PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM GUWAHATI & DIBRUGARH

RN-1127/57 TECH/GH – 103/2018-2020, VOL. 82, NO. 200 GUWAHATI, FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020

82 years of service to the nation

www.assamtribune.com Pages 12 Price: 6.00

p2 p11NF Railway taking measuresto boost freight traffic

China refutes US claim ofvirus originating in Wuhan lab

p5 First quarter GST, I-Tmop-up encouraging

Bypolls put offNEW DELHI, July 23:

The EC has deferredbyelections for one LokSabha and seven assemblyseats due to “someextraordinary circumstancespeculiar to theseconstituencies” and the pollpanel will meet on Friday todiscuss scheduling of thesebypolls. – PTI

Defence moveNEW DELHI, July 23:

The Ministry of Defencehas issued an order forgrant of permanentcommission to all servingwomen officers in the Armywho were recruited underthe Short ServiceCommission scheme. – PTI

nnnnn Also see page 6

Travel orderGUWAHATI, July 23:

The State government willallow inter-districtmovement on July 30 and31 subject to strictcompliance of COVID-19regulations, an officialorder here on Thursdaystated. – Staff Reporter

Mars missionBEIJING, July 23: China

successfully launched itsfirst Mars probe today,aiming to completeorbiting, landing androving in a single mission,taking an ambitious steptowards planetaryexploration of the solarsystem. – PTI

nnnnn Also see page 2

GUWAHATI, July 23: The Assam government will re-

lease 376 prisoners in the next few days to decongest jails

across the State after 535 inmates tested positive for COVID-

19, an official said on Thursday.

Of the 376 prisoners to be released, 111 are presently

lodged in Guwahati Central Jail, he said.

The rest of the prisoners are now lodged in the district

jails of Nalbari, Dhubri, Karimganj, North Lakhimpur,

Golaghat, Diphu and

Udalguri, he added.

Inspector General of

Prisons Dasarath Das

told PTI that 535

prisoners in 10 jails

across the State have been affected by the pandemic. The

highest number of 435 are from Guwahati.

Das said the authorities were releasing prisoners at reg-

ular intervals according to the direction of the Supreme

Court to decongest the jails and another set of inmates will

be released soon.

“The High Powered Committee formed after the SC set

the guidelines met yesterday. We have sent a proposal to

release 376 prisoners from eight overcrowded jails. This

includes 111 inmates from Guwahati Central Jail,” he said.

376 prisonersin State to be

released

Move to decongest jails

535 inmatestested COVID-19positive

India won’taccept Chinabid to change

LAC status quoNEW DELHI, July 23: In-

dia on Thursday forcefully re-

iterated that it will not accept

any unilateral attempts to

change the status quo along

the Line of Actual Control

(LAC) with China.

In his weekly briefing, the

Ministry of External Affairs

spokesperson Anurag

Srivastava said, “India is fully

committed to observing and

respecting the LAC and that

we will not accept any unilat-

eral attempts to change the

status quo along the LAC.”

The statement comes

amid speculation that the

talks between India and China

are running into a stalemate

over the LAC issue in Ladakh.

Recalling his June 26 state-

ment, Srivastava said, “I had

noted that the conduct of Chi-

nese forces this year, includ-

ing the deployment of a large

body of troops and changes

in behaviour, accompanied by

unjustified and untenable

claims, has been in complete

disregard of all the mutual

agreements.”

Floods claim 4 more lives,State death toll 93

Governor undertakes aerial survey of flood affected areas

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: The overallflood situation in Assam deteriorat-ed further on Thursday even as fourmore lives were lost due to the del-uge taking the death toll in the Statethis year to 93.

The four new fatalities have been re-

ported from the districts of Bongaigaon,

Kokrajhar, Morigaon and Golaghat, while

the number of flood-hit people in the State

swelled to over 28 lakh with several new

habitations being inundated.

Governor Jagdish Mukhi undertook

an aerial survey of the flood affected ar-

eas on Thursday and said that he would

recommend to the Centre for finding

out a permanent solution to the flood

and erosion problem of the State.

“My experience over the last three

years as the Governor of the State con-

vinced me that every year flood creates

havoc leaving people, animal and the

physical infrastructures in tatters.

Therefore, taking on the problem annu-

ally will not suffice,” he said after the

aerial survey of floods in seven lower

Assam districts.

According to the ASDMA, 26 districts

– Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswa-

nath, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta,

Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri,

South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kam-

rup (Metro), Morigaon, Nagaon, Gola-

ghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh,

Tinsukia, West Karbi Anglong and Cach-

ar – are still under flood waters, affecting

28,32,410 people in 2,643 villages under

74 revenue circles.

Among the affected people, 47,213 are

taking shelter in 456 relief camps across

the State.

As many as 152 forest camps in Ka-

ziranga National Park, 19 camps in Orang

National Park and three camps in Tinsukia

Wildlife Division also got affected in floods.

The Brahmaputra and most of its trib-

utaries in the State have been flowing

above the danger level. In the past 24

hours, flood waters have damaged a

number of embankments in Kokrajhar

district along with several roads in

Jorhat, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Nalbari, Bar-

peta, Bongaigaon, South Salmara, Mori-

gaon and Golaghat districts. Incidents of

flood-triggered erosion have also been

reported from several districts.

