Top Section
Explore Business Standard
Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.
Amidst the ongoing row over cutting century-old trees to give way for a flyover, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that a section of people have created "unnecessary controversy" to target the developmental works of the government. The Gauhati High Court on Tuesday slapped notices on Assam government over its plans to cut around 25 century-old trees for construction of a four-lane 5.05 km long flyover, the longest in the city, from Dighalipukhuri tank to Noonmati at a cost of Rs 852.68 crore. "For the last six months, I have been noticing that one particular circle is trying to create an unnecessary controversy regarding the flyover and trees of Dighalipukhuri," Sarma told reporters after visiting the construction site near the pond around midnight on Tuesday. He said the second controversy was shifting the statue of doyen of Assam literature Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa, and claimed that the flyover will pass above the statue and it will remain where it is .
Amidst ongoing public outcry, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said the government will reconsider its plans to fell dozens of century-old trees in Guwahati to make way for a flyover. On Tuesday, prominent personalities and residents criticised the BJP-led government for planning to chop around 25 treessome as old as 200 yearsalong the banks of Dighalipukhuri tank for the project. The protests continued on Wednesday, with college students, citizens, and local leaders gathering at Dighalipukhuri to voice their concerns. "I want to assure you that the government is deeply committed to preserving our city's heritage and environment while advancing infrastructure. In constructing the flyovers from Dighalupukhuri to Noonmati, we are sincerely working to protect the old trees in the area. I urge all stakeholders to allow the Public Works Department a few days to explore an alternative proposal and assess its feasibility," Sarma said in a post on X. The government is .
Reports indicate that Tamannaah Bhatia was said to have received payments for a 'celebrity appearance' at an event for the app company, but there are no 'incriminating' allegations against her
An anxious Ratan Paul peeks towards the entrance of his smoke-filled workshop in Guwahati's Pandu area, hoping to catch a bright ray of sunlight without the raindrops cutting it out. Paul claims not to have witnessed such a long spell of incessant rains in his career of nearly 50 years as a sculptor of idols as he, like other idol-makers in Assam's largest city, pray to the heavens to clear the weather so that they can complete their Durga idols in time. "I have been in this profession for 49 years now and never has it rained for so long before Durga Puja. We are really worried about how to complete the idols," Paul told PTI while giving the finishing touches to special decorative pieces of clay for the idols at his workshop. "We are using firewood, coal and even burners connected to LPG cylinders to dry the idols," he said, pointing to the sculpted idols being placed in groups around lit stoves with the smoke filling the entire workshop. Paul's son, Kanchan, who joined his family
Luxury hotel chain Novotel on Thursday said it has introduced a range of electric vehicles in its fleet to reduce carbon footprint, the first such move by any hospitality group in Northeast. Announcing the development, the company in a statement said that it will double the fleet of electric vehicles at its Guwahati property in the coming months. "Marking first of its own kind initiative by any 5-star property in Northeast India, Novotel Guwahati recently introduced two electric cars, marking a significant step in their commitment to reducing carbon footprint and promoting eco-friendly transportation," it added. The move was a part of the company's ongoing sustainability initiative aimed at supporting both the environment and the local community, the release said. In the spirit of continuous improvement, Novotel plans to expand its EV fleet with two more electric vehicles in the near future, it added. Commenting on the development, Novotel Guwahati general manager Manmeet Singh sa
The IIT-Guwahati entered into an agreement with Airbus India Private Ltd on Friday to set up a global training centre for aviation and logistics business here. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the collaboration will pave the way for Assam to emerge as a logistics hub in providing skilled personnel in aerospace technology. This is a milestone initiative to welcome Airbus India to our state. This agreement does not represent just a formal alliance, but a shared commitment to innovation and excellence to aerospace technology and development of logistics hub in Assam, he said at the MoU signing ceremony at IIT-Guwahati. The CM maintained that the project will address the current skill gap, and the collaboration is poised to elevate global competitiveness and the logistics sector in the northeast region. This is a significant step in creating a robust and dynamic workforce in our region, Sarma said, emphasising that the coming together of academic excellence of IIT-Guwahati and .
