Development

AGARTALA, July 20: Prices of essential commodities were on the rise in Tripura with the State remaining cut off from the rest of the country since July 9 due to landslides caused by incessant rains, official sources said today, reports PTI. Sources at the Border Road Task Force, which looks after NH 44 linking Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura, said the situation had further deteriorated with heavy rains causing landslides in several parts of Sonarpur in Meghalaya and disrupting vehicular movement on the national highway.

Meanwhile, the prices of eseential commodities including onion, potato, fish...

SIVASAGAR, July 20 ? Continuous rainfall in Upper Assam and adjoining hilly area of Arunachal Pradesh since the last couple of days has posed serious threat to the embankments of Brahmaputra and all its tributaries in the regions and overflowing Brahmaputra has inundated vast areas at Dehingmukh, Desungmukh and Dekhowmukh areas. River Brahmaputra was flowing 2 metre above danger level on Monday morning may at any moment breach embankment at Chilotia, Milankur, and Libeel as water is continuously flowing over the dykes.

Meanwhile, back flow through tributary Demow inundated the Panidihing Bird...

TANGLA, July 20 ? People of Tangla areas were again affected by the fresh floods of Kulsi, Bhola and Nanoi river following continuous rains since the last couple of days. Kulsi river which flows from Bhutan changed its original course. The river Kulsi changed its direction and merged with the stream Huduma. Huduma is too small to accept the increased water flow inundated a vast area of Tangla.

Already five houses in Palahgarh village, nine houses in Chatiapar village, eight houses in Chenipara, have been eroded by Kulsi river. Several areas of Mangaldoi-Bhootiachang road, Tangla-Bhergaon road...

GUWAHATI, July 20 ? The Assam State Museum is in the midst of an acquisition programme to collect antiquities and cultural objects of Northeast India. The programme launched last year, has till now yielded about 562 objects of significant value. The Directorate of Museums had planned this programme with a grant it had received from the 11th Finance Commission. To utilise the fund for acquisition of objects, the museum made appeals through some newspapers, in response to which people from different parts of Assam and the rest of the Northeast have come forward to contribute various articles...

NEW DELHI, July 20 ? The Tsatichhu Lake in neighbouring Bhutan which was breached leading to devastating floods downstream in Assam was cleared by an expert team from India a month earlier in June. The Royal Government of Bhutan, however, has denied that the worsening flood situation in Assam was due to breaching of the Tsatichhu Lake, about 30 km upstream of the Kurichhu Hydro Power Project. The lake in question was breached around 3.30 pm on July 10. The Tsatichhu is a tributary of the Kurichhu river on which the Kurichhu Hydro Power Project is situated. The lake was formed by a massive...

NEW DELHI, July 20 ? A week after claiming that there was over 1.20 crore illegal Bangladeshis in India, the Union Home Ministry has contended that infiltration of illegal migrants from Bangladesh has slightly decreased. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal said this on the basis of the number of Bangladeshi national apprehended by Border Security Force (BSF) during the past three year. According to the figures made available in the Lok Sabha in reply to a question, he said that during the year till June 20, 12,476 Bangladeshi nationals were nabbed by BSF. Last year, BSF...

GUWAHATI, July 20 ? The overall flood situation in the State remains grim and the death toll ? including those killed in landslides ? has gone up to 88, while nearly 600 animals of Kaziranga, Manas and Orang National Parks have been drowned. According to the memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by the State Government today, the current wave of floods has affected more than 88.75 lakh people, of whom 16.44 lakh are still living in relief camps. Floodwaters have breached embankments in as many as 109 places and more than 3.13 lakh houses have been completely damaged. Altogether...

GUWAHATI, July 20 ? The Assam Government today called upon the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to take prompt and effective steps for short, medium and long term measures for the solution of the problem of floods, which has become a ?life and death issue? for the people of Assam. An effective and permanent solution to the problem of flood has to be found out at national level with international cooperation, said the State Government. In a memorandum to the Prime Minister here today, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the Central Government should treat the State?s flood and erosion as a...

GUWAHATI, July 20 ? Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said today that the Central Government should take ?active steps? to address Assam?s problem of floods. The problem has a regional as well as an international dimension. The Central Government will definitely take up the issue at the international level too, he told media persons at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport here this afternoon. A holistic approach to solve the problem was needed, he said, apprising the media persons that he was going to constitute a Task Force to look into the problem of recurrent floods in Assam and...

SHILLONG, July 19 ? With incessant rains, the flood situation in Meghalaya?s Garo Hills has turned grim on Sunday, affecting 80,000 people in 100 villages. The West Garo Hills district Deputy Commissioner S Jagannathan told PTI over phone that a high-level official team met at Tura to review the situation and a ?preliminary report? would be submitted to the Chief Minister tomorrow. Jagannathan said as per the report, Rs. 15 lakh was needed for distribution of relief like rice, dal and salt, Rs. 10 lakh for medicine for the affected people, Rs. 20 lakh for veterinary medicine, Rs. 24 lakh for...