February 28 2022 and 1374 arrests made during the periodNumber of cyber cases filed from 2011 to 2016 touched 1467 and arrests made 164 the chief minister added PTI SSG RMS RMS

Guwahati Mar 28 PTI Asserting that death or injury of suspected criminals as they try to flee custody was nothing new in the state minister Pijush Hazarika told the Assembly on Monday that the police needed to act tough to control crimeAssam has witnessed a spurt in police encounters since Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma assumed office on May 10 with the opposition alleging that the police has turned trigger happyDefending police action on criminals trying to escape the parliamentary affairs minister said There is no such word as encounter in the Assam Police manual If a criminal tries to escape or attack the police they may get injured or killedDeath of criminals due to police action is not something new it has happened in the past too Hazarika said responding to a question by Opposition MLA Kamalakhya Dey PurkayasthaHe was replying on behalf of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who also holds the Home portfolio The police should always act tough and ensure that crime is controlled the minister statedCrime rate has decreased by 30 per cent since May last year when Sarma took charge he claimedHazarika further pointed out that action had been against police personnel too if found flouting rulesPurkayastha had raised questions on the recurrence of encounters in the state and sought to know if there were any lacunae in police training that led criminals to routinely attempt an escape from custodyIndependent MLA Akhil Gogoi in a supplementary question claimed that the official figure of suspected criminals killed in police action since May last year was incorrectHazarika in his reply said 29 people have been killed and 96 others injured during the periodGogoi however argued that a count was being kept and the toll stood at 35The minister on his part noted that 75 have died in police action and two sustained injuries from 2016 to 2021To yet another question he said a total of 1628 Personal Security Officers PSOs are currently attached to 941 people -- 836 of them for 316 political leadersOf the 316 leaders 14 are from the BJP he saidActing on the chief ministers appeal to leaders to forego PSOs two BJP legislators Rupjyoti Kurmi and Paramananda Rajbongshi have given up their cover Hazarika saidLok Sabha MP Rajdeep Roy has also forsaken his PSO cover he maintainedThe chief minister himself has reduced his own security cover substantially bringing down the number of vehicles in his convoy from 20-25 to 6-7 the minister added PTI SSG RMS RMS

Guwahati Feb 22 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday asked the health department to take measures for online booking in out patient departments of medical colleges and hospitals in the state He also directed streamlining the process for applying online for medical bill reimbursement of state government employees on official release said Sarma issued the instructions during a review of various programmes of the health department Key issues related to Assam Secondary Healthcare Systems Reforms Project status of the State Cancer Institute at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and draft of Employees Health Assured Scheme were also discussed in the meeting it said He directed that steps should be taken for setting up 50 bedded hospitals under PM Ayushmaan Bharat Abhiyaan at five locations across Assam besides a 100 bed hospital at Sualkuchi a mother and child care hospital at Tamulpur and high quality GNM Nursing School as part of district hospital infrastructure under the same project To make health delivery system hassle free Sarma asked for opening green corridor of emergency cases with space for parking besides steps for online booking for OPD at medical colleges the release said He also reviewed the progress of ongoing construction works of five district hospitals at newly created districts While discussing various steps taken at State Cancer Institute GMCH under National Programme for prevention and control of cancer diabetes cardiovascular diseases and stroke the chief minister approved the utilisation plan of the first instalment of fund received from the Centre He also gave directions for prompt utilisation of fund to be released under second and third instalments it said Reviewing the draft for implementation of Employees Health Assured Scheme Sarma directed introduction of portal-based submission of medical bills for government servants including the retired employees He also directed to end the empanelled hospital system to make the new mechanism more conducive Under the new mechanism there will be a single admissibility board headed by the CEO of Atal Amrit Abhiyaan Society The CEOs office will take steps for verification and other necessary procedures for release of admissible amount in a faceless manner with high end technological intervention the release said The chief minister asked the department to develop a portal and prepare appropriate guidelines to ensure seamless experience for government servants the release added PTI SSG KK KK KK