Around 75 tunnel NHAI projects entailing investment of Rs 49,000 crore are under construction in the country, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said. Addressing the 'World Tunnel Day 2024 Conference on Safe & Sustainable Tunneling', the Minister for Road, Transport and Highways said that huge potential lies in the tunnel sector in India. "Our Prime Minister has a dream to make India the world's third-largest economy. For this target, we need to have an international standard of infrastructure in the country. Our government has given the highest priority for the development of good infrastructure in the country," Gadkari said. There is huge potential for tunnels. NHAI has completed 35 tunnel projects of 49 km in length costing Rs 20,000 crore, he said. Around 75 tunnel projects of 146 km in length are ongoing in the country at a cost of Rs 49,000 core, while 78 tunnels projects worth Rs 1.10 lakh crore are upcoming in the country which would cover a distance of 285 km, Gadkari ...
The Assam government has decided to ban serving and consumption of beef in restaurants, hotels and public places, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Wednesday. A decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet to amend the existing law on beef consumption to incorporate the new provisions. "We have decided to ban serving and consumption of beef in restaurants, hotel and public places," he told a press conference here. Sarma said the current law on beef consumption is strong but there has been no prohibition in consumption of beef at restaurants, hotels and religious or social gathering so far. "Now, we have decided to make the law stronger to put a complete ban on consumption of beef in public places too in Assam," he said. The chief minister said the meeting of the state cabinet, which he attended virtually from Delhi, also decided to broaden the road connecting Guwahati's Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi airport to the city from four lane to six lane. He said a cab
GOC Pendharkar interacted with the troops and lauded them for their dedication to duty
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday that the situation in neighbouring Manipur will have an impact on the state. Additional police forces have been deployed in Barak Valley which shares a border with violence-hit Manipur to ensure no spill-over effects. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme in Cachar district, Sarma said, I think the situation in Manipur will definitely have some impact on Assam. That is why we have deployed additional police forces in Barak Valley to see that nothing spills over to Assam." The Barak Valley of Cachar district shares a border with Jiribam of Manipur. The ethnically diverse Jiribam, which was largely untouched by the clashes in Imphal Valley and the adjoining hills, witnessed violence after the mutilated body of a farmer was found in a field in June this year. More than 250 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Z
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he was ready to ban beef in Assam if state Congress chief Bupen Kumar Borah writes to him, seeking such it. Responding to the allegation that BJP distributed beef to win the Muslim-dominated Samaguri, which was under Congress control for five consecutive terms, Sarma said he was happy that the opposition party raised the matter. "Samaguri was with Congress for 25 years. Congress losing a constituency like Samaguri by 27,000 votes (sic) is the biggest shame in its history. It is Congress's defeat more than BJP's win," he told reporters after a party meeting here on Saturday. BJP's Diplu Ranjan Sarmah defeated Congress' Tanzil, son of party MP Rakibul Hussain, by 24,501 votes in a bypoll last month. "But amidst sadness, Rakibul Hussain said one good thing that eating beef is wrong, isn't it? He said that it was wrong for Congress-BJP to win elections by offering beef to voters," the CM said when asked about the MP's reported comment. "I want t
In a tit-for-tat response, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he would send two delegations to study a few things in Jharkhand, days after his counterpart Hemant Soren took a cabinet decision to despatch an all-party team to study the plight of tea tribes in the northeastern state. Sarma, however, did not specify the areas of concern for the Assam government for deciding to send inspection teams to Jharkhand. "In our cabinet on December 5, we will make some decisions regarding visiting some Jharkhand areas. We will also go and see two-three things there," he told reporters after a BJP meeting here on Saturday night when asked about the Jharkhand government's decision to send a team to Assam. Hours after JMM leader Hemant Soren was sworn in as the 14th chief minister of Jharkhand on November 28, his government approved the formation of an all-party panel to study the plight of the "marginalised" tea tribes in Assam. "We will be happy if somebody looks after us because we
In his speech, Piyush Goyal reflected on the aspirations for India as it moves toward celebrating 100 years of independence in 2047
Sonowal is opening up the Indian seas and ports to the world. In an interview with Dhruvaksh Saha and Shreya Jai in New Delhi, he talks of about the ministry's plans
Hours after JMM leader Hemant Soren was sworn in as the 14th chief minister of Jharkhand, his government on Thursday approved the formation of a panel to study the plight of the "marginalised" tea tribes in Assam. The decision, taken in the first cabinet meeting of the Soren government, came against the backdrop of the poll battle between the JMM-led coalition and NDA, in which Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma repeatedly raised the issue of the "predicament" of Jharkhand's tribal community due to alleged large-scale infiltration from Bangladesh. "In Assam, tribes from Jharkhand are being marginalised. A large number of original inhabitants of Jharkhand are residing there. We have decided that an all-party panel will study the ground situation there. The panel will submit its report to the Jharkhand government," Soren said while briefing the media on the decisions of his first cabinet meeting. Sarma was the BJP's election co-in-charge for Jharkhand. Soren had raised the issu
ssam Chief Minister also proposed the establishment of tourism museums in New Delhi and Guwahati, which would play a crucial role in promoting Northeast India as a distinct tourism circuit
