Development

AGARTALA, July 19 ? Tripura continued to remain cut off from the rest of the country since July 9 due to landslides caused by incessant rains, official sources said today. A senior official of the Border Road Task Force, which looks after NH 44 linking Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura, said the road was opened to traffic after clearing the debris on July 16 but heavy rains again caused landslides in several parts of Sonarpur in Meghalaya stopping vehicular movement on the national highway.

Incessant rains had caused huge landslide on the roads and demolished many pucca structures due to rolling...

ITANAGAR, July 19 ? Torrential rains in the past 20 days have created a ?terrible situation? in flood-affected Arunachal Pradesh, leaving at least 10 dead amidst fear of a higher toll, state relief commissioner said on Sunday. Chief Minister Gegong Apang sought Rs. 200 crore from the Centre for relief in the State where army authorities had been alerted. Relief Commissioner MK Parida told a press conference here that due to change of course of Sibo Korang and Monag rivers, half of Pasighat, headquarters of East Siang district, was submerged affecting around 15,000 people.

While 10 deaths were...

NALBARI, July 19 ? For the family members of the widow Prema Rajbangshi, Ajit Rajbangshi, Alam Ali, Bipin Rajbangshi, Nipen Rajbangshi and Girin Rajbangshi of Balajan (Digheli) village in Nalbari district, the Pagladia river has become a symbol of devastation as the river which breached the embankment in the village on the night of July 9 dashed all their hopes rendering them homeless. The flood waters of the Pagladia river totally washed away their dwelling houses as they resided just opposite to the breached portion which submerged their ?basti?. They are not in a position to go back to...

BADARPUR, July 19: Passengers? woes in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section, have now increased manifold due to severe landslides on this section in the last four months. The train services in this section is not likely to be regularised immediately. It is also likely that the situation in this hill section of NF Railway may get complicated further, according to higher officials of the railway administration. Expressing concern, they also said that in last few weeks due to heavy landslides in various places between Fiding and Mahur, Bagetar, Jatinga, Mailongdisa and Harangazao, Mahur and Fiding...

NEW DELHI, July 19 ? Assam along with other north-eastern States are forever crying for additional allocation from the Non-Lapsable Pool of Central Resources (NLPCR) but they have fallen far short in utilising the allocated funds. The details of the performances of the north-eastern States (NES) makes an interesting reading as barring Tripura, all have been left with unspent funds. Assam?s performance was the worst as bulk of the allocated funds were left unutilised. During the last fiscal the State was released Rs 113.94 crore out of NLCPR but it managed to spend only Rs 1.84 crore. Its...

GUWAHATI, July 19 ? The overall flood situation in the State aggravated further today with the floodwaters creating havoc in more areas even as the plight of the already affected areas still remained critical. The death toll in the current wave of floods has increased to 68. Floodwaters of the Kopilli and the Killing today overtopped the NH-37 at Palahguri and Nellie disrupting road communication between Lower and Upper Assam on the south bank. Significantly, this was the road through which road communication between the State?s northern part and the rest of the country existed so far since...

GUWAHATI, July 19 ? Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today presented a Rs 3138.54-crore deficit Budget for the State for the current year in the State Assembly. In his Budget proposals, the Chief Minister proposed hikes in tax on petrol and diesel, gutka, IMFL, tinned milk food, ice-cream, royalty on forest produce and entry tax on crude oil imported for the refineries of the State. At the same time, he proposed reduction of agriculture income tax, tax on agriculture tools, mobile phones, entry tax on plants and machinery, polyester fibre, paraffin, etc. He also proposed to exempt flood-affected...

IMPHAL, July 18 ? Security officials met the Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh and senior state government officials on Friday to discuss the prevailing security scenario in the state, particularly the situation arising out of the alleged killing of Th Manorama Devi by Army personnel on July 11 last, acording to a PIB (Defence Wing) press release.

Following a full appraisal of the situation, Lt Gen Daljeet Singh, VSM, General Officer Commanding, 3 Corps, along with Major General R Singh, GOC 57 Mountain Division, assured the Chief Minister that full cooperation will be extended to the...

NEW DELHI, July 18 ? Notwithstanding the Congress-ruled Assam Government?s unease, the UPA Government?s hands are tied, as the estimates of illegal Bangladeshi migrants given by the Union Minister of State for Home was based on the Report of the Group of Minister?s (GoM) on Internal Security that was adopted by Government of India. But the UPA Government has tried to cut down on the figures of estimates given by the GoMs. ?Today we have about 1.50 crore (150 million) Bangladeshis, 2.2 million Nepalese, 70,000 Sri Lankan Tamils and about 1 lakh Tibetans migrants living in India,? the GoM Report...

GUWAHATI, July 18 ? The flood situation worsened today with inundation of fresh areas in Dhemaji and Tinsukia districts following heavy rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh, while, according to official reports, the death toll in the current wave of floods has gone up to 63 with the drowning of one more person in Morigaon district. According to the flood bulletin issued by the State Government today, more than 20.87 lakh hectares of 26 districts of the State has been affected and more than 15 lakh flood-affected people are still taking shelter in 1589 relief camps.

AGP general secretary Dilip Kumar...