A spell of heavy rain early on Sunday inundated several arterial roads and residential areas in Assam's Guwahati, disrupting vehicular movement and causing inconvenience to residents of the capital city of the northeastern state. People were seen wading through knee-deep waters in some areas of the city while the water level reached up to the chest in several localities. Inundation was reported from Zoo Road, Nabin Nagar, Ganeshguri, Hedayetpur, Guwahati Club, Ulubari, Hatigaon, Gita Nagar, Maligaon, Lachit Nagar, Chandmari, Panjabari, Jorabat, Jatia, Jyotikuchi and Ghoramara and RG Baruah Road areas. The three-hour downpour also led to waterlogging in GS Road, Anil Nagar, VIP Road, Tarun Nagar, Rajgarh Road, Jorabat, Rukmini Gaon, Survey and Chatribari areas in the city. Vehicles on GS Road were stopped at Dispur from moving further towards Choy Mile due to flooding in Rukmini Gaon area. They were also diverted through the Last Gate point along Survey-Beltola Road, which was also
Tripura Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury has asked Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu to sanction a new regional office of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security in Agartala. In a letter to Naidu, the Tripura transport minister said MBB Airport in Agartala is the second busiest airport in the northeast after Guwahati's Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport. "It is reliably learnt that 17 new offices of BCAS will be set up across the country shortly. MBB Airport in Agartala, Tripura, is the second busiest airport in the entire Northeast of India after Guwahati's Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport. The annual traffic at MBB Airport is about 13 lakh," Chowdhury said in a letter to the Union minister on Saturday. Chowdhury stated, "The new terminal building of MBB Airport which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2022 is a modern and international category. Infrastructure for international flight operations between Agartala and .
The Adani Group-run Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport in Guwahati will move to its upcoming terminal by April 2025, a senior official said. The initial target to complete the terminal building, being developed at a total cost of over Rs 2,000 crore, was December 2024, but it got delayed by around four months due to a change in design, he said. "Our new terminal will be ready by April 2025. The little delay was due to a change in the design to include more facilities in the building. We want to make it the most effective terminal in the country," Chief Airport Officer (CAO) Utpal Baruah told PTI. In August 2020, the Union Cabinet accorded its approval for leasing the Guwahati airport for operation, management and development to Adani Enterprises for 50 years. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) was developing the new terminal before the management was transferred to the Gujarat-based entity in October 2021. "We have recently prepared the master plan of the ..
The annual Ambubachi Mela at Kamakhya temple, atop Nilachal hills in Assam's Guwahati, commenced on Saturday with worship stopped for the next four days, coinciding with the ritualistic annual menstrual cycle of the goddess. Lakhs of devotees attend the mela and wait for the resumption of worship and pay obeisance to the goddess. Temple authorities said the doors were closed at 8.43 am with the start of 'prabritti' and worship will resume at 9.07 pm on June 25 after 'nribritti'. On June 26, the temple door will open for darshan after a ritualistic bath and daily puja, they said. Worship is stopped and doors are closed in the temple for four days annually, when the goddess is believed to undergo her menstrual cycle. Devotees from different parts of the country and abroad converge at the annual mela, which is held in the temple premises during the period. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a post on X in Hindi, welcomed the devotees to the mela. "On the occasion of Ambubachi M
The streets of Anil Nagar and Chandmari areas in Guwahati have been severely waterlogged, disrupting normal life, following heavy rainfall in the region.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a week-long forecast predicting continuous rainfall in Guwahati.A resident of Anil Nagar urged the administration for a solution."Water fell during the night and there is so much water that it has filled up. How will we come and go here? I want to tell the administration that we need a diversion here because without diversion, there is no solution," the resident said.Alerts have been issued for various parts of the country, including Assam and Meghalaya, where heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected until June 20.IMD has specifically warned of exceptionally heavy rainfall on June 18."Assam & Meghalaya is very likely to get isolated heavy (64.5-115.5 mm) to very heavy rainfall (115.5-204.4 mm) on 16th & 17th June and exceptionally heavy rainfall on 18th June whereas ...