Meanwhile, addressing a press con-

ference here on Thursday, Agriculture

Minister Atul Bora said that up to July

22, floods affected altogether 9,95,260

farm families of Assam and submerged

75,607 hectares of summer paddy, 8,089

hectares of autumn paddy and 82,322

hectares of winter paddy cultivation.

Flood waters further damaged 7,122

hectares of summer maize, 122 hec-

tares of rabi maize, 106 hectares of oil

seeds, 4,963 hectares of summer pulse,

38,142 hectares of jute and mesta,

1,186 hectares of sugarcane, 19,777

hectares of kharif vegetables, 300 hec-

tares of spices, 998 hectares of fruit and

plantation crops and 18,627 hectares of

other crops cultivation.

Governor Jagdish Mukhi making an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Assam on Thursday. – PTI

Indo-Bangla tiestime-tested,

historic: MEASPL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI, July 23: In-

dia on Thursday played down

Pakistan Prime Minister Im-

ran Khan’s call to his Bangla-

desh counterpart Sheikh

Hasina, stating that the rela-

tions between Delhi and

Dhaka are time-tested.

“Relation between India

and Bangladesh are time-test-

ed and historic,” said Minis-

try of External Affairs spokes-

man Anurag Srivastav.

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23:

With the total count of COV-

ID-19 cases touching the

30,000 mark, Health Minis-

ter Himanta Biswa Sarma to-

day said that the State is try-

ing its best to contain the

number of cases.

“Although the Centre has

projected that the State will

have around 65,000 infec-

tions by August 15, we are

trying to keep the count as

low as possible. But that

would depend upon how the

people behave,” the

State COVID-19tally touches 30,000

Minister said.

The Minister also in-

formed that the State will

soon be able to provide re-

sults of up to 20,000 samples

within 48 hours.

Meanwhile, the Health

Department sources

projected that the COVID-

19 cases in Guwahati is ex-

pected to reach its peak in

the next one month or so.

So far over 12,000 persons

have been tested positive

for COVID-19 in

Guwahati.

SEE PAGE 6

SEE PAGE 6 SEE PAGE 6

SEE PAGE 6

SEE PAGE 6

Except the lotus, the floods

swept everything away!

JOCOSERIOUS

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In pursuance of Govt.Notification No. AHE.28/2020/4dated 04.02.2020 and DHE LetterNo. DHE/CE/Misc/12/2014/4 dated06.02.2020 applications in theformat prescribed by the DHE,Assam vide letter No. DHE/PA/4/2017/24 dated 20.12.2017(available in DHE/College websitewww.kcdccollege.ac.in) alongwith complete bio-data and alltestimonials from HSLC onwardsare invited for filling up the followingsanctioned posts of AssistantProfessors.1. Hindi : 01 post (Roster Point

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BEIJING, July 23: China success-

fully launched its first Mars probe

on Thursday, aiming to complete or-

biting, landing and roving in a single

mission, taking an ambitious step

towards planetary exploration of the

solar system.

A Long March-5 rocket, China’s

largest and most powerful launch

vehicle, carrying the spacecraft with

a mass of about five tonnes, soared

into the sky from the Wenchang

Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast

of southern China’s island province

of Hainan, the official Xinhua news

agency reported.

About 36 minutes after the launch,

the spacecraft, including an orbiter and

a rover, was sent into the Earth-Mars

transfer orbit, embarking on an almost

seven-month journey to the red plan-

et, according to the China National

Space Administration (CNSA).

The Chinese Mars probe named

Tianwen 1 or Quest for Heavenly

Truth 1, will fulfil three scientific

objectives: orbiting the red planet

for comprehensive observation, land-

ing on Martian soil and sending a

rover to roam the landing site.

It will conduct scientific investiga-

Fire burns near the village of Galataki as authorities evacuate the place near Corinth, Greece on

Wednesday. More than 250 firefighters, backed by water-dropping aircraft, were struggling on

Wednesday to contain a large wildfire fanned by strong winds that has forced the evacuation of

five settlements in southern Greece. – AP/PTI

China launches Mars mission

tions into the planet’s soil, geological

structure, environment, atmosphere

and water, media reports said.

It should arrive in orbit around the

red planet in February.

The Long March 5 rocket will trans-

port the robotic probe to the Earth-

Mars transfer trajectory before the

spacecraft begins its self-propelled

flight toward Mars’ gravity field.

According to China Aerospace

Science and Technology Corp, a

State-owned space conglomerate,

the probe will travel for about sev-

en months before it reaches Mars,

which at the farthest point of its or-

bit is about 400 million kilometres

from Earth and 55 million kilome-

tres at the nearest point.

It said the probe consists of three

parts – the orbiter, the lander and

the rover – and they will separate in

Mars orbit. The orbiter will remain

in the orbit for scientific operations

and to relay signals while the lander-

rover combination makes an auton-

omous descent and landing.

The rover has six wheels and four

solar panels and carries six scientific

instruments. It weighs over 200 kil-

ogrammes and will work for about

three months on the planet, the de-

signers said.

