Development / Assam

IMPHAL, March 26: The Union Ministry of Food Processing has taken up steps to translate Assam's agro-based horticulture projects into a grand success story. This was disclosed by the Union Minister of State for Food Processing and MP from Manipur, Thounaojam Chaoba during a brief interview with The Assam Tribune here today. The Union minister said, the State's horticultural products will be made value-added foodgrain and a 'horticulture mini mission' would also be initiated in phases. Besides, the Union government has also decided to set up a food processing task force to prevent food and...

DIGBOI, March 23: The centurion Digboi refinery, which is Asia's oldest working petroleum refinery, and which forms the Assam Oil Division of Indian Oil Corporation Limited, plans to go in to the lucrative exploration and production of crude in its second century of existence. The refinery, which went on stream in 1901, has been chiefly what its name suggests: its refines crude and since 1902, has been marketing its end products. The logic being that "crude sells easily while products needs marketing." The Digboi refinery, as most would know, was part of the Burmah Oil Company till 1981when it...

TINSUKIA, March 23: Tinsukia Municipal Board, with the active help of the district administration, has gone a long way towards installing an ambitious project to dispose the solid waste off in a highly scientific way to generate electricity. A Kolkata-based company - Sarbanand Impex - has already been invited for the project and it has completed the preliminary works for installation of the same. Explaining the method of generating electricity from municipal garbage, Uday Narayan Sarmah, project director of the Company, in a press meet on March 16 at Tinsukia, said that the Rs 85 crore project...

NEW DELHI, March 21: The Union Government today ordered the restructuring of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) by clearing transfer of Indo-Burma Petroleum (IBP) stake in the Refinery to the Bharat Petroleum Chemical Limited (BPCL). By the same order the Government also cleared sale of Government's stake in the Bongaigaon Refinery Petro-chemical Limited (BRPL). The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) would pick up Government's entire holding in the Petro-chemical unit turning it into its subsidiary. The Union Cabinet cleared both the proposals earlier. According to the order issued by the...

NEW DELHI, March 20: Planning Commission has put on brake sin flood control works in the Brahmaputra Valley by holding back sanction of schemes worth Rs 85.50 crore drawn up last year. The rionchalant attitude of the Planning Commission has spelt trouble for the Union Minister of State for Water Resources, Bijoya Chakravorty, as three ambitious projects sanctioned last year by the Ministry were shown the light leaving the State's lone minister in the NDA high and dry. The impasse forced the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the Water Resources Ministry to remark that it was...

GUWAHATI, March 17: As a result of the marked improvement in law and order situation in Assam, the flow of tourists to the State has been steadily increasing particularly in the recent years, an official release stated. The fact that the law and order situation in Assam has registered tangible improvement over the last few years is being recognised by foreign countries too and they have started revising their Travel Advice for tourists desiring to visit Assam. Recently, John Mitchiner, Deputy High Commissioner of United Kingdom in Kolkata has, in a letter, informed Assam Chief Minister P K...

GUWAHATI, March 17: The stage is set for constituting an Assam Power Corporation for carrying out the generation and transmission functions of the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) under the Power Sector Reforms Programme. The State Cabinet recently approved the draft memorandum of understanding (MoU), to be signed with the Ministry of Power, Government of India, for power sector reforms in Assam. As per the draft MoU, after the setting up of the Assam Power Corporation, subsequently the generation part would be separated into one or more companies. According to the MoU, two distribution...

GUWAHATI, March 17: The flow of tourists to Assam has been steadily rising following an improvement in the law and order situation in the State, an official release said here today, reports PTI. Foreign countries have recognised the very fact that the law and order situation in Assam has registered tangible improvement over the last few years and have therefore started to revise their Travel Advicer for willing tourists, the release said. The British Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata John Mitchiner has in a letter informed Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta that their Travel Advice would...

NEW DELHI, March 12: The Rangiya Railway Division project appears to have been shelved into the cold storage, with the Railway Ministry now reviewing the investment planning for the project. In reply to a question tabled by Basanti Sarma, the Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee has cleared the confusion surrounding the project. "The Railways are presently facing acute resources constraint necessitating a review of the investment planning. The proposed now Division including the one at Rangiya, will gradually become operational, depending upon the result of the review and availability of...

GUWAHATI, March 7: Three reputed tour operators of the city were in for a rude shock recently when at least nine groups of tourists, mainly from European nations and Japan cancelled their programmes of visiting the State at the last moment causing major financial losses to the operators. Courtesy - a deliberate campaign by two travel-related websites (www.fco.gov.uk/travel and www.bmzl.com) asking interested tourists from these nations to cancel their programmes combined with a negative campaign by several travel heavyweights in Delhi as well as sheer indifference of the Union Ministries of...