ASSAM

Justifying the crackdown on child marriages in Assam, chief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarma said not a single such incident has taken place in the state in the last one month.

The Assam government on February 3 started an intensedrive against child marriagesacross the state, registering over 4,000 cases. Till Tuesday, 3,145 people have been apprehended.

Observing that making a large number of arrests in thecrackdown on child marriagecreated “havoc in the private lives of people”, the Gauhati on February 14 said there was no need for custodial interrogation of the accused in such cases.

Assam capital Guwahati, the gateway to the northeast, might have crossed the peak of the third wave on January 18 and 19 when the overall daily positivity rate had surged beyond 20% inKamrup(Metro) that alone logged nearly 2,000 cases or one-fourth of the states total cases.

Health experts said the rate of infection has shown a continuous declining trend in the last five days here, indicating that the peak may be over. Even after uniform testing during mid-January, the highest 1,996 and 1,929 cases were detected in Kamrup (Metro) on January 18 and 19 respectively. The last 15 days have been most alarming so far as the third wave in the city is concerned. The positivity rate touched 10.12% on January 10, more than double of the states positivity rate of 4.49% on the same day, which set alarm bells in thestate health department. At an uneven trend, the positivity rate continued to hit worrying figures for the next one week and shot up to 20.62% on January 18, followed by 20.17% on January 19.

The Kamatapur Liberation Organization (KLO), which was active in western part ofAssamandNorth Bengaland once an ally of Ulfa in Bhutan and Myanmar, has expressed interest in peace talks with the government.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarmain tweet said, ” In continuation with Govt of India’s efforts to bring lasting peace in the region, I welcome the desire of KLO Leadership to join mainstream at an early date to resolve all issues through political dialogues. Govt of Assam would fully reciprocate this goodwill measure.”

The KLO was born in 1995 for an armed struggle for a separate Kamtapur carved out of adjoining parts of Assam and West Bengal. Singha, who is believed to be in Myanmar, was booked by West Bengal Police last April under UAPA for allegedly terming chief ministerMamata Banerjeean “outsider.”

Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari announced on Twitter that a new rail-cum-road bridge across the Brahmaputra, near the existing Saraighat bridge in Guwahati, has been approved at a cost of over Rs 900 crore under PM Gati Shakti national master plan for multi-modal connectivity.

This new bridge will be constructed on the upstream of the historic Saraighat bridge, the first bridge built over the Brahmaputra.

As hazy skies are back to haunt the state capital, the city’s air quality dipped to the “moderate” category, which causes breathing discomfort to people with lungs, asthma and heart diseases, with a steady reduction in ambient temperature and lack of rain.

After a few months of blue skies and clean air quality index (AQI), PM 2.5 pollutants stood at 144, which was 88 barely one week ago, the national air quality index of the Central Pollution Control Board stated.

The prominent pollutant is PM2.5 and the peak level of PM2.5, tiny particulate matter of diameter 2.5 microns or less than 2.5 microns – that can enter deep into the lungs – was 271 on Wednesday morning(10 am) contrary to the Average 144 during the day.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered “good”, 51-100 “satisfactory”, 101-200 “moderate”, 201-300 “poor”, 301-400 “very poor”, and 401-500 “severe”. Above 500 AQI is “severe-plus emergency” category.

The variation in AQI values is primarily due to variation in PM 2.5 values, which are seasonal weather characteristics.

The air quality may further deteriorate in the coming days due to the bursting of crackers as every year,Diwalinight pushes the city’s ambient air to dangerous levels which lead to winter pollution.

Last year, Guwahati’s air quality index had dipped to “severe” category with bursting of firecrackers on Diwali and a day after, despite a “complete ban” by the authorities. The average air quality index in Guwahati was 454 – the worst in the last season.

TheAssam governmentmay regulate all theprivate madrassasin the state under an existing Act,Education Minister Ranoj Pegusaid. The proposal is making rounds in the wake of the arrests of severalmadrassa teachersfor their alleged links with terror outfits.

The government is gradually taking steps to bring all the non-governmental educational institutions under this existing Act for their regulation and monitoring, the minister said.

With technical support from the IIT-Madras, the facility will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 75 crore over 3.67 acres of land provided by the Assam government at Pandu and is expected to be completed by August 2023.

Sharing nearly 4,500 kilometres of International Border with neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar, the region is strategically and economically crucial for being the gateway to the southeast Asian countries. Also, the regions connectivity with the other parts of the country by means of protracted modes of transport has become a thrust area for the government.

To include most of the hinterlands of the NE region, 20 waterways have been declared as national waterways, to provide access to Kolkata and Haldia .

Assam chief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said technical bids for preparation of the detailed project report for the proposed 35kmlong corridor between Gohpur and Numaligarh will be opened on July 4.

It will require Rs 6,000 crore for both road and train Communication through separate tunnels. PMNarendra Modihas already given his approval. God willing, we can start the construction work during my tenure as chief minister, Sarma said. The present distance from Numaligarh to Gohpur is about 220km and takes about six hours. The tunnel will reduce that to 33km and the time to half an hour.

The project, once completed, will provide relief to the existing traffic on NH37, located south of Kaziranga and Tiger Reserve. It will enhance national security by allowing DEFENCE personnel to be transported through the tunnel to Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China, and efficient transfer of bulk goods.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G), has used drones to reach out to the people trapped in the floodwaters in lowerAssam, with relief. Rainwater rolling down from the Bhutan Hills has caused untold damage to this region this monsoon and left thousands of marooned villagers without food and shelter.

The whole operation is being carried out by the Drones Tech Lab, a start-up atIITGuwahati, and students of the aeromodelling club of the institute with the help of the Kamrup District Administration since Friday. They have started the delivery of medicines and relief materials in Kamrup through drones as numerous villages in lower Assam, where IIT-G is located, have been cut off from the rest of the state for over a week now. Hundreds of people are still struggling for emergency needs.

Over the last one week, IIT-G conducted surveys and mapping of flood-affected areas surrounding Balisatra Chariali, near Kendukona village, one of the worst flood-hit locations. IIT-G said their drone technology will help in identifying stranded citizens during floods or other natural disasters such as Earthquakes and landslides in a very short time and provide real time information to disaster response authorities.