Development / Assam

GUWAHATI, September 9: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to start a cargo service from the Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi Airport within this month, official sources said today. The AAI and the customs department have cleared all formalities and infrastructure has been developed for export and import from the airport. A meeting was held at Janata Bhawan which was presided over by the Assam transport minister, Pradip Hazarika, The director of the AAI, Guwahati, BK Srivastava, said that it had already developed the infrastructure at the airport and cargo service would be operated...

AMTERENG, September 8: The much-talked-about Karbi Langpi Hydro Electric Project of the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) may become functional soon with the possible infusion of a Rs 150-crore loan for its revival by the Power Finance Corporation (PFC). The state power minister, Hitendranath Goswami, who was on a day-long visit to the project site, said the PFC has agreed in principle for disbursing the loan amount at 9 per cent interest rate. "But prior to its actual disbursement, ASEB must fulfil certain conditions which might prove somewhat difficult for the board under its present...

GUWAHATI, September 8: Coal India Limited (CIL) today signed an agreement with the representatives of the All Guwahati Students Union (AGSU) saying that it will not shift the head offices of its subsidiary Eastern India Coalfields from Guwahati to Calcutta as earlier decided by the authorities. Nirmal Baishya, president of AGSU said students gheraoed the authorities at their head office at Christianbasti following which the deal was signed.

GUWAHATI, September 6: Assam, where the majority of the people are fish eaters, is slowly becoming one of the largest fish importing states in the country. The state, which is already enmeshed in a financial tangle, now spends over Rs 63 crore a year to satisfy the demand of the fish consumers. The production of fish inside the state has remained largely stagnant over the past few years leading to a gradual increase in fish imports. Everyday, almost two dozen trucks enter the state through the Srirampur and Baxirhat checkgates on the Assam-West Bengal border bringing fish from states like...

GUWAHATI, September 4: Oil India Limited has been made to suffer heavy losses due to the failure of the Assam government to take necessary steps for the protection of the people of Khagorijan area of Dibrugarh district from floods and erosion. Oil India sources here said that the oil company struck oil in Khagorijan in 1997 and since then three oil wells are producing about 200 kilolitres of oil per day from that place. Oil India sources said it took steps for the all-round development of the area and steps have also been initiated for a thorough geological survey in the area. The area has...

AZARA, August 31: Despite the ban on cutting forest trees by the Supreme Court, illegal felling of trees in the entire south Kamrup area has been continuing unabated for the last several years. Wood smuggling has been flourishing at Chhaygaon, Bamunigaon, Kukurmara, Rampur, Loharghat, Chandubi, Rani, Azara, Dharapur, etc., in south Kamrup for the last several years. There are Rani and Mirza reserve forests under Guwahati division while Loharghat, Kulsi, Singra, Boko, Bonapara and Bamunigaon reserve forests fall under Kamrup West division in south Kamrup. Valuable trees like sal, segun, gamari...

SILCHAR, August 23: After milking the tea industry of Brahmaputra valley for years, the insurgents have now extended their tentacles to the Surama Valley causing serious panic among the planters here. Incidences of kidnappings, alleged inaction of the district authorities and withdrawal of the Army have shaken the roots of the local tea industry and triggered a major crisis even as its production went down due to bad weather as well as law and order problem. The Surama Valley branch of the Indian Tea Association sent an SOS to the Assam chief minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, for his urgent...

DUBRUGARH, August 19: Residents of several villages of the Rohmaria area have resorted to an indefinite oil blockade at an oil rig located in the place, demanding immediate erosion-control measures and thus save property worth hundreds of crores of rupees on the northeastern fringes of Dibrugarh. Lending "unstinted support" to the agitation, the Dibrugarh district unit of Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner here, urging the Assam government to initiate urgent steps on erosion control at Rohmaria. The AJYCP has warned that...

GUWAHATI, August 18: The Rs 2,899-crore Tipaimukh dam project of the Brahmaputra Board involving three Northeast states -Manipur, Mizoram and Assam -still awaits inter-state clearance from the concerned state governments for its execution which is being pursued by the Brahmaputra Board and the ministry of water resources. The techno-economic angle of the detailed project report submitted by Brahmaputra Board was approved by the technical advisory committee of the concerned ministry in August, 1995. The cost of Rs 2,899 crore (at the 1995 price level) which would now be over Rs 3,000 crore...

DIBRUGARH, August 19: The Rs 4,000-crore Assam Gas Cracker Project is being delayed due to objections raised by the Indian Air Force (IAF), which has a MiG fighter base near Chabua, and wants the Dibrugarh district administration to construct the project at least 20 kilometres away from the base. However, the IAF has lately agreed to allow establishment of the gas cracker plant outside a six-kilometre radius from the Chabua IAF base. This would mean that the height of certain tall structures of the industry may have to be reduced so as to provide a clear runway approach to aircraft of the Air...