Assam Govt invites textile firms to invest in the state

Guwahati, July 7: Assam Govt has invited the textile investors to Assam and assured customized support to their business ventures in the state.

Participating in the ‘Exclusive Investment Forum’ webinar organized by the Union Textiles ministry in collaboration with Invest India on Monday focused on textiles and apparel sector, Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that as per the 4^th All India Handloom Census, Assam has the highest number of looms and weavers in India.

“With 10.9 lakh weaver households and 10.19 lakh looms, the cottage industry provides huge employment opportunities to the people. Assam has a good textile and export policy,” Patowary said.

Highlighting the robust infrastructure that makes Assam an ideal investment destination for textile and apparel companies, Patowary said that, Assam has a textile park and is soon contemplating to set up another mega textile park.

“Assam offers the advantage of seamless connectivity to East Asia. With the advancement of the Act East policy, Assam is now the Centre of South East Asia with access to 80 million people,” Patowary said.

Along with Assam Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana have also participated in the webinar.

The webinar saw discussion on domestic manufacturers, state clusters, scope of apparels, textile machineries, yarn, supply chain and man-made fibres (MMF).

Chairing the webinar, Union Minister for Textiles, Smriti Irani welcomed all the investors and highlighted that history of textile in India is centuries old. She called upon the investors to invest in India as it has a vast market for textile, with abundant raw materials and investor-friendly policies.

Ravi Capoor, Secretary of Ministry of Textiles, highlighted the ecosystem for the textile sector in India and presented the latest initiatives and schemes of Government of India for promotion of textile industries in India.

Dr KK Dwivedi, Commissioner and Secretary and Assam Industries and Commerce department made a brief presentation on the state’s advantages for textile majors.

He added that Assam produces 4650 MT of eri, 156.96 MT of muga, 59.50 MT of mulberry per year.

Gautam Nair, Chairman, CII Task Force; Dr A. Sakthivel, Chairman, Apparel ExportPromotion Council (AEPC) and over 100 business leaders from various parts of the country participated in the webinar.

Assam government decides to upgrade Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary into a national park

Guwahati, July 6: The Assam government on Monday has decided to upgrade Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary into a national park.

The decision was taken during a meeting held at Brahmaputra guest house in Guwahati in presence of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and senior officials of the state Forest department.

In the meeting, Sonowal directed the officials of the state Forest department to take necessary steps to upgrade the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary into a national park.

To expedite the process of upgrading Dehing Patkai into a national park, the Assam Chief Minister directed the forest department to prepare a draft notification and hold a public hearing to take the views of local dwellers residing around the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary.

Sonowal also instructed to prepare an action plan for preserving the adjoining areas of the wildlife sanctuary and include the opinion of the public in the adjoining areas in the draft action plan.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal tweeted – “Our Govt has decided to upgrade the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, which is home to a vast variety of flora and fauna, to a National Park. In a meeting with senior officials in Guwahati today, I have directed them to take necessary steps in this regard.”

Our Govt has decided to upgrade the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, which is home to a vast variety of flora and fauna, to a National Park.

In a meeting with senior officials in Guwahati today, I have directed them to take necessary steps in this regard. pic.twitter.com/cUV5HKBwPb

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) July 6, 2020

The Wildlife Sanctuary covers an area of 111.942 sq km which is spread over Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.

The rainforest is known as Amazon of East and it has over 40 species of fauna including elephants, several varieties of big cats, bears and the famous Assam Macaque, over 300 species of birds, over 40 species of reptiles, over 60 types of trees and over 100 varieties of orchids.

The Assam Chief Minister reiterated the state government commitment’s to preserve the national resources and environment of the state and highlighted Dehing Patkai’s role in maintaining forest cover in Assam.

He also directed the Forest department to take necessary action for up-grading Dehing Patkai into national park in consultation with Union Environment and Forest Ministry.

Total number of national parks in Assam would increase to six after the up-gradation of Dehing Patkai into a national park.

Assam: Two minor girls gang-raped, filmed and blackmailed, police arrested five

Guwahati, July 6: A horrifying case of rape has come to light from Assam Biswanath district, wherein two minor Adivasi girls were gang-raped, then filmed and later blackmailed.

Police have arrested five persons who allegedly committed the heinous crime.

The shocking incident took place at Helem area under Helem police station in Biswanath district.

According to the reports, one of the accused persons identified as Pranabjyoti Patgiri who introduced himself as a journalist lured the two victims and took them to a house located in an isolated place at Helem area and raped the minor girls along with his some friends.

The accused persons had also allegedly filmed the entire incident that occurred a few days back.

Later, the culprits blackmailed the minor girls and forced them to involve into flesh trade.

On Saturday, the victim girls had shared the entire incident with their family members and lodged an FIR at Helem police station.

On Sunday, Biswanath district police had launched an operation in different locations of Helem area and arrested five persons for their alleged involvement into the incident.

Biswanath district Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajen Singh said that police have so far arrested five persons.

“A case has been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Following the FIR lodged by the family members of the two victims, police have so far arrested five persons. Our investigation is going on. We will take stern action against the persons as per law,” Rajen Singh said.

The arrested persons were identified as Pranabjyoti Patgiri, Sonu Agarwal, Sanjib Phukan, Deepak Gurung and Rakesh Payeng.

