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.
Speaking at a training programme for urban planners on making river-sensitive master plans, Vaidya said non-strategic master plans have turned the five rivulets in Guwahati into sewage channels. Therefore, there is a need for action-oriented and strategic master plans for the cities so that the rivers can be covered.
It must be mentioned that Guwahati has five important rivulets and all of them are dying due to rapid encroachments and indiscriminate waste disposal. As many as 54 out of the 104 in the state have master plans but all are in the draft stage. Vaidya said, The plans implemented to date remained ineffective for some reasons. The demography as well as Geography have changed over the decades. Encroachment and lack of scientifically separate sewage channels have been stumbling blocks.
WhenHimanta Biswa Sarmais sworn-in asAssams 15th CM, he will be the seventh ex-student of northeasts premier Education institute, University(formerlyCotton College) to occupy the post of chief minister of the state.
Assams first premier in pre-Independence period, Saiyid Muhammad Saadulla, also studied at Cotton College, which was set up in 1901 by Sir Henry John Stedman Cotton, then chief commissioner of Assam. The college was upgraded to a university in 2017 by then education minister, who happens to be Himanta Biswa Sarma himself.
Like many other political figures of the state, erstwhile Cotton College was the nursery of the best political minds in the state and Sarma studied here from 1985 till his postgraduation in 1992.
TheAssamgovernment was working to remove theArmed Forces Special Powers Actfrom five more districts as the law and order situation in the state had improved considerably during the last two years, Assam chief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarmasaid.
The removal of theAFSPAfrom 60 percent of the state and signing of peace accords with several armed groups of the state has led to an of peace, the chief minister said while addressing a press conference to mark the completion of two years of his government.
The centre had removed AFSPA from April 1,2022 from the entire state of Assam barring nine districts and a sub-division of Cachar district and later it was removed from the Lakhipur sub-division and West Karbi Anglong district.
The state was declared a ‘disturbed area’ under AFSPA during the intervening night of November 27-28, 1990 and this was extended every six months since then.
Lineament is the linear feature in the landscape, determined by basic geological structures such as faults.
According to the Geological Survey of India (GSI), the Sonitpur area is located in a complex triangular area defined by the east-west Atherkhet fault, the northwest-southeast Kopili fault, and the north-south boundary.
Regular Earthquakes have been triggered by the two faults and the lineament, as well as the convergence of the Indian plate.
After the 6.4 earthquake on April 28 that destroyed many houses, bridges, and a river embankment, the National Centre of Seismology reported 29 earthquakes in Sonitpur with magnitudes ranging from 2.6 to 4.7.