China aims to catch up with India,

the US, Russia and the European

Union to reach the red planet.

“The triple-task expedition of Tian-

wen-1 marks another milestone in

China’s aerospace science and tech-

nology development, as well as a fresh

daring adventure in the country’s long

march of outer space exploration fol-

lowing its lunar programme and the

endeavour to build a space station,”

the state-run media commented.

In a paper last week, the scientific

team behind Tianwen-1 said the probe

is “going to orbit, land and release a

rover all on the very first try, and co-

ordinate observations with an orbiter.

No planetary missions have ever been

implemented in this way.” – PTI

China refutes US claim overvirus originating in Wuhan lab

BEIJING, July 23: The Chinese For-

eign Ministry refuted the claim by

some US politicians that the novel coro-

navirus originated in a laboratory in

Wuhan.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin on

Wednesday made the remarks at a dai-

ly press briefing when asked for com-

ments about the so-called latest evi-

dence of the origin of the virus as re-

cently revealed by an internal cable of

the US State Department, Xinhua news

agency reported.

With respect to the management and

research of the Wuhan Institute of Vi-

rology (WIV), Yuan Zhiming, director of

the National Biosafety Laboratory at the

institute, had given a comprehensive in-

troduction during an inclusive interview,

Wang said.

“The laboratory has high-standard

bio-safety facilities and a strict man-

agement system. All the researchers

must undergo systematic theoretical

and operation training, and obtain the

qualification and approval before en-

tering the laboratory,” Wang quoted

Yuan as saying.

The spokesperson said that a few pol-

iticians in the United States spread ru-

mours and even claimed to have “a large

amount of evidence” to support their

so-called “truth,” showing they have no

morals at all.

“The contents disclosed by the rele-

vant reports have enabled the world to

see once again how little truth is in the

NONTHABURI (Thailand), July 23:

For decades, some Thai parents

warned their naughty children that if

they didn’t behave, Si

Ouey would come eat

their livers.

If the threat of a

ghostly visit from the

executed child killer,

long called a cannibal,

proved ineffective,

those children could

always be taken to

see Si Ouey. After all,

his mummified

corpse “gnarled and

blackened” for years

stood on display in a

glass case in the Fo-

rensic Museum at Bangkok’s Siriraj

Hospital.

In recent years, however, doubts

were raised about whether the man

called Thailand’s first serial killer was

Thai serial killer cremated after decades as museum displaygiven justice and a campaign was

launched to at least give him a proper

funeral.

On Thursday, six decades after his

execution, that finally happened.

Nine Buddhist monks at a temple

north of Bangkok chanted prayers and

paper flowers were placed in front of

Si Ouey’s coffin, which was then

moved to the crematorium, where the

head of the Corrections Department

lit the fire. Hospital officials as well as

residents of a town where he once

lived looked on.

Si Ouey, a Chinese immigrant who

worked as a gardener, was reported-

ly caught red-handed in 1958 in a for-

est in Rayong province burning the

body of a 8-year-old boy who had dis-

appeared on an errand.

Police were quick to pin on him at

least five previous unsolved murders

of children dating back to 1954, some

in other provinces. Lurid newspaper

accounts detailed how he supposedly

relished eating their hearts, livers and

intestines.

Si Ouey was said to have told po-

lice that he acquired a taste for hu-

man flesh during World War-II,

when as a Chinese soldier in a unit

besieged by the Japanese he sur-

vived by eating the bodies of those

killed in battle.

He was tried and found guilty of

murder and executed by firing squad

on September 16, 1959. He was 32.

His body was then handed over to

Siriraj Hospital for what was de-

scribed as medical study. His story

soon became a regular staple of hor-

ror books and B-movies.

The truth about Si Ouey’s case,

however, is difficult to confirm.

Police at the time had a reputation

for beating confessions out of suspects,

and popular newspapers dished out

tabloid-style sensationalism.

Si Ouey was also at a disadvantage

because he was a poor immigrant, ar-

riving from China in 1946 at age 19.

Thailand’s military governments at the

time were keen to stir up anti-Chi-

nese sentiment in the Cold War at-

mosphere and often blamed immi-

grants for crime and unrest. – AP

so-called evidence and truth of the Unit-

ed States,” Wang said, noting even US

experts agree that there is no evidence

in the diplomatic cables to support the

claim that the novel coronavirus came

from the laboratory.

“Speaking of the truth, we do hope

that the US government will tell the

truth about issues such as the Fort Det-

rick biolab and give an explanation to

the American people and the interna-

tional community,” he said.

The spokesperson said the United

States is forming cliques and provok-

ing ideological confrontations in inter-

national relations, running counter to

the trend of the times embodying

peace, development and cooperation as

well as to the wishes of the majority of

countries. – IANS

BEIJING, July 23: China said “ma-

licious slander” is behind an order by

the US government to close its con-

sulate in Houston, Texas, and main-

tained on Thursday that its officials

have never operated outside ordinary

diplomatic norms.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson

Wang Wenbin said the order to close

the consulate “violates international

law and basic norms governing inter-

national relations,” and “seriously un-

dermines China-US relations.”

