Guwahati Apr 22 PTI Three persons have been arrested by Guwahati Police for allegedly raping a co-worker in Hatigaon area of the city a police officer said on FridayThe owner of the office where the three accused as well as the woman worked has also been arrested he saidThe woman had approached the police with her complaint on Thursday claiming that three co-workers had invited her for lunch on the previous day at their shared accommodation in Hatigaon areaHe said She claimed that they raped her She informed the owner of their office the same day about the incident but he took no actionSo on Thursday the woman came to us and based on her statement we have arrested the three accused as well as the owner of the office An investigation has been started to ascertain the facts of the case the police officer said PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Mar 30 PTI On the eve of election to two Rajya Sabha seats in Assam the Opposition led by Congress on Wednesday asserted that its joint candidate will win comfortablyOutgoing Rajya Sabha MP and former state Congress president Ripun Bora is seeking re-election as the Opposition parties joint candidate for the lone seat that they are contestingAddressing a press conference Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia said We want to iterate that we have full support of 43 MLAs and our candidate will emerge victorious In the 126-member state Assembly there 27 MLAs from the Congress 15 from AIUDF and one from the CPI M while there is an Independent legislator of Raijor DalOut of Congresss 27 MLAs one MLA Sashi Kanta Das who had been suspended has promised to support the rival NDAs candidates for the RS electionsVoting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm on Thursday and counting will be held the same day at 5 pmSaikia claimed that besides 26 Congress MLAs the lone CPIM legislator and the one from Raijor Dal will also vote for BoraThe AIUDF has also lent its support to Bora as the joint candidate of the Opposition partiesRaijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi who was present at the press meet said We will ensure victory of Ripun Bora and defeat any conspiracy of the ruling alliance Saikia said the CPIM MLA could not be present at the press conference as he had some urgent work at the party officeBora who also addressing the press meet said he was confident of retaining his seatThis is an ideological war Our victory will mean win of democracy and secularism he saidThe other seat which fell vacant was held by his party colleague Ranee NarahThe ruling BJP-led coalition government has fielded Pabitra Margherita BJP and Rwngra Narzary UPPL for the two seatsThe ruling NDA has 79 members in the Assembly with 63 from BJP nine from AGP and seven from the UPPLThe BPF which has three MLAs has lent its support to the government in the assembly but is yet to enter into a political alliance formallyThere are seven Rajya Sabha seats from Assam Three of them are held by the BJP and one by its alliance partner AGP An independent member holds another seatMLAs will participate in the Rajya Sabha election as members of the Upper House of Parliament are elected by legislators in state assemblies It is election through proportional representation PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Mar 20 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday held discussions with his Cabinet colleagues and other top officials on the proposed animal corridors in Kaziranga National ParkThe meeting deliberated on structural corridors for smooth movement of the animals Sarma said in a tweet at the end of the meetingHeld a meeting with Cabinet colleagues sr state govt officials on the proposed 9 animal corridors of Kaziranga National Park he wrote on the micro-blogging site Ministers Atul Bora Keshab Mahanta and Parimal Suklabaidya among others were present at the meetingThe states advocate general and deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of Nagaon and Golaghat districts also attended the meeting he saidNine animal corridors connecting Kaziranga National Park with Karbi Anglong across National Highway 37 have been identified the state Assembly was informed on March 16Out of these two are under Bokakhat revenue circle of Golaghat district and the rest under the Koliabor revenue circle in Nagaon districtTo ensure safe passage to wild animals crossing from the national highway a 35-km long elevated corridor having a four-lane road with tunnels has been proposed in this years annual budget by the state governmentThe estimated cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 4865 crore PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Feb 24 PTI Bangladesh Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud on Thursday stressed the vital role that films can play in enhancing cultural and people-to-people ties between his country and IndiaMahmud was speaking while inaugurating the first Bangladesh Film Festival here to celebrate the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of the independence of the neighbouring countryThe festival which will continue through the first half of March beginning from Friday at different venues in Guwahati is being organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Bangladesh in association with the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh GuwahatiMahmud pointed out that India and Bangladesh were one country but the Partition in 1947 led to disruption in the connectivityPeople of both the countries speak almost the same language live along the banks of the same rivers But political boundaries have disrupted our connectivity he saidGovernments of both the countries have been working on re-establishing connectivity through roads rails and water between the two neighbours and increasing economic cooperation the minister saidUnderlining that people-to-people connect is equally important for taking forward economic ties Mahmud said For enhancing cultural relations and people-to-people ties films play an important role And hence we decided to hold the festival here We hope to make it a regular event The Bangladesh minister also highlighted the role of films in helping humans remain humane in the present technology-driven materialistic worldAssam Forest and Environment Minister Parimal Suklabaidya along with other dignitaries were also present at the inaugural ceremony PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Feb 22 PTI An employee of the Office of Joint Director Health Services in Assams Sonitpur district was arrested on Tuesday by vigilance sleuths on the allegation of demanding bribeAn Assam Police release said that a complaint was received by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption against the dealing assistant of the office for providing a certificate in lieu of moneyThe accused had also purportedly demanded bribe from many employees of the district under the administrative control of his office the release said A trap was laid against him at Tezpur on Tuesday by the vigilance team and he was caught red-handed while accepting the bribeA case has been registered against him and he is being brought to Guwahati for interrogation the release added PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Feb 20 PTI Assam maintained its declining trend of new COVID-19 cases with the figure coming down to 13 on Sunday from 29 the previous day even as the overall caseload increased to 723949 a National Health Mission NHM bulletin said The number of persons succumbing to the disease also came down to two from three on