The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) in Assam said it will facilitate the return of around 1,000 Kuki-Zo people who took shelter in the Singhason hills since the outbreak of violence in Manipur last year. Meetings will be held with different stakeholders on the issue to facilitate the return of the Kuki-Zos who have come here, KAAC Chief Executive Member (CEM) Tuliram Ronghang said. "We are not going to forcefully evict them but will facilitate their return after discussions with various social and political organisations, including those from the Kuki community," he said. Ronghang said land rights would be given only to people who have lived in the Karbi Anglong district since its establishment or have been longstanding permanent residents. "Individuals migrating from outside the district, particularly those from Manipur, would not be granted land rights through our initiative of distributing land documents," he said on the sidelines of a land rights distribution programme
Sarma emphasised that the BJP would focus on at least five key constituencies in Assam, particularly those with significant religious minority voters
Assam will be hosting a two-day business summit in February next year with a focus on attracting investment and developing the state's infrastructure, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said here on Sunday. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the 'Advantage Assam 2.0 - the Global Infrastructure and Investors' Summit' on February 24, with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to be invited for the valedictory session. "We hosted the first 'Advantage Assam' investment summit in 2018, which led to agreements for investments of Rs 1 lakh crore. But due to the COVID pandemic, we could not hold any follow-up meet, even though the state has been attracting investments," Sarma said, addressing a press conference here. He maintained that good governance and peace have contributed to the state emerging as an investment destination. "Taking it forward, we will be hosting the two-day summit in February. The prime minister has already accepted our invitation, and we ar
The Assam government on Thursday changed the name of Karimganj district in the Barak Valley to Sribhumi, according to an official notification. The district headquarters Karimganj town has also been renamed Sribhumi town. "The Governor of Assam is pleased to rename the Karimganj district as Sribhumi district and Karimganj town as Sribhumi town," General Administration Department Principal Secretary Mukesh Chandra Sahu said in the notification. The changes will be applicable with immediate effect, it said. The Assam cabinet had on Tuesday decided to rename Karimganj district to Sribhumi. "Over 100 years ago, Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore had described modern-day Karimganj district in Assam as Sribhumi - the land of Maa Lakshmi. Today, the Assam cabinet has fulfilled this long-standing demand of our people," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said after the cabinet meeting. The decision to rename the district will reflect the expectations and aspirations of the people of the ...
Diganta Barah, Commissioner of Guwahati said that, based on input a team of Guwahati city police and staff of Inter State Bus Terminal police outpost had apprehended 1 person named Hafiz Ali
The meeting is part of the JPC's study tour in five cities namely Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Patna, and Lucknow from November 9 to November 14
The inauguration ceremony will be graced by the presence of Lakshman Prasad Acharya, Governor of Assam and Dasho Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan
At least three vehicles in which two Assam Congress MLAs and NSUI national president travelled were damaged in bypoll-related violence at Samaguri in Nagaon district, police said on Wednesday. According to Kaliabor Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Rupjyoti Dutta, the incident took place when the Congress leaders were addressing the public at Puthikhaiti village after inaugurating a new election office on Tuesday night. Barpeta MLA Abdur Rahim Ahmed, Golakganj MLA Abdus Sobahan Ali Sarkar and NSUI chief Varun Choudhary had travelled in the three vehicles. At the time of the attack, they were not in the vehicles. "A police case has been filed by Congress workers alleging that the attack was carried out by BJP supporters. We have seized the vehicles and are investigating the matter. The situation is under control now," Dutta told PTI. Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, who was the Samaguri MLA before he was elected to Lok Sabha earlier this year, visited the site and demanded immediate ..
Amidst the ongoing row over cutting century-old trees to give way for a flyover, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that a section of people have created "unnecessary controversy" to target the developmental works of the government. The Gauhati High Court on Tuesday slapped notices on Assam government over its plans to cut around 25 century-old trees for construction of a four-lane 5.05 km long flyover, the longest in the city, from Dighalipukhuri tank to Noonmati at a cost of Rs 852.68 crore. "For the last six months, I have been noticing that one particular circle is trying to create an unnecessary controversy regarding the flyover and trees of Dighalipukhuri," Sarma told reporters after visiting the construction site near the pond around midnight on Tuesday. He said the second controversy was shifting the statue of doyen of Assam literature Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa, and claimed that the flyover will pass above the statue and it will remain where it is .
Veteran Assamese actor and director Kulada Kumar Bhattacharya died at a private hospital here after a brief illness, his family said. He was 91. The award-winning screen and stage personality had been unwell for the last few days and had been admitted to the hospital, where he breathed his last at 8.20 pm on Friday, they said. The mortal remains of Bhattacharya will be taken to his residence and then to the city-based Surjya Theatre for people to pay their last respects. As Bhattacharya had donated his body to medical research, his mortal remains will be handed over to the authorities concerned, his family members said. Actively associated with films even in his advanced years, Bhattacharya won the Best Narration/Voice Over Award at the National Film Awards 2023 for his voice over for the documentary 'Hatibondhu'. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, condoling the death of Bhattacharya, wrote on X, "I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of veteran actor Kulada Kumar ...