“This is breaking down the bridge

of friendship between the Chinese and

American people,” Wang told report-

ers at a daily briefing.

The order this week to close the

consulate, one of China’s six missions

in the United States, is seen as esca-

lating tensions between the world’s

two largest economies while Presi-

dent Donald Trump steers blame and

punitive measures against China ahead

of the November US election.

Beijing has said it would take action

in response, although Wang gave no

details on Thursday.

Relations between the two sides

have nose-dived in recent months over

the conronavirus pandemic as well as

disputes over trade, human rights,

Hong Kong and Chinese assertiveness

in the South China Sea.

In its statement on the closing of

the consulate, the State Department

alleged that Chinese agents have tried

to steal data from facilities in Texas,

including the Texas A&M medical sys-

tem statewide and The University of

Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

in Houston.

Wang said there was no basis to that

claim.

“This is completely malicious slan-

der,” Wang said. – AP

‘Malicious slander’

Afghan forces kill31 Taliban militantsKABUL, July 23: Afghan security forces killed 31 Taliban

militants and injured 15 others in Nangarhar province, the

Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

“The Afghan National Defence and Security Forces

(ANDSF) were aware of an im-

minent attack on checkpoints

in Qelgho area of Khogyani

district late on Wednesday. The

ANDSF launched a responsive

attack, leaving the casualties

among the Taliban,” the

Ministry said in a state-

ment. Ten vehicles were

also destroyed during the

fighting and five improvised

explosive devices (IEDs)

were defused after the

clashes, Xinhua news

agency reported citing the

statement as saying.

Attahulla Khogiani, pro-

vincial government spokes-

man, told Xinhua that 13 of the killed Taliban members

were foreign militants.

“Thirteen non-Afghan nationals were among the killed.

The peace pact signed between the US and the Taliban in

Doha in February required the Taliban militants to reduce

violence and cut ties with foreign militants and militants of

Al-Qaeda international terrorist group,” Khogiani said.

“But Taliban did not sever ties with the international

terrorists, and the foreign militants still support Taliban in

the fight against the government and the people of Af-

ghanistan,” he said. Since the signing of the peace deal,

Afghan leaders, including President Ashraf Ghani, have fre-

quently demanded the Taliban to reduce violence. The mili-

tants, however, have intensified attacks, killing and injuring

scores of combatants and civilians. – IANS

Saudi kingundergoes surgery

DUBAI, July 23: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, 84, under-

went a successful surgery that re-

moved his gallbladder, the kingdom

said on Thursday, just days after

being admitted to the hospital over

an inflammation of the organ.

Surgeons at Riyadh’s King

Faisal Specialist Hospital oper-

ated on the King, the state-run

Saudi Press Agency reported, de-

scribing the procedure as a laparoscopic surgery. That’s a

low-risk procedure that usually involves only small inci-

sions and a small camera to aid the surgeons’ work. King

Salman will remain at the hospital for some time to re-

cover and be observed by doctors, the report said, citing

a statement from the Saudi royal court.

The King thanked all his well-wishers, the report said.

King Salman has been in power since January 2015. He is

considered the last Saudi monarch of his generation of broth-

ers who have held power since the death of their father and

founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz. – AP

King Salman

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 3

NATIONAL

NEW DELHI, July 23: The

Supreme Court on Thursday

refused to restrain the Rajas-

than High Court from passing

order on a plea of sacked Dep-

uty Chief Minister Sachin Pi-

lot and 18 other dissident Con-

gress MLAs

challenging the

disqualification

notice against

them and said it

would be subject to the out-

come of petition before the

apex court.

Observing that “voice of dis-

sent” in a democracy cannot be

shut down, the apex court re-

fused to accept the request of Ra-

jasthan Assembly Speaker CP

Joshi to either stay the matter

pending before the high court or

transfer it to the apex court.

A bench headed by Justice

Arun Mishra was hearing an

appeal filed by Joshi against the

Rajasthan HC to passorders on plea of MLAs

Directions subject to outcome of

Speaker’s appeal: SC

high court’s direction asking

him to defer the disqualifica-

tion proceedings till July 24.

The high court is scheduled

to pass its order on Friday on

the plea filed by the 19 dissi-

dent Congress MLAs.

The apex court said that is-

sue raised in the plea filed by

the Speaker required “pro-

longed hearing” as it involved

“larger question” related to

the democracy and how it will

survive.

“As the high court has already

heard the matter after pro-

longed arguments and reserved

the order, we are not staying

the passing of the order. How-

ever, whatever order is passed,

shall be ultimately subject to the

outcome of this petition,” the

bench, also comprising Justices

BR Gavai and Krishna Murari,

said and fixed the matter for

hearing on July 27.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal,

appearing for the Speaker,

raised questions

over jurisdiction

of the high court

in entertaining

the plea filed by

the MLAs and said that the court

can only intervene after the

Speaker takes a decision on ei-

ther suspension or disqualifica-

tion of a member of the House.

The bench observed,

“Voice of dissent in democ-

racy cannot be shut down like

this... This is not a simple

matter. This is a matter

where persons are elected by

the public. They are peoples’

representative,” the bench

said. – PTI

NEW DELHI, July 23: The

Jawaharlal Nehru University

(JNU) approved a proposal for

digital submission of M Phil,

M Tech dissertations and PhD

theses on Thursday.