Guwahati has formally entered the COVID19 pandemic: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati, July 5: Assam Health Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that, Guwahati has now entered the COVID19 pandemic.

With the recent sharp spike in the numbers of COVID-19 positive cases in the capital city of Assam, the situation in Guwahati is becoming more critical.

Addressing a press conference held in Guwahati, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that, Guwahati has formally entered into a pandemic in last 10 days

“Earlier most cases were detected who came from outside of the state. But, now detection of cases has started locally who have no travel history. Now pandemic is in Guwahati and it is becoming bigger and bigger,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

According to the Assam state Health department, in last 10 days, the state has registered 4945 positive cases for COVID-19 and out of these, 2741 cases have been reported in Kamrup (Metro) district alone.

777 COVID-19 positive cases have been detected in Guwahati on Saturday.

The Assam Health minister further said that 125 COVID-19 positive cases have been detected in Guwahati since Sunday morning.

Following the rise in COVID-19 positive cases, the Assam government has imposed 14-day total lockdown in Guwahati and all in areas of Kamrup (Metro) district from June 28.

On the other hand, Assam has ranked forth across the country by testing 13471 samples per million people.

Delhi has tested 32863 samples per million followed by 18597 tests per million conducted by Andhra Pradesh, 16663 tests by Tamil Nadu.

Assam has so far registered 11,001 positive cases for the novel Coronavirus.

Women grab all key government posts in Assam’s Nalbari district

Guwahati, July 5: What is women’s empowerment – an Assam district has showed the women’s empowerment after women occupying all key government posts of the district including the head of the district.

From Deputy Commissioner (DC), Superintendent of Police (SP), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) to Chief Executive officer of Zila Parishad – women now grabbed all key government posts in Assam’s Nalbari district

Assam Civil Service (ACS) officer Purabi Konwar had recently joined as the first woman Deputy Commissioner of Nalbari district.

After Purabi Konwar joined as the Deputy Commissioner, the lower Assam district has become women ruled district as all key posts have been occupied by women officers.

Earlier IPS officer Amanjeet Kaur had joined as the Superintendent of Police (SP) of the district, who was earlier posted as the deputy commissioner of police (traffic) in Guwahati.

Apart from it, the district has Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jupi Bordoloi.

Senior ACS officer Krishna Baruah is the Chief Executive officer of Zila Parishad of Nalbari district.

On the other hand, out of seven revenue circles of the district, four are headed by women officers – Banashree Deka (Nalbari-Sadar), Nandita Hazarika (Ghagrapara), Shilpika Kalita (Banekuchi) and Rituparna Bhadra (Borbhag).

Apart from it, many other women officers are now presently worked in different government departments in the district – District Labour officer Kabita Barman, District Public Relation officer Binurani Rajbonshi, District Tax officer Jumi Gogoi, District Social Welfare officer Padmeswari Saikia, District Food Inspector Nabanita Haloi, District Child Protection officer Dipti Phukan, Finance and Accounting officer Daisy Nath, District Project Manager of NHM Minakshi Borpujari,  Sub-Registrar of Revenue Madhabi Kalita, Sub-Divisional Agriculture officer Lakhi Dutta, Geologist of Krishi Vigyan Kendra Manashi Chakrabarty, Block Development Officer of Nalbari (West) is Barsha Sarma and many others.

There are five judges in Nalbari district – District and Sessions judge Sharmila Bhuyan, Assistant Sessions judge Hemakhi Thakuria Buragohain, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sabrina Bhattacharya, Judicial Magistrate (1st class) Smriti Rekha Bhuyan and Munsif Rubina Yasmin.

Nalbari district Deputy Commissioner Purabi Konwar said that – “Women officers have been posted in all major key posts in the district. I am hoping that we will do better with a good team for the people of the district.”

According to 2011 population census, population in Nalbari district was 7,71,639 of which 3,96,006 were male and 375,633 female.

Without any support from the government Assam villagers construct bridge by spending Rs 10 lakh

Guwahati, July 5: The people of 10 villages of Kachumara area in Assam Barpeta district have finally fulfilled their dreams by constructing a bridge by spending their own money.

Without any support from the government, the villagers built a bamboo bridge on a tributary river of Brahmaputra river with their own money.

The villagers spent about Rs 10 lakh to construct the bridge.

The bridge is about 250 meters long that connecting to Kachumara bazaar area.

The people of 10 villages of the area were facing lot of problems, difficulties for not having a bridge on the river.

Crossing the river during monsoon season was an uphill task for the villagers since the past several decades.

The task was more challenging when the children were forced to cross the river by using country made small boats to reach their schools.

The villagers appealed the state government and local MLA several occasions to construct a bridge on the river, but the government or the MLA didn’t respond.

The villagers had used country made boats to carry patients, food items since the past several decades.

Finally, 6000 people living in 10 villagers had decided to construct a bridge on the river by spending their own money.

Some local youths had taken the initiative and collected money and other items from the villagers for bridge construction.

On Saturday, the bamboo bridge was formally inaugurated and the villagers had celebrated.

A local youth said that, each family of the area had contributed to construct the bridge.

“About Rs 10 lakh spent to construct the bamboo bridge. This bridge is not permanent. We appeal the government to construct a permanent bridge,” the local youth said.