State-owned NBCC (India) Limited has bagged a Rs 100 crore contract from Oil India to construct a centralised core repository with advanced laboratory facilities at Guwahati in Assam. In a statement on Wednesday, NBCC said it has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oil India for the construction of a centralised core repository with advanced laboratory facilities at Guwahati in Assam. "This work is valued at Rs 100 crore approximately," it added. The MoU was signed by SalomaYomdo, ED (E&D), OIL and Pradeep Sharma, ED (Engg.), NBCC in the presence of Ranjit Rath, CMD, OIL, K P Mahadevaswamy, CMD, NBCC, Saleem Ahmad, Director (Projects), NBCC and other senior-level officials from both the organisation. NBCC and OIL are also in the final stages of discussion for undertaking various other works, such as the execution of a hospital, group housing, guest house, installation of solar rooftop panels etc. in Assam. "The anticipated value of these works is Rs 900 crore ...
The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud has recommended to the Centre the names of two additional judges for appointment as permanent judges of the Gauhati High Court. The Collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, recommended that Justice Rajesh Sekhri be appointed as an additional judge of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court for a fresh term of one year with effect from July 29, 2024. "... the Collegium resolves to recommend that Justice Susmita Phukan Khaund and Justice Mitali Thakuria, additional judges, be appointed as permanent judges of the Gauhati High Court against the existing vacancies," said one of the Collegium resolutions uploaded on the apex court website. It noted that the Collegium of the Gauhati High Court had unanimously recommended on April 1 the names of these two judges for appointment as permanent judges. "The chief ministers of the States of Assam, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and the ..
From aspiration of a better future for their children to the hope that the government will "work for the people" to appeal for a secure environment for office-goers, women voted with diverse issues in mind in Assam's Guwahati constituency on Tuesday, where two female candidates are locked in a direct fight. As polling for the prestigious seat commenced along with three other constituencies in the third and final phase in the state, voters braved inclement weather to exercise their right of franchise. Women, who outnumber men by over 34,000 in terms of total voters in Guwahati, had their agenda in mind while choosing their representatives. Out of the total 20,36,846 voters in Guwahati, 10,35,588 are women, 10,01,200 are men and 58 are from the third gender. BJP is seeking to retain the seat for the fourth consecutive term through its candidate Bijuli Kalita Medhi, while the Congress has fielded Mira Barthakur Goswami. Guwahati has been represented by a woman BJP MP since 2009. It
The nomination process for four Lok Sabha constituencies, including Guwahati, in Assam going to polls in the third phase began on Friday, the Election Commission said. The process started with issuance of the notification for the third phase across the country. Voting in Guwahati, Barpeta, Dhubri and Kokrajhar (ST) constituencies will take place in the third phase on May 7. As per the notification, the last date of filing nomination is April 19, while the scrutiny of the same will be done the next day. The last day for withdrawal of candidature has been fixed on April 22. The counting of votes will take place on June 4 along with the rest of the country. In the high-profile Guwahati constituency, BJP's new face Bijuli Kalita Medhi, who is a vice president of Assam BJP and the former president of the party's women wing in the state, is likely to have a direct contest with Congress first-timer Mira Barthakur Goswami, the president of Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress. From the ruling
The parents of the IIT-Guwahati student, who had allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, on Saturday met their son, a senior police official said. The parents of Touseef Ali Farouqui, a fourth-year B Tech student of the Bioscience department, arrived here on Friday and met him at the police station where he is in custody. The official, however, did not divulge what transpired during the meeting or how long it lasted. The student was scheduled to be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court next on April 4. The accused was detained on March 23 at Hajo in Kamrup district of Assam and arrested the next day under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and UAPA. Meanwhile, some students of the IIT-G have expressed surprise that Farouqui would send an email to people stating that he was going to join ISIS. "He was an introvert and did not mingle with us. He mostly remained in his room but we are surprised
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that those in power after Independence could not understand the significance of places of worship and set a trend of being ashamed of their own culture for political reasons. Addressing a massive rally in Guwahati after unveiling projects worth Rs 11,600 crore, Modi said that no country can progress by erasing its past. "However the situation has changed in the last 10 years," he said. Modi said that the projects he unveiled will strengthen connectivity not only in the Northeast, but also the rest of South Asia. He said that peace has returned to Assam in the last 10 years and over 7,000 people have put down arms and returned to the mainstream. "A record number of tourists have visited the region in the past decade," he added.
Updates: Catch all the latest updates from around the world
Tight security arrangements have been made in Guwahati ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Assam on February 3 and 4
Mad Max Glenn Maxwell showcased his fury to produce a Big Show in Guwahati and keep Australia alive by winning yet another match single-handedly and hitting a century on the way