According to a statement

from Professor Chintamani

Mahapatra, Rector-I of JNU,

the proposal was approved at

the 286th Executive Council

meeting of the university.

“JNU will be taking the lead

in India to launch this novel

process of dissertation and

thesis submission through the

digital mode. This will facili-

tate a timely, hassle-free and

very convenient process of

submission of M Phil disserta-

tions, M Tech dissertations and

PhD theses for evaluation by

research scholars of the uni-

versity,” the statement said.

The JNU has already put in

place an online theses-track-

ing system.

Even before the COVID-19

pandemic, the Academic

JNU approves digitalsubmission of

dissertations, thesesCouncil of the university had

authorised the holding of viva

voce examinations for the

award of research degrees.

More than 150 viva voce

tests for the award of doctoral

degrees have been conducted

online during the pandemic,

the statement said.

The procedure of online

submission of dissertations and

theses includes the “No Dues

Clearance” form submission

by the students. The school or

centre offices will process the

acquisition of the relevant

clearances for the students

online and the students will no

longer have to move from

place to place with a physical

form to get “No Dues” clear-

ances under the new proce-

dure.

All the official require-

ments, such as a plagiarism

check of the draft dissertations

and theses and payment of fees

will be done digitally, the state-

ment said. – PTI

AYODHYA, July 23: The

proposed Ram temple in Ayo-

dhya will now be bigger and

taller in size.

According to Nikhil Sompu-

ra, an architect and son of C

Sompura, chief architect of the

temple, “The earlier design

was prepared in 1988. Over

30 years have passed... the

footfall is likely to increase.

People are also very enthusi-

astic about visiting the temple.

So, we thought its size should

be increased. As per the re-

vised design, the height of the

Ayodhya Ram temple to bebigger, taller, more magnificent

temple has been increased

from 141-feet to 161-feet.”

Sompura said that two man-

daps have also been added to

the design and all pillars and

the stones that were carved

based on the earlier design will

still be used. Only two new

‘mandaps’ have been added.

The construction will begin

after a grand ground-breaking

ceremony on August 5

The construction of temple

will take around 3.5 years,

Sompura said. “As soon as the

ground breaking ceremony or

the ‘bhumi pujan’ is done, the

construction work will begin.

The team of Larsen & Toubro,

along with machinery and ma-

terials, have reached the spot

and the work on foundation

will start right away. It will take

3 to 3.5 years for the comple-

tion of the work,” he said.

Three-day long Vedic ritu-

als will be held ahead of the

grand ground-breaking cere-

mony, which will revolve

around the installation of a 40

kg silver brick as the founda-

tion stone. – IANS

4 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020

MESSAGE FOR TODAY

You can never cross the ocean until you have

the courage to lose sight of the shore.

– CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Sensational caseA sensational case is unfolding in Kerala involving the

smuggling of gold from the United Arab Emirates. Under

normal circumstances, smuggling of gold into India is noth-

ing out of the ordinary and every year scores of attempts

are foiled by the Indian Customs authorities. India is one of

the countries where inordinate value is associated with the

yellow metal which is deemed absolutely essential during

rituals and ceremonies. However, this particular episode

has become extraordinarily sensational because of the in-

ternational ramifications involving another foreign country

as also the political associations which has allowed Opposi-

tion parties to exploit it to the heels against the ruling Left

Democratic Front Government in the State. The matter first

came to light when 30 kgs of gold valued at Rs 15 crore was

apprehended by the Customs at the Thiruvananthapuram

international airport on July 5. Addressed to the UAE Con-

sulate, the consignment was designated diplomatic baggage.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had

received several such diplomatic consignments over the

last few years. The Customs now believe that in the last one

year, at least 230 kgs of gold was smuggled into the country

by using some employees of the United Arab Emirates dip-

lomatic mission! Such cases are normally pursued by the

Customs, but this case was handed over to the National

Investigation Agency (NIA), and other Central agencies

including the Enforcement Directorate were roped in.

This is the first time that the NIA has taken up a smug-

gling case in the country, testifying to its sensitive nature,

considering that the Consulate of another nation is involved.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) at the time of trans-

ferring the probe from the Customs to the NIA had also

asserted that the case has national security implications. In

the remand extension petition for the four accused, includ-

ing a high-profile woman named Swapna Suresh, before a

special court, the NIA has stated that the accused were part

of a larger conspiracy that aimed at financing terrorism in

the country. It has been alleged that Swapna Suresh, a con-

sultant with the Kerala IT Department, was close to the

State Government, something perhaps borne out by the fact

that soon after her name cropped up, the CM’s powerful

principal secretary M Sivasankar and his IT fellow Arun

Balachandran, were sacked! This has left a chink open in

the armour of the Pinarayi Vijayan Government, with the

State BJP chief K Surendran alleging that the IT Secretary

and Chief Minister’s office exerted pressure for the re-

lease of Swapna. That the State Ministry is in serious trou-

ble can also be gauged by the fact that the case has driven a

wedge in the ruling coalition with the CPI, junior partner in

the Government, expressing serious reservations over

‘some deviations’ in Left ideology and criticizing the Gov-

ernment’s move to hire multinational consultant agencies.

