Guwahati: To cope with the increase in population the Guwahati metropolitan area is set to expand by about 66 square kilometer by 2025.
Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has master planned to build three new towns in the neighboring areas of the city. A new university campus has also been planned in Kharguli together with an education and research hub which will comprise a new medical college. New roads and water facilities will be set up according to the plan in 70 neighborhoods which will have two senior secondary and primary schools each. The plan also comprises the addition of 16 new colleges and 4 technical centers.
A speciality hospital with 500 beds will be set up at the city together with another speciality hospital at the Rudreshwar village.
The master plan read, “Of the total projected population, 17.74 lakh will be accommodated within the present metropolitan area and the remaining four lakh will be accommodated in the three new towns,”
The growth of the city from 1991 to 2001 has been 37.85%. On the other hand the population of the city will grow to 21,73,902 by 2025 from 11,95,760 in 2011.
Guwahati also has a floating population of over 10%. These 10% are the people who comes to the city for the daytime activities.
According to the master plan the work force participation rate (WFPR) is already having a steady increase in the city. The WFPR will increase to 7,82,605 by 2025. This workforce together with the floating workforce of 10% will sum up to about 8,60,866.
The plan also stated that trade and commerce will have most of the workforce i.e. 30%. This will be followed by the manufacturing units (17%). The rest of the workforce will be involved in household industries.
GMDA has also planned about coping with the traffic problems with the increase in population. The plan has included building of new roads covering nearly 194 kilometers and creating a hierarchy based road network system. Addition of light rail transit system (LRTS) and bus rapid transit system (BRTS) will also help to transport the rising population. Sidewalks will also be created for pedestrians on primary and sub-arterials and other major roads.
The master plan also suggests about the need of water that will arise with the time. Guwahati will need about 425 million liters of water every day to meet with the needs. The plan also suggests the river Brahmaputra as the major source of the surface water for the city.
GMDA has also stressed on the poor drainage of the city. The master plan states about re-sectioning the main drainage channel i.e. the Bharalu river to tackle the floods in the city. The plan also suggests about the redesigning the other major drains and trunks in the city.
Source: http://guwahatinow.com/guwahati-expand-66-square-kilometers-2025
Guwahati: With two days remaining for the 68th Independence Day, the preparations for the celebrations are on in full swing. The Independence Day parade which is to be held at the Veterinary College ground in Khanapara are taking some tough ask from the police personnel to be participating. They are busy rehearsing for the parades for a last couple of days.
On the other hand, the city police is busy making security arrangements for the event together with the labourers who are busy in making temporary tents to accommodate the crowd.
The city police has also set up four watch towers in four corners of the ground to keep an eye on the happenings.
Senior SP A P Tiwari “Our security net is spread over four-km radius around the ground. At least 100 CCTV cameras will be installed. Two police units will be constantly monitoring every single glimpse captured by the cameras.”
Assam police has not taken any chance with the Independence celebrations this time around and they don’t want the repetition of the 2005 Republic Day celebrations in Judges Field which was rocked by twin blasts. Assam police has used dog squads, metal detectors and anti- sabotage checking to keep the ultras away from the event.
There will be three entrances to the Veterinary ground of which two will be for VIPs, officials and media. The third gate will be open for public to be a part of the celebrations.
Tiwary added, “We can accommodate 5,000 people”
NCC cadets and about 1000 members of citizen committees will help the police in security checks on the day.
Calling tourism an industry which can engage locals and minimize rural-to-urban migration, All Arunachal Pradesh Tour Operators' Association (Aaptoa) demanded that new tourist circuits be opened, existing ones be extended and sufficient funds be allotted to create tourism infrastructure in the state.
Addressing the media here on Thursday night, Aaptoa general secretary Duyu Tamo said new tourist circuits can be created for Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts, He said, "This region has the potential to boost cultural and festival tourism." He also demanded the extension of existing tourist circuits such as Nacho-Limeking-Taksing, Tuting-Gelling-Singga and Miao-Vijaynagar.
"The Union home ministry needs to include the Buddhist circuit in its national action plan. This can attract more Buddhist tourists to this landlocked state," he said, adding that the Greenfield airport at Hollongi must be constructed immediately to increase tourist influx.
To make the tourism department the state's highest revenue earner, Aaptoa president John Panye appealed to the government to release sufficient funds for better infrastructure. "To make tourists more comfortable, the government needs to better its infrastructure. Department officials, including DTOs and TIOs, should be well-equipped", said Panye.
"People are aware of the potential of the state, but show poor participation. We have to include more stakeholders for the development of tourism and involve them in planning and policy making," he said. He added that the state government should conduct one mega festival instead of several small events.
Guwahati: The vaccines of Japanese Encephalitis are not effective during the period of its transmission. The experts from ministry of health and family welfare have asked the state government not to apply the vaccines.
Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome has affected 24 states around the state killing over 100 people. Districts like Barpeta, Nagaon, Baksa, Darrang, Sonitpur, Nalbari and Bongaigaon are largely affected.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi asked the health department to take measure against the disease with the vaccination process being stopped for some time.
Moreover there is a shortage of vaccines in the state and it will take up to four months to get more vaccines. In a meeting yesterday the chief minister and health experts discussed about starting a vaccination drive from Novenber onwards.
“Principal secretary, health and family welfare department, Sanjeeva Kumar met the Union secretary of health and family welfare department, Lov Verma and apprised him of the situation. The health ministry officials including the experts are of the view that during the transmission phase of the disease vaccination will not yield the desired results. Moreover, the minimum time required for procurement and supply of the vaccine is three to four months, which means that the JE vaccination is expected to start only by November, subject to availability of vaccines,” the CM’s office stated.
The chief minister also asked the health department to get more vaccines and medicines that the shortage does not arise again.
“The CM has instructed the health authorities to spread bleaching powders, conduct fogging at the piggeries and hold awareness campaigns. He also enquired about the quantity of medicine available in the hospitals and health centres and instructed the health officials to procure medicines in advance to meet shortages, if there are any,” the CM’s office added.
Guwahati: Eight City buses meant especially for women were flagged of yesterday by state chief secretary Jitesh Khosla and other officials of Kamrup (Metro) officials.
The buses will have women conductors, who are trained in martial arts for self defence. The buses will operate on two slots i.e. morning (7am to 11am) and afternoon (3pm to 8pm).
According to the chief secretary Jitesh Khosla, this step will help the women to a large extent. Boys upto 8 years will also be allowed to travels in these buses.
M Angamuthu, Deputy Commissioner (in-charge) stressed in the expansion of this service across the city if the inaugural operation of these 8 buses succeed.
Zerifa Wahid, actor, also the brand ambassador of the project said, “Girls and women have started working in different professions. I think this will help them feel secure.”
This step is taken by the district authorities to tackle the up growing crimes against the women. The figures of The National Crime Records Bureau shows that the crime against women has jumped from 13544 in 2012 to 17449 in 2013.
A 17-year-old Kolkata school girl has committed suicide after alleged harassment on Facebook. The victim, a class XI student and resident of Behala Parnasree in west Kolkata, hanged herself at her room on Tuesday and left a six-page suicide note blaming one of her Facebook friends for abetment.
The police have arrested the prime accused, Faisal Imam Khan, a 23-year old college student and two of his friends, Satish Shaw and Deepak Gupta.
The girl befriended Faisal on the social networking site a few months ago but later started avoiding him. The accused then created a fake profile of the victim on the site with her morphed photographs and phone number which said she was "seeking friends" and was "open to relationships".
The victim started receiving obscene phone calls and allegedly chose to end her life to escape the ignominy.
Sorce: http://www.newstimeassam.co.in/newsupdates/index.php?aID=1367#.U7om0PmSySo
According to National Crime Records Bureau, Assam’s roads have been termed ‘unsafe’, with the state is fifth rank in the list of states for causing deaths by road accidents in the country.
Road accidents count for roughly 50.4% of all deaths in Assam, which is much higher than the national average of 36.4% for 2013. In total, 18 states in the country have a higher mortality rate caused by road accidents and five of them are from the North-East. The states of Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura have a higher accidental road deaths than the national average.
Nagaland reports for the second highest accidental death rate in the country, with 52.2% of all deaths in the state being the result of road accidents. The state of Jammu and Kashmir turned out to be leader when it comes to deaths caused by road mishaps, with the state report for 63.5% of all deaths due to road accidents.
Assam reported a whopping 7,211 road accidents and many more went on unreported. The highest number of road accidents were reported in the month of May, although no apparent reason could be ascertained.
Most of the road accidents in the state occurred between 6pm and 9pm and two-wheelers bore the brunt as it was reported that they were involved in the majority of the road accidents which occurred last year.
“536 two-wheeler accidents were recorded in 2013. Cars follow, with 525 accidents. Trucks and lorries caused at least 455 road accidents in Assam, followed by bus which caused 278 mishaps,” the report revealed.
A total of 29 bikers were killed in road mishaps in Assam in 2013 and many more suffered serious injuries.
Again Petrol and diesel rate in India saw a steep higher thanks to the ongoing crisis in Iraq. While the price of petrol was increased by 1.69 per litre, diesel’s price was increased by 50 paise a litre.
The price raise will be in effect from today itself, and it doesn’t count local sales tax or VAT and therefore the actual price raise will be more and vary city to city.
The officials blamed the steep increase in the price on the ongoing civil war in Iraq –
“Due to geo-political unrest in the Middle East, there has been significant increase in international oil prices during the past two weeks.
The international prices of gasoline (petrol) have increased by more than USD 4 per barrel, and the rupee-US dollar exchange rate has also deteriorated. The combined impact of both these factors has warranted an increase in petrol prices by Rs 1.69 per litre, excluding state levies,” Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest oil firm, said.
The BJP-led government is following the principle set up by UPA regarding raising diesel’s price in small increments. However, although there has been a total of 17 raises in the pricing of Diesel since then, but still oil firms are losing around 3.40 a litre of diesel, according to the IOC.
In a major news, the IOC revealed that if this continues the oil industry comprising of IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are on course to close the fiscal year with more than Rs.107,850 crores in revenue losses.
A Good news for LAW Students that, Gauhati University has removed the age bar for Three-year and Five-year law courses.
GU officials said that the order will be put into effect from the 2014-15 academic calendar.
Aspirants of any age, who have scored the minimum marks required for admission to three-year and five-year courses in law, can apply for a seat in the two courses in law under GU. The decision has been taken following directives from the Bar Council of India,” said J Dutta, academic registrar of GU on Sunday.
Students holding a bachelor degree were eligible for the three-year law course, while those with a 12-pass record can opt for the five-year course. The minimum cut-off for applying in both the courses was 45 percent, however upto 5 percent grace was said to be provided for SC, ST and OBC students.
He also confirmed that this new rule will be applied to all law colleges which are affiliated to G.U.
“We are hopeful that removal of the age bar for admission to the three-year and five-year courses in law will fulfill the aspirations of those who want to practise law but can not get a law degree because of the age bar. It’s a positive step,” said Subhram Rajkhowa, professor in the department of law at GU.
Until last year, students aged 20 or under should apply for the five-year course while students aged 30 or under could apply for the three-year course.
This is great news for anyone who dreamt of becoming a lawyer but had to give up half-way due to personal or financial issues. This will give them another chance at fulfilling their dreams. 
