Guwahati Mar 21 PTI A day after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed support of suspended Congress MLA Sashi Kanta Das for the Rajya Sabha polls Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary on Monday said there is no bar in seeking votes of opponent legislators for elections to the Upper HouseDaimary claimed after the amendment of the anti-defection law anyone can vote for any candidateEarlier in the day after the state Assembly witnessed an uproarious scene over alleged horse trading of opposition MLAs by the ruling BJP Sarma drew Daimarys attention and sought a clarification over several issuesThe Opposition is questioning me for visiting Das house in Raha Speaker sir you please give a ruling on three points today First can a CM or any minister visit the house of opposition MLAs I consider all as equals and visit everyones house while visiting a constituency Sarma saidHe also sought a clarification on whether campaigning is allowed in Rajya Sabha polls and if the elections to the Upper House fall under the criterion of festival of democracyThe chief minister also claimed that the Congress candidate for Rajya Sabha had called him and sought support for the RS pollsReplying to his queries the Speaker said Yes a CM can visit the house of any MLA of the state The CM has no jurisdiction and he can visit any place Even if not invited a CM can visit a place to take stock of the situation Daimary also said that campaigning is allowed in Rajya Sabha elections and there is no bar in a ruling party candidate seeking the votes of an opposition MLA for the sameAs per the latest amendment of the anti-defection law if an MLA votes for the rival candidate of his party then it will not be termed as anti-defection The party may expel him or her from primary membership but legally there is no binding on him to vote in a certain fashion Anyone can vote for any candidate he claimedHowever according to Clause 2 1b of the Tenth Schedule a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if he votes or abstains from voting contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs or by any person or authority authorised by it in this behalf without obtaining the prior permission of such political party person or authority and such voting or abstention has not been condoned by such political party within 15 days from the date of such voting or abstentionTerming the Speakers statement as unfortunate Opposition leaders and legal experts alleged that the Speaker is not functioning neutrally but like a BJP MLA onlyWhen contacted Gauhati High Court Advocate Santanu Borthakur told PTI that as per the last amendment of the Anti-Defection Law cross voting does not attract any punitive measureHowever being in a Constitutional post and acting as a neutral person the Speaker should not have said this inside the House In a way he encouraged cross-voting in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls This affected the non-partisan stature of the Speaker he addedCiting the Kuldeep Nayar vs Union of India case Borthakur said the Supreme Court had stated in its judgement that Rajya Sabha voting does not take place inside the House and so Anti-Defection Law is not applicable in case of cross-votingThe Anti-Defection Law is applicable to only the matters inside the House like voting on a resolution bill or motion The Rajya Sabha voting is not purely secret as the MLA has to show his vote to the partys polling agent the Advocate said citing the apex court judgementAssam Congress working president and MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha slammed Daimary for his statement and alleged that he is working for the BJPWe have seen in recent times that not a single word of the Speaker is neutral He speaks like the chief minister If he continues to behave like this it will be a threat to democracy he told PTIReacting to Daimarys statement Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said that the Speaker of the House should be neutral and independent in terms of Constitutional and legal matters even though he comes from the ruling partyUnfortunately the Assam Assembly Speaker is acting like a BJP MLA He probably made that statement to tempt the opposition MLAs to vote for the BJP Otherwise there was no need to make that statement It was a politically motivated statement he told PTIDuring the day the united opposition comprising the Congress AIUDF CPIM and the Raijor Dal staged a walkout from the Assembly after shouting slogans in the well of the House for 35 minutes over alleged horse trading by Sarma and his party colleaguesThe chief minister on Sunday had claimed that Das will vote for BJP-led NDA candidates during the Rajya Sabha election in the state on March 31 Das a first time MLA from Raha constituency on December 20 had announced that he had joined the government but would continue to remain in the Congress Das was given a show-cause notice by the Congress soon after he had made the comment from the Chief Ministers Chamber in the Assembly complex He was subsequently suspended from the partyThe BJP has nominated Pabitra Margherita as its candidate for one Rajya Sabha seat while its ally United Peoples Party Liberals UPPL working president Rwngwra Narzary was named for the second seatThe two Rajya Sabha seats from Assam for which polling will be held on March 31 are currently held by Ripun Bora and Ranee Narah of the Congress Bora is in the fray this time as the Opposition parties joint candidateAll the three candidates filed their nominations on MondayThere are seven Rajya Sabha seats from the northeastern state PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Feb 26 PTI Assam on Saturday registered a decrease in fresh COVID-19 cases with 11 more people testing positive for the infection seven less than the previous day the National Health Mission NHM saidDuring the day the state tested 2358 samples for COVID-19 the NHM bulletin saidAssam had recorded 18 cases against the testing of 3763 samples on FridayOne person had succumbed to the infection on Friday while no fresh fatality was recorded during the dayKamrup Metropolitan district which primarily comprises Guwahati city reported four fresh cases followed by two each in Hailakandi and Jorhat and one in Barpeta The NHM said that the number