Erosion woesA serious and persisting concern that has been left unad-

dressed by successive governments happens to be erosion

of landmass by the State’s rivers, especially the Brahmapu-

tra. According to official estimates, some 60 lakh bighas of

land equivalent to 8,000 sq km have been eroded since

1951, destroying in the process cropland and settlements.

More than anything else, it strongly indicates the apathy of

successive governments that have failed to accord priority

on resolving this critical problem. All these decades, our

efforts towards tackling erosion has not gone beyond seek-

ing ad hoc solutions whereas the fact stands that it is futile to

tame the Brahmaputra with piecemeal interventions. In-

deed, there has been little scientific study on the dynamics

of the complex Brahmaputra river system which abounds

with peculiarities of its own. Any long-term intervention on

the Brahmaputra, therefore, has to be preceded by a thor-

ough study and understanding of the Brahmaputra. The

Brahmaputra Board which could have done a good job about

it has failed in its mandate. The flood and erosion control

projects in the State have also earned notoriety for shoddy,

corruption-riddled execution. It has been rendered a milch

cow for a thriving coterie of contractors, government offi-

cials and politicians that is perpetuating widespread corrup-

tion in the name of flood and erosion containment. It is for the

Government to put in place a stringent monitoring mecha-

nism so that accountability can be fixed in the event of any

compromise on quality.

River erosion needs to be recognized as a bigger con-

cern than even the recurring annual floods that cause wide-

spread damages. The seasonal floods come with their re-

deeming aspects such as replenishment of cropland and

wetlands but erosion has none of this benevolence. Over

the years vast landmasses including settlements and

prime agricultural land have disappeared into the Brah-

maputra. This is having a damaging effect on the State’s

predominantly agrarian economy. Since short-term inter-

ventions without addressing the peculiarities of the prob-

lem will not serve much purpose, a holistic approach to-

wards flood and erosion control, taking into account the

related diverse aspects – including the environmental ones

– of the phenomenon is a dire need. In recent years, mount-

ing anthropogenic pressures have severely impacted riv-

er dynamics, resulting in aggravated floods and erosion. It

is also highly imperative that we explore the prospects of

replicating the best practices from outside while mixing

the same with local expertise, including indigenous meth-

ods. As siltation has been a major factor behind both floods

and erosion, large-scale plantation on the hills, sandbars

and the catchment areas can be an ideal way to reduce

siltation. All this calls for a rethink on the anti-erosion strat-

egy we want to adopt. Since flood and erosion are related

phenomena, an integrated approach is imperative for their

management.

he Covid-19 pandemic

has now spread to 216

countries, affecting mil-

lions of people, causing

lakhs of death and many more are

living with the fear of infection glo-

bally. The pandemic has devastated

our lives in an unprecedented way.

The whole world is fighting a battle

today against the pandemic. The bat-

tle has brought the globe almost to a

standstill leading to major medical,

social and economic problems. This

highly infectious virus has already put

enormous strain on the healthcare

systems worldwide as more and

more positive cases are being re-

ported daily. Scientists and research-

ers are continuing their studies to

learn more about this novel corona-

virus. As we scramble to keep our-

selves safe from this Covid-19-caus-

ing virus, medical researchers are

discovering new information on the

virus every day in a bid to under-

stand more about the pathogen.

Recently many researches are

pointing to the fact that the ABO

blood group might play an impor-

tant role in a person’s susceptibility

to Covid-19 and its severity of ill-

ness. The latest research by genet-

ic-testing giant 23andMe has thrown

up some interesting points for med-

ical researchers to ponder about the

relationship between the ABO blood

group and Covid-19 susceptibility.

According to the preliminary data

collected by 23andMe, people with

blood group O appear to be protec-

tive against the virus when compared

to other ABO groups. The report is

based on a research conducted on

more than 7,50,000 participants. The

report states that individuals with

blood group O are between 9-18%

T

Lettersto the

EDITOR

Underwater tunnel

Sir, – Sanjib Sabhapandit in his

response (AT, July 20) to my letter

on the above subject asserts that

rather than technological arrogance,

the tunnel project is going to be the

product of ‘ultramodern sophisticat-

ed technology’. I can

hardly pretend to any knowledge

of geology and engineering

involved in various scientific

aspects of the project. My

concerns are about possible impact

on the people and their habitat,

both of which are under heavy

stress these days.

The Baghjan catastrophe he

mentions is in fact a telling example

of technological miscalculation and

lapse that impose immense costs

and suffering on the people by

damaging the environment

irreversibly. Such incidents may

have happened elsewhere, but that

is no consolation to the affected

people. Massive mega projects may

be technologically feasible, but they

may not be to the benefit of local

indigenous population.

I understand that boring a tunnel

less likely than the individuals with

other ABO grouping to have tested

positive for Covid-19.

Several other studies looking both

at the severity of illness and suscep-

tibility to Covid-19 have also suggest-

ed that the ABO blood group plays a

role. In a study conducted by medi-

cal researchers from the Southern

University of Science and Technolo-

gy in Shenzhen, China, in collabora-

tion with colleagues from other Chi-

nese institutions, looked at

the ABO blood group dis-

tribution amongst 2,173

individuals admitted to

hospitals with Covid-19.

