Economy / Assam

GUWAHATI, June 1 ? The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has sought opinions of Oil India Limited (OIL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) which has controlling stake in Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), on the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) proposal for formation of an integrated oil company by merging all the refineries in Assam with the crude producing company OIL. Sources in the oil industry informed that a crucial meeting on the proposal for merger of all four Assam refineries with OIL would be held at New Delhi this week at the initiative of the Ministry. It is...

GUWAHATI, May 30 ? The Central Government is far from happy with the level of utilisation of Central fund by North Eastern States particularly Assam and Manipur. Talking to this newspaper on the sideline of the NEDFi seminar on Investment Opportunities in the NE, Dr PD Shenoy, the Secretary of Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) said, ?There is lots of scope for NE States particularly Assam and Manipur to improve their performance vis-a-vis utilisation of Central fund.? He said States like Assam and Manipur which are suffering from acute financial crisis, often tended to...

BISWANATH CHARIALI, May 28 ? Vast areas of government lands have remained under encroachment of the tea gardens in Sonitpur district which, if regularised, may earn huge revenues for the government. According to a report, over 2,200 hectares of fertile land have been illegally occupied by 47 small and big tea estates of the district. It has been learnt that the Pratabghur tea estate, owned by Williamson & Magor Company, encroached upon over 50 bighas of land of the historic Burhamadhav Devalaya in 1982 and used the land for plantation. The lands under dag Nos 508 and 610 were earlier acquired...

GUWAHATI, May 27? The Austrian Ambassador to India, Dr Herbert Traxl, has said that Assam has immense potential to develop its tourism. During his two-day visit to the city on May 25 and 26, he also evinced a keen interest to explore investment opportunities in the State?s tourism section. This can be a very encouraging news for the State because Austria is renowned for its expertise in ropeways and ice-skiing. With Austrian participation, tourism in the State on particular and the North-east in general can expect a major facelift. Dr. Traxl who was here to gather first-hand knowledge on the...

GUWAHATI, May 26? The Australian Ambassador to India, Dr Herbert Traxl, who made a two-day tour of the city along with this wife noted Kathak dancer Sharana Narayan on June 25 and 26, has expressed keen interest to explore investment opportunities in the State?s tourism sector. Sri Traxl who was here to have a first-hand knowledge on the immense tourism potential of the state, had discussions with the State Tourism Commissioner, Smt Emily Choudhury, in this regard. It may be mentioned that Austria is renowned for its expertise in ropeways and ice-skiing, and tourism in the State in particular...

GUWAHATI, May 23 ? The latest revision of recharge voucher (Smart cards) rates by the Reliance Mobile for consumers of Guwahati has given rise to widespread resentment among mobile phone users here.

The consumers feel that they are being taken for a ride and made to pay through their nose by the Reliance Mobile which is enjoying a monopoly market here in absence of a second mobile phone service provider unlike in other cities of the country.

The Reliance Mobile has reduced the call time of the Rs 600 recharge voucher to Rs 428 only from earlier call time worth Rs 541 much to the chargin of...

GUWAHATI, May 23 ? State Minister for Labour and Employment, Rameswar Dhanowar today informed that Assam Government?s efforts to amend the Assam Plantation Labour Rules were yet to get the go-head from the Union Home Ministry. The Ministry said since the Act in this context, Plantation Labour Act, 1951, was a Central Act, to amend its provisions by any state government required permission from the Home Ministry. Talking to newsmen here today, Sri Dhanowar said the present Government was yet to take any initiative to either rectify or enforce the recommendation on minimum wages for tea workers...

GUWAHATI, May 20 ? The Finance Minister Sri Devanand KoNwar today presented a grim financial position of the State and admitted that it would be difficult for the State Government to pay salaries to the employees without assistance from the Centre. Addressing a press conference today, Sri Konwar said that the debt burden of the State, which was Rs 10,600 crore when the present Government assumed office a year back, now stands at Rs 11,351 crore. The overdraft position of the State shot up the Rs 1300 crore at the beginning of this month and it now stands at Rs 700 crore.

The Finance Minister...

GUWAHATI, May 20? Tea gardens are encroaching upon more than 25,000 bighas of government land, resulting in huge loss of revenue to the State Government, said the Minister in charge of Finance, Revenue and Power, Sri Devanand Konwar. Addressing a press conference here today, Sri Konwar revealed that the Government has taken a decision to regularise the encroachment by giving settlement to the concerned gardens with the payment of a premium, which would be 200 per cent more than the assessed market value. He said that some big tea companies have already come forward to take settlement of...

NEW DELHI, May 15 ? The contentious gas supply agreement between the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has been clinched, thereby clearing a major hurdle in the implementation of the mega gas cracker project in Assam. The resolution of the dispute between the ONGC and the RIL was announced at a review meeting of the gas cracker project, chaired by Union Chemical and Petrochemical Secretary, Vinay Kohli here yesterday.

According to sources, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (P&NG) was expected to take another two to three weeks to identify...