of patients who recovered from the disease decreased to 41 on Saturday from 73 people on the previous dayIn Assam 715881 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered from COVID-19The total number of deaths of COVID-19 infected people stands at 7985 including 1347 with co-morbidities the bulletin saidCurrently the state has a total of 233 active coronavirus casesWith 724099 total COVID-19 cases in Assam the overall positivity rate stands at 256 per cent against the total testing of 28300830 samples so farThe bulletin said a total of 43251233 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Jan 24 PTI Assam on Monday registered more than a 25-fold jump in fresh COVID-19 cases over the previous days count as 5902 more people tested positive for the disease taking the tally to 698713 the National Health Mission NHM said Eighteen more people succumbed to the infection during the day as against 13 COVID-19 deaths on Sunday The states positivity rate however decreased to 1044 per cent as 56519 samples were tested for COVID-19 the daily media bulletin said Assam had recorded 2277 cases and 1257 per cent positivity rate against the testing of 18117 samples on Sunday Kamrup Metropolitan district which primarily comprises Guwahati city reported 1044 fresh cases against 771 infections on the previous day The NHM bulletin said 5625 people recovered from the disease during the day In Assam 646972 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered from COVID-19 The total number of deaths caused by COVID-19 has gone up to 7666 including 1347 with co-morbidities NHM said Currently the state has 44075 active coronavirus cases Out of the new cases 1044 were detected from Kamrup Metropolitan followed by 314 in Dibrugarh 293 in Jorhat and 267 in Golaghat The overall positivity rate in the state stands at 253 per cent against total testing of 27611266 samples so far The NHM bulletin said 40835211 doses of vaccines have been administered thus far in the state PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Dec 30 PTI Assams COVID-19 tally rose to 620573 on Thursday as 101 more people tested positive for the infection while two fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 6164 a National Health Mission NHM bulletin said The north-eastern state had reported 115 coronavirus cases and two fatalities due to the infection on WednesdayKamrup Metropolitan district reported the highest of 24 new cases followed by Dhubri 13 Dibrugarh 10 and Cachar six With the detection of 101 cases against the testing of 26543 samples on Thursday Assam reported a positivity rate of 038 per cent for the day the bulletin said The two COVID-19 deaths were reported from Dibrugarh and Jorhat districts The NHM bulletin said 1347 more COVID-19 patients have died till now but the governments Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by the COVID-19 virus as they had other ailments too Currently the state has 780 active COVID-19 cases The overall positivity rate stands at 233 per cent against the total testing of 26603091 samples so far During the day 111 patients recuperated from the disease taking the total number of recovered people to 612282 The NHM bulletin said a total of 37517488 doses of vaccines have been administered This includes 21727725 first doses and 15789763 second doses PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Dec 27 PTI Assams COVID-19 tally rose to 620237 as 103 more people tested positive for the infection on Monday while two new fatalities pushed the death toll to 6158 the National Health Mission NHM bulletin said The two COVID-19 deaths were reported from Dibrugarh and Kamrup Metropolitan districts NHM said 1347 more COVID-19 patients have died till now but the governments Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by the COVID-19 virus as they had other ailments too The 103 cases were detected out of 33129 samples tested with a test positivity rate of 031 per cent the bulletin said Kamrup Metropolitan district reported the highest of 51 new cases followed by Jorhat 10 Dibrugarh eight and Sonitpur six The state had reported 53 coronavirus cases on Sunday against the testing of 9746 samples Currently the state has 741 active COVID-19 cases The overall COVID-19 positivity rate stands at 234 per cent against testing of 26517143 samples so far In Assam 611991 people have thus far recovered from COVID-19 including 88 during the day The NHM said a total of 37110429 doses of vaccines have been administered PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Dec 22 PTI Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said the Food Corporation of India FCI and other agencies have been instructed to procure 10 lakh MT of paddy from the state during the 2021-22 crop year Replying to a set of questions by the opposition MLAs during Question Hour in the assembly Sarma said orders have been issued to FCI NAFED NACOF AFCSCL NCCF and ASAMB to procure 10 lakh MT paddy from farmers across the state The paddy will be procured at the MSP of Rs 1940 per quintal The payment will be made as per a nationwide system directly to the account of the farmers thereby eliminating middlemen It will take 10-15 days from the date of procurement he added Sarma urged all MLAs to take the initiative to set up procurement centres rice mills and warehouses in their constituencies to facilitate procurement and offered government support in this direction There is a condition that FCI procures paddy from only those farmers who have land papers in their name This clause will be exempted this year but it will be enforced from next year Rice mills and warehouses are a must in every constituency so the MLAs should concentrate on it he added To a question by CPIM MLA Manoranjan Talukdar Agriculture Minister Atul Bora said the FCI is at present preparing paddy procurement centres and the government will provide 1000 vehicles to farmers on subsidy to carry their produce to the centres He said the state produced 8122 lakh MT paddy during 2019-20 and the reason for low procurement from Assam is the moisture content in foodgrain Bora said orders have been issued to procure 7 lakh MT of the first crop from December 1 to June 30 next year and 3 lakh MT of the second crop from July to September in 2022 under the Kharif Marketing Season KMS Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi wondered if the procurement target of 10 lakh MT will be fulfilled as the exercise has not yet started while almost one month has passed BPF MLA Durga Das Boro said middlemen are siphoning off up to 70 per cent of the payment made to farmers who are not familiar with the procurement process Replying to a separate query by another BPF member Charan Boro Bora said the paddy procurement in 2020-21 was 212 lakh MT down from 315 lakh MT in the previous year It was 151 lakh MT in 2018-19 PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Nov 29 PTI Assam reported six deaths due to COVID-19 on Monday while 140 more persons tested positive for the infection pushing the tally to 616708 the National Health Mission NHM said One person had succumbed to the disease and 133 fresh infections were registered on Sunday With two fatalities in Nalbari and one each in Golaghat Jorhat Nagaon and Sivasagar districts the death toll rose to 6098 persons NHM said 1347 more COVID-19 patients have died till now but the governments Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by the COVID-19 virus as they had other ailments too With the detection of 140 patients against the testing of 35539 samples on Monday Assam has reported a positivity rate of 039 per cent for the day the NHM bulletin said The state had tested 20870 samples for COVID-19 on Sunday Currently the state has a total of 1248 active cases Of the new cases the highest 54 were detected in Kamrup Metropolitan followed by 16 in Jorhat and eight each in Barpeta and Kamrup With 616708 total COVID-19 positive cases in Assam the overall positivity rate stands at 240 per cent against total testing of 25709342 samples so far During the day the state reported more recoveries than the number of new infections at 230 the NHM said In Assam 608015 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered from COVID-19 The NHM further said a total of 32951330 doses of vaccines have been administered PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Nov 29 PTI A team of researchers of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati IITG has developed a coating to modify ordinary cloth or silk masks for better protection against aerosol-driven infections like COVID-19 the premier institute said According to World Health Organisation WHO guidelines N95 masks or double masking protect people to a great extent from Coronavirus but the drawback is that people undergo suffocation after wearing them for a long time Besides the N95 masks are costly and thus unaffordable to a large section of the population To address these challenges and to bring in a safer economical and comfortable alternative the researchers of IIT-Guwahati have developed a coating material to modify the easily-available cloth mask into a hydrophobic mask to repel virus-laden droplets and avoid breathing difficulties even when worn for a longer period a press release said Another advantage is that these masks are versatile and can be used with other additives such as antibacterial nanomaterial for additional protection against viruses it said The research team was led by Prof Arun Chattopadhyay Department of Chemistry and Centre for Nanotechnology and Dr Partho S G Pattader Department of Chemical Engineering it added Highlighting the unique aspects of this research Chattopadhyay said We have worked on the principle of repulsion of the aerosol by the modified cloth while allowing the air to flow through the mask A simple coating of the hydrophobic molecule on the silk cloth worked well here The breathability was tested by measuring the oxygen permeation through the mask with the help of an instrument called Gas Chromatography The penetration of oxygen reduces by only 22 per cent for the modified Eri silk mask compared to the natural Eri silk mask whereas for N95 the reduction with respect to the natural Eri silk came out to be around 59 per cent Hence the modified silk mask is way more breathable than the N95 mask but with almost similar protection against aerosol-driven infections the release said PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Nov 17 PTI A sub-inspector of Assam Police was arrested by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Wednesday for allegedly taking bribe at Hailakandi district On the basis of a complaint a trap was laid by a team of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption at the Hailakandi police station a release from the Assam Police said At around 120 pm sub inspector UB Sudhanya Bhattacharjee of Hailakandi PS was caught red handed by the team while he was accepting bribe of Rs 5000 from the complainant it said The accused had initially demanded Rs 10000 from the complainant for favouring the person in an ongoing investigation being carried out by the sub-inspector However the police officer agreed for a bribe of Rs 5000 after negotiating with the complainant The bribe money was recovered from the possession of SI UB Sudhanya Bhattacharjee in the presence of independent witnesses the release said A case has been registered against the police officer at the Anti-Corruption Bureau Police Station under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 PTI TR MM MM

Guwahati Sep 29 PTI The Orang National Park ONP in Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam will reopen for tourists on Thursday after remaining closed for several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the monsoon an official said All COVID-19 protocols and safety guidelines will be followed for the visitors ONP Divisional Forest Officer Pradipta Baruah said in a notice Only a portion of the safari route inside the park will be opened for tourists at present due to the poor condition of roads owing to the recent flood the DFO said The remaining part of the route will be opened after repairing the roads and it will be notified in due course he added The national park is located 32 km from Tezpur and 140 km from Guwahati It is known for wild animals like Royal Bengal Tiger Indian Rhinos and wild elephants All wildlife parks and sanctuaries in Assam are closed for tourists during the monsoon This time the parks were shut before the normal schedule because of the outbreak of the second wave of the COVID-19 PTI TR MM MM