The team then compared

the Covid-19 patients’

ABO blood group distri-

bution with a group of the

general population of 3,694

people residing in Wuhan.

The researchers found

that the proportion of peo-

ple with blood group A

was significantly higher

among the group of hospi-

talized with Covid-19 than

among the general popu-

lation. Additionally, the

proportion of people with

blood group O was signifi-

cantly lower among the

group of hospitalized with Covid-19

than among the general population.

As per the research, 37% of Covid-

19 patients had blood group A when

compared to 26% of Covid-19 posi-

tive cases with blood group O. Based

on these findings, co-first study au-

thor Jiao Zhao and his colleagues pub-

lished an online research paper to

MedRxiv. As per this retrospective

data review, individuals with blood

group A were found to have a 20%

increased risk of acquiring Covid-19

compared to non-A blood group in-

dividuals. Individuals with blood

group O had a lower risk of Covid-

19 compared to non-O individuals.

In another study, published on April

11, 2020 online to MedRxiv, scien-

tists looked at 1,559 people tested

for Covid-19 at New York Presby-

terian Hospital; of those, 682 tested

positive. Individuals with blood

group A were 33% more likely to

test positive than other ABO blood

groups. Blood group O was less like-

ly to test positive than other ABO

blood groups.

Regarding the relationship be-

tween ABO blood group and Cov-

id-19 severity, among the Wuhan

Jinyintan Hospital Covid-19 pa-

tients, blood group O was associat-

ed with lower risk of mortality com-

pared to blood group A, which was

associated with a 48% risk of mor-

tality. As per another study by med-

ical researchers in Italy and Spain

on 1600 samples from Covid-19

positive cases (from Covid-19 epi-

centres) who experienced respira-

tory failure revealed that having

blood group A was linked to a 50%

increase in the likelihood that a pa-

tient would require a ventilator.

Biological factors that determine

susceptibility to Covid-19 and its se-

verity of illness are yet to be under-

stood. Why one type of ABO blood

group might increase or decrease a

person’s risk of getting Covid-19 and

its severity of illness is yet to be

cleared. It’s been suggest-

ed by different medical

researchers that genetics

could play a part with re-

ports that people with

blood group A could be at

greater risk of contract-

ing Covid-19 and of suf-

fering from serious com-

plications of Covid-19, and

people with blood group

O could be at lower risk

of contracting Covid-19

and less severity of illness.

According to the re-

searchers, certain antibod-

ies present in different

ABO blood groups may

be responsible for the dif-

ferences in risk from the

Covid-19-causing virus.

But does this really

mean that people with blood group

A have added cause for concern,

while those with blood group O can

relax? The answer is ‘No’. To date,

we don’t have robust scientific evi-

dence to prove that ABO blood

group has a direct relationship with

Covid-19 infection. The available

studies are preliminary and are only

available online in pre-print form.

These are yet to be published in a

peer-reviewed journal, which

means that other researchers and

experts haven’t yet had a chance to

assess the researchers’ methods of

findings and evaluate the same.

Moreover, given that Covid-19

is a pandemic, the sample size that

the researchers analysed is not suf-

ficient to draw a firm conclusion that

ABO blood group has a relation-

ship with Covid-19 infection. As a

result, this information needs to be

taken with pinch of a salt as further

investigation needs to be conduct-

ed to understand the relationship

between the ABO blood group and

Covid-19 susceptibility. Without

establishing casual links between

the virus and ABO blood group an-

tigens, it’s difficult to understand

this conclusion, which might be

purely coincidental. There is little

evidence to substantiate any claim

that there is any more than a coin-

cidental correlation between ABO

blood group and susceptibility of

contracting Covid-19. There is a

need of further scientific research

in this regard.

People need not panic over these

findings as, clearly, further scientific

research is required to substantiate

these claims. People with blood group

A shouldn’t worry because of this

preliminary study’s result. Howev-

er, if further research confirms the

study’s findings, they could help med-

ical professionals to identify people

most of risk of infection with this novel

coronavirus. Till then, these results

shouldn’t lead to any change in clini-

cal management of Covid-19 patients

and we all need to continue practices

such as universal social distancing,

mask wearing, taking care of our per-

sonal hygiene, proper hand hygiene,

respiratory hygiene, cough etiquette

and follow the government guidelines

to battle this highly infectious disease.

Covid lessons for us the Assamesedversities, as they say,

spur the men (and wom-

en) of character. And,

those with character

scout, find or carve out a way

through the minefield of adversi-

ties to the oasis of opportunities.

Every tunnel has a light at the end

of it. Likewise, every cloud has a

silver lining. Civilization has weath-

ered umpteen stormy nights to

welcome a bright sunny morning,

many a time. This is the law of na-

ture, without any exception, never

once, not this time also.

Taking into view the grave dark-

ness we are going through, it may

sound a bit too optimistic to many of

the esteemed readers. But, yours

truly is not going to love being la-

belled a pessimist either.

There is no denying the fact that

this is unprecedented. Let alone us,

many generations preceding also

denied having encountered a crisis

of such magnitude during their life-

time. Our history books have

chronicled two World Wars, many

disasters, famines and outbreaks

but nothing of this sort had ever

occurred earlier. Never ever, in the

history of civilization, humanity was

so fiercely challenged. So, without

an iota of doubt, times are now se-

riously challenging.

n Luit Pathak

The latest crisis of Covid-19 pan-

demic has shown mankind its prop-

er place in the skim of things. A tini-

est virus, which cannot be gauged

by empty eyes, has punctured the

arrogance of excellence we were

complacent with for far too long.

Mightiest of the nations have crum-

bled on their knees; most developed

nations are busy counting body bags

while the scourge of the Covid-19

is going unabated. Nature, other-

wise taken for granted by the arro-

gant mankind, has poked into our

eyes to show us who the ‘Real Boss’

is. We were given plenty of time

and ignored those multiple warn-

ings. Civilization has plenty of dues

to clear with Mother Nature and it

is definitely going to take time.

From economy to daily life, every-

thing is in shambles and nobody

knows when the regular rhythm will

be restored. Amidst such depress-

ing gloom, we will have to start our

search for refreshing light. Let us

begin it from home.

The present crisis has thrown a

number of lessons for the people of

Assam. If we can learn from them, it

will be an altogether different story

for our State.

First, one would like to draw

your attention to a story from Na-

gaon. A local young man from that

small town has started giving hair-

cuts to people living in his ward

and nearby. He was offering on-call,

door-to-door service around the

locality. As the regular barber, who

is not from Assam, was found to be

suspected of being Covid-19 posi-

tive, scared people thronged to this

local lad to keep their looks in or-

der during lockdown. The young

man was harvesting major moolah

during this time of crisis.

Though someone would love to

call it one off, we can find a great

positive in this story. When did we

know that even our youth can eke

out a living by giving haircuts to own

people? It is not that our young men

do not ply this trade, but how many

of the barbers you bump into a regu-

lar saloon are our very own? Hope

no one would try to smell anything

such as regional narrow-mindedness

in it. The point is, this crisis has

shown that even our boys and girls

are capable of manning, or with little

desire, application and perseverance,

owning the saloons mushrooming

across Assam’s cities, towns and vil-

lages. This is true to many such small

trades. We would have never known

it, if it were not for Covid-19.

In Assam, the worst hit of the

lot are the farmers. For an econo-

my, almost 75% of which is depend-

ent on agriculture, Covid-19 has

dealt it with a severe body blow.

The farmers, deprived of the right

price for their produce even dur-

ing normal times, are finding it dif-

ficult even to bring their harvests

to the markets nowadays. The pa-

thetic pictures of agriculture pro-

duce perishing in the fields, des-

perate farmers dumping their pro-

duce in the rivers are mocking our

collective conscience from the TV

screens and newspapers. In such a

grim scenario, some enterprising

farmers have taken it upon them-

selves to ferry the products them-

selves, door-to-door, in their own

villages as well as cities and towns

nearby. But for Covid-19, we would

never have known that even our

farmers can boss over the market,

though with the help of a local chain,

thereby amputating off the cancer

of middlemen altogether.

Here, we must also note that this

crisis can act as a stimulant to the

local NGOs, media persons, and lo-

cal administration to build a direct

bridge between the field and the

market. This will, eventually, free our

farmers from the clutches of mid-

dlemen permanently and make agri-

culture a profitable vocation for the

youth in the times to come. Covid-

19 has offered us an opportunity to

ponder over our strength to capture

the market and the fields together. If

we are able to tap it now, the future

may be different altogether.

Thousands of our youth are cur-

rently working as security guards or

engaged in small jobs outside the

State for a pittance. This is at a time

when our agriculture sector is reel-

ing under a serious crisis of skilled,

semi-skilled and unskilled labourers.

With due regard to their vocations,

we are confident enough to claim that

Assam still has a lot to offer them in

terms of livelihood. A mere boost to

agriculture can arrest the trend of

migration of blue collar labourers

from the State. Proper planning is

needed for this. A number of highly

educated professionals have shunned

lucrative jobs in government as well

as the corporate sector to revolu-

tionize agriculture.

Covid-19 has taught us that, even

the Assamese people can do without

meaningless gossip sessions. If hard

pressed, even we are capable of do-

ing or creating something in solitaire.

Now we know for sure that partying

is not a matter of life and death. That

we can easily do without fast foods.

That unnecessary socializing is not

unavoidable. That life is still beautiful

away from the closed shutters of

night clubs, wine shops, bars and dis-

cos. That we can survive even with

the offering of our yards. And, above

all, humans are not the boss but

guests of nature; and unfortunately,

the world is a better place without an

uncivil civilization.

A

Articles (within 1000-1100 words) and

Letters to the Editor for publication in

the editorial page may be sent to the

email ID: editor@assamtribune.com.

Covid-19 and ABO blood group

of such huge dimensions, half the

length of the Channel Tunnel, will

involve both blasting and use of

giant Tunnel Boring Machines

(TBM) weighing up to hundreds of

tons. Carrying them to the site is

also bