Economy / Assam

NEW DELHI, July 5 : Government today totally freed the tea sector including plantations for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with a condition that the foreign investor divest 26 per cent equity to its Indian partner within five years. A Government notification said all proposals for 100 per cent FDI in the sector would, however, require prior approval from the Centre. Opening up of the tea sector is part of government?s decision to further liberalise the FDI regime.

NEW DELHI, July 5 ? Yet another hurdle in setting up of the mega gas cracker project is likely to be cleared shortly, with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) all set to sign the much-delayed Gas Supply Agreement (GSA) by the month-end. The signing of the pact may bring the project one step closer to execution but Assam Government is still awaiting a response from the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry (P&NGM), which was entrusted with the responsibility to identify the alternate source of gas supply to meet the shortfall in supply of...

GUWAHATI, July 4 ? The State Government today constituted a high power committee to look into the affairs of Assam Polyester Cooperative Society Ltd (APOL) with Sri RC Barua, promoter-director of the APOL as the chairman. The committee, which has Sri D Sarma, Zonal Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Assam and Sri MK Das, General Manager, AIDC, on it as members will ascertain the actual position of assets and liabilities as on June 1, 2002; recommend organisational, administrative and financial measures to make it organisationally capable of being run as an efficient commercial unit and...

GUWAHATI, July 1 : The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has criticized the State Government for inviting Indian oil giants to explore oil in the State. A report published in The Freedom, newsletter of the militant outfit, said the ?puppet Government? has encouraged the oil giants to exploit the State. During the last several decades the Indian oil companies have been exploiting the State and hence the Chief Minister should not sell out the property of the State just to satisfy the masters of Delhi, the report said. In another report the leadership has rejected the safe-passage granted by...

DIBRUGARH, June 30 ? An abbreviation most in Assam love to hate these days is the ASEB : the Assam State Electricity Board. Nothing in the ASEB goes down well with the public, even as the Board?s employees are amongst the most pampered of government and semi-government staff in Assam today. Despite their personal financial well-being, these staff members have generally failed to carry out their responsibilities to the satisfaction of the electricity consuming public.

The latest ploy the Board has devised to swindle customers is the ongoing ?load survey? work. By this, the ASEB has reverted to...

GUWAHATI, June 29 ? The assets of the State Government grew by only 10.11 per cent during the 2000-2001 fiscal, while its liabilities, during the year, grew by 17.95 per cent, mainly due to the huge revenue deficit of Rs 779.48 crore. The ratio of assets to liabilities declined from 0.93 in 1999-2000 fiscal to 0.87 during 2000-2001, indicating reduced solvency of the State, said the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India for the 2000-2001 fiscal of Assam Government (Civil). Though there was a decline in both revenue and fiscal deficit of the State Government during the...

NEW DELHI, June 26 ? The much-awaited mega gas cracker may finally take off ground, with the Assam Government and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) being asked to finalise a date for foundation laying ceremony. The development came at the end of the official-level review meeting convened by the Department of Petrochemical here yesterday. The meeting was followed by a meeting between the Union Chemical and Fertilizer Minister, SS Dhinsa and State Industries Minister, Bhubaneswar Kalita, where they were briefed by the official about the outcome of the review meeting.

Subsequently, Dhinsa...

GUWAHATI, June 25 ? The minister of state for finance Sri Nilamani Sen Deka today said that the State government has laid emphasis on single point tax collection system in order to generate revenue and to check tax evasion. Addressing a press conference here, Sri Deka further said that he has organised a meeting on June 28 with the tax officials to find out ways for increasing tax collection of the State. ?The revenue shortfall of the State stands at Rs 158 crore per month and considering the gravity of the situation we have stressed on resource mobilisation?, Sri Deka added. He, however...

GUWAHATI, June 24 ? Over 2.8 lakh poorest of the poor (green card holder) families in the State were deprived of the rice distributed at Rs 3 a kg by the Government of India under its Antyodaya Anna Yojana during March to October last year due to delay in implementation of the scheme in the State by the Food and Civil Supplies Department. The audit team of Accountant General, Assam while examining the audit of the Director of Food and Civil Supplies, detected the delay in implementation of the scheme which failed the green card holder families in the State of rice worth about Rs 16.89 crore...

GUWAHATI, June 22? Yet another scam of misappropriation of public funds surfaces in a Government department of this fund-starved State. The department is the Social Welfare Department and the amount involved is around Rs 2.10 crore. The modus operandi of the scamsters in this case was that they used to make ?payments against fictitious bills for ?supply? of nutritious items in Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) areas between 1999 and 2001. The scheme was drawn under the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) for the benefit of the children. Though there was a strict direction to transfer the amounts to...