ASSAM

The Assam Cabinet gave its nod to various measures for improving power connectivity in the state, including expansion of the electrification Network.

The Cabinet approved the electrification of 4,80,249 households, mainly under on-grid mode, and sanctioned Rs 1718.18 crore for the purpose. Electrification of 48,231 Anganwadi Centres and 13,120 primary schools at Rs 161.42 crore was also approved by the Cabinet. It decided to instal 9,000 distribution transformers, 70 prefabricated compact substations and 11 power transformers, besides repairing 4,200 damaged transformers for Rs 250.08 crore for improving voltage stability and reducing power distribution losses.

Approval was also given for installing 6,20,100 smart meters to improve billing process and energy accounting, thereby reducing commercial losses. Administrative approval was given to estimate for project preparation and implementation of an Asian Bank-aided project to improve secondary roads of the state.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asked the revenue and Disaster Management department to set a goal for digitisation of all land records of the state till 2023.

He also urged the department to dispose of all pending partition and mutation cases before completion of the first anniversary of the current government in May next year, according to an official statement.

Calling for reforms in the state’s revenue administration at a meeting with the officials of the department, the chief minister asked them to complete all pending partition and mutation cases in a mission mode.

“Mission Basundhara” will be launched for this purpose on October 2 this year, the statement said.

Chief minister Himanta BiswaSarmahas inaugurated a new Centre for Disaster Management and Research (CDMR) at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati.

The new facility was inaugurated recently in the presence of Prof. RK Bhandari, former director, Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Prof. T.G. Sitharam, director, IIT Guwahati, IITG faculty, researchers, and many national and international experts from around the world.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address delivered during 2020 convocation of IIT Guwahati, had requested the institute to establish this Centre for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction that will help the North-Eastern states in effectively managing various natural and industrial disasters.

The new facility was inaugurated during the Seventh edition of the prestigious quadrennial International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering andSoil Dynamics (ICRAGEE) conducted between 12th and 15th July 2021.

In a bid to prevent cybercrime in the state, the Assam Police will be setting up four cyber police stations. The decision was taken in view of the rising cybercrime cases in the State. According to a notification issued by the Home and Political Department of the Government of Assam, the cyber police station/outposts will be established for effective maintenance and prevention of Cyber Crime offences committed under the Information Technology Act and other related offences under any other law

There will be two cyber police stations at the CID headquarters in Guwahati and the office of the City Police Commissioner. A DSP-level officer will inspect both the police stations in Guwahati. The Cyber PoliceStation at Police Commissionerate, Guwahati will work independently in the jurisdiction under the Police Commissionerate, Guwahati, whereas the proposed CID cyber Police Station will have jurisdiction all over the territory of the state of Assam except for the areas falling under the Police Commissionerate, Guwahati.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that his government is linking every assembly constituency to just one circle office in a bid to streamline the administration. Currently, assembly seats are linked to the district headquarters and one district may have several circles and constituencies.

Sarma said that his government has initiated large-scale changes in the District Administration and a deputy commissioner must not get involved in routine administrative work but spend time on the overall progress in the district across key developmental parameters.

Minority strongholds inBarpetaseem more concerned abouthealth,educationand development than Citizenship issues.

Thousands of people were excluded from the NRC, the updated version of which was published in August 2019 in Baghbar, Jania and Chenga constituencies in Barpeta. This district has been the nervecentre of political andintellectual activismof the minority community in lowerAssam.

The movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act too gained widespread support in this region, where the Muslims were up in arms against the legislation to regularize the entry of non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Even though some intellectuals in the area feel that citizenship questions will be the deciding factor in this election, others see the polls in a different Light.

As per the agreement, out of 123 villages claimed by Arunachal Pradesh before the Local Commission in 2007, 71 have been amicably resolved so far. This includes 37 villages resolved through the Namsai Declaration on July 15, 2022, and 34 villages through the MoU signed on Thursday. Out of these 71 villages, one village will be included in Assam from Arunachal Pradesh, 10 villages will continue in Assam, and 60 villages will be included in Arunachal Pradesh from Assam.

The signing of the MoU has been welcomed by both states, with the hope that it will bring an end to the long-pending border dispute and usher in an era of peace and harmony between the two northeastern states.

The Assam Health department has asked the respective district authorities to explore the possibilities of turning hotels near hospitals into observation centres to accommodate the growing number of asymptomatic patients.The Assam health department has asked the respective district authorities to explore the possibilities of turning hotels near hospitals into observation centres to accommodate the growing number of asymptomatic patients.

The health department is looking to give better facilities to patients with round-the-clock monitoring of their health, assisted by ambulance facilities, which is not always feasible while in Home isolation.

Floods have reduced the number of vulnerableeasternswamp deer inKaziranga andTiger Reserve(KNPTR), which has been counted for the first time in the whole KNPTR on January 10 and 11.

Prior to this, the process was only done in Kaziranga National Park.

The official said this is mainly due to two high floods in the intervening period, that is, 2019 and 2020. Territory wise, 786 undereastern Assamdivision, 62 under Biswanath wildlife division and 20 under Nagaon wildlife division have been recorded by experienced and trained wildlife experts from outside the forest department. In the field exercise for census of the vulnerable eastern swamp deer, 29 enumerators and 112 forest personnel were directly involved.
On the other hand in the fourth wetland bird estimation 2021-2022, carried out from December 21 to 27, encompassing the whole tiger reserve, a total of 66,776 birds of 126 species were enumerated using point count method.