GUWAHATI, September 10: Serious thinking is needed as to whether the present size of the administration is needed in Assam where the productivity of the government employees is very low, according to economist and chairman of the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi), Jayanta Madhab. He said the state has at present 5,50,000 people on its payroll. About 70 per cent of the budget goes in paying salaries to them. Madhab, a former director of the Asian Development Bank, said moreover most NEDFi entrepreneurs have the complaint that they have to grease the palms of the...

ROHMARIA, September 10: This place is hardly 20 kilometres by road from Dibrugarh's municipal limits, but even a four wheeled Gypsy ride took an hour and a half to reach the place. This is rural country, once famous for its lush agriculture. Most of the paddyfields have been eroded away by the Brahmaputra. If unchecked, the erosion threatens the existence of an Air Force base, Dibrugarh's civil airport at Mohanbari, several tea gardens and the residences and agricultural lands of the people of the area. The Rohmaria area falls under the Lahowal assembly segment and the population is mainly...

GUWAHATI, September 10: A bizarre tragedy today took five lives, including that of the superintendent of police (SP), Sibsagar and an Army officer when a landmine accidentally went off in the office chamber of the SP at Sinbsagar town. While SP PK Lohia, Lt Nazir, constable Dulal Neog and journalist Jiten Chutia died on the spot, photo journalist Al Farid Sajad died at a private nursing home. Police sources said that this afternoon, Lohia held a press conference in his office to explain the details of an encounter with a militant earlier in the day. After most of the journalists left the...

GUWAHATI, September 9: Renowned litterateur, educationist and former president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha, Jogesh Das, died at the Guwahati Neurological Research Centre (GNRC) here today. Das, a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award, was on artificial ventilation for the last several days following a brain haemorrhage on August 31. He was 72. Born in 1927 at Hanhchara tea estate, Das started his career as a teacher at Doomdooma High School and later joined B Barooah College in the city in 1953 as a teacher in Assamese. He retired as the head of the department of Assamese of B Barooah College in...

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...