GUWAHATI, Nov 8 ? The Government of India has awarded the Amguri oil and gas field to a consortium comprising the Assam Company Limited and Canoro Resources Limited. As per the Government decision, the field was formally handed over to the consortium on October 29, said a press release of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited.

The release said that development of small and medium-sized fields by private sector companies was part of the liberalisation programme of the Government of India conceived in the early 1990s to attract private investment in the oil sector.

A number of fields...

GUWAHATI, Nov 8 ? Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia today urged the North East States to introduce policy correctives and take new initiatives in critical areas to achieve the targeted annual growth rate of 8.1 per cent GDP (gross domestic product) in the 10th Five Year Plan period.

Speaking during a meeting with the Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries of the eight North East States here today, Ahluwalia said that the Government would give ?very strong emphasis? to the development of the social sector in the country.

He said that it is a sector that has been...

DARRANGA MELA (Nalbari), Nov 7 ? The hundred-year-old Darranga Mela town of Nalbari district (now in Bagsa) situated in the Indo-Bhutan border area today wears a deserted look following the ?Operation Flush Out? carried out by the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGB) against the Indian militants especially those of ULFA and NDFB camping in Bhutan territory in December last year.

As the Bhutanese authority strictly restricted the free movement of Bhutanese people to the Indian side and closed the Samdrup Jongkhar main gate and Sengaline gate, the flow of the Bhutanese people to the once prosperous...

DONGKAMOKAM, Nov 7 ? Khorsing Engti, Chief Executive Member (CEM), Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), Bajong Tisso, Deputy Chairman, Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) and Sing Teron, Executive Member (EM), Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), visited the flood-affected areas to assess the magnitude of loss in the recent flood wave in west Karbi Anglong.

It is to be noted that in the recent floods, hundreds of families of West Karbi Anglong under Baithalangso and Kheroni police stations were rendered homeless and almost all the major roads were damaged. Due to heavy landslides...

GUWAHATI, Nov 7 ? So once again development is going to cost the city?s environment. These trees have so far been providing the GNB Road area a shield with a verdant cover, against the pollutants. They have been a part of the environment in this part of the city for quite a long time. They will be lost to oblivion within a day or two.

These vibrant plants are now standing on the plots belonging to residential and office compounds owned by the Government and the private firms and in cases, by some institutions. The district administration has recently acquired these plots for the purpose of...