Saturday The number of samples tested during the day was also less 1939 against 5144 on Saturday The states positivity rate however increased marginally to 067 per cent from 056 per cent the previous day The number of new COVID-19 cases in the state remained below 50 for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday Among the new cases Kamrup Metropolitan reported six fresh infections The two coronavirus deaths were reported from Golaghat and Sonitpur pushing the death toll to 6631 The current death rate in Assam due to the COVID-19 pandemic is 092 per cent while the number of coronavirus patients dying due to other reasons continued to be at 1347 The number of COVID-19 recovered patients discharged from hospitals in Assam on Sunday was 309 higher than 179 on Saturday with the total number of discharged patients increasing to 715456 at a recovery rate of 9883 per cent in the state The number of active cases in the state decreased to 515 on Sunday compared to 813 on the previous day The bulletin said 42959414 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the state so far Of them 23349277 were given the first dose 19370569 the second dose and 239568 the precautionary dose The daily vaccination figure includes 824 adolescents between 15 and 17 years receiving their jabs and 321 precautionary doses to vulnerable groups such as healthcare and frontline workers along with the elderly people according to the bulletin PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Jan 28 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday called on Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi at Raj Bhavan and apprised him of the prevailing situation in the state A Raj Bhavan release said Sarma also updated the governor regarding several issues about the welfare and development of the state He also informed Prof Mukhi about the progress of implementation of important schemes and projects of the central and state governments The governor and the chief minister also discussed the forthcoming Budget Session of the state Assembly which the governor has summoned from March 14 the release added PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Dec 20 PTI With several departments failing to submit their annual reports to it despite repeated reminders the Assam Information Commission has recommended to the state government to take action against them In the annual report of the Assam Information Commission for 2020-21 tabled in the state assembly on Monday the panel said seven departments failed to submit their reports on the public authorities under their jurisdiction despite several reminders These departments include Education Elementary and Higher Finance Parliamentary Affairs and PWD Roads Twelve more departments submitted partial reports without covering all the public authorities under them The commission strongly recommends suitable action against the departments which have failed to comply with statutory provisionsof the RTI Act the report said It termed efforts by the state government to create awareness regarding provisions of the Right to Information RTI Act as inadequate and advocated for more measures to encourage greater participation of women and people from rural areas in filing RTI applications Iterating that filing of RTI petitions complaints and appeals is restricted to a small group the report pointed out that more than 90 per cent of all RTI complaints and second appeal petitions filed before it are by a group of six to seven activists Filing multiple RTI applications before different authorities on the same subject or before the same authority by an applicant may amount to disproportionate diversion of resources it said The commission iterated its proposal for the deletion of CID and Bureau of Investigation of Economic Offences BIEO from the list of exempted organisations under the RTI Act as these are investigating agencies and not intelligence and security organisations which are kept out of the purview of the RTI Act It also suggested that the amended RTI Rules be published without any further delay PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Dec 18 PTI Assam Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi on Saturday said young people should be trained and encouraged to pursue entrepreneurship so that they can create employment opportunities He also said given the large pool of young population in the country India stands to benefit immensely by properly tapping its potential The governor was speaking after inaugurating the Assam Chapter of Youth4Nation here a press release issued by the Raj Bhavan said Youth4Nation is a nationwide initiative to connect with students in colleges and universities to inculcate a nationalistic thought process in them Prof Mukhi said such a programme would greatly help India where 21 per cent of its people are aged between 15 and 21 years Pointing out that about 10 to 12 million young people in the country become eligible to join the workforce every year he said it is important to train and encourage them to undertake entrepreneurship to create employment for themselves and others The governor also underlined the importance of motivating young generation by a patriotic spirit so that the nation can reap the benefits of the large and diverse demographic profile of the country Considering the large pool of young people in India Prof Mukhi emphasised the need for productively using youth power to propel the growth of the nation He said India is passing through exhilarating times When we travel around we really become passionate and enthusiastic to see the beaming confidence of our potential youth forces For the first time in the last 300 years we have received the respect of almost all the major countries He asked the young people to carry forward this momentum and help India become a developed economy Prof Mukhi hailed the Youth4Nation for its initiative of starting a chapter in Assam which would essentially indulge in promotional activities starting with the Do You Know That series of online posters highlighting the rich culture and heritage of the country PTI SSG MM MM

Guwahati Nov 20 PTI The number of new COVID-19 cases in Assam increased by 48 against the previous day with 238 fresh infections reported on Saturday taking the overall caseload in the state to 615291 a National Health Mission NHM said The death toll during the day at five was also higher than the lone fatality reported on Friday it added The new cases were detected out of 37223 tests conducted during the day putting the days positivity rate at 064 per cent which was less than 067 per cent on Friday Among the fresh infections 135 were reported from Kamrup Metropolitan district 13 from Barpeta and 12 from Jorhat The cumulative number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the state so far has reached 25437888 Of the five COVID-19 deaths reported during the day two were from Kamrup Rural and one each from Golaghat Kamrup Metropolitan and Kokrajhar The total death toll in the state has touched 6071 with the death rate at 099 per cent The number of COVID-19 patients dying due to other reasons remained at 1347 Altogether 184 patients were discharged from different facilities during the day after testing negative for the virus the NHM bulletin said The number of cured patients in the state so far is 606117 with a recovery rate of 9851 per cent Assam currently has 1756 active coronavirus cases Meanwhile the cumulative beneficiaries receiving the vaccines in Assam so far increased to 31491235 with 207407 getting their jabs on Saturday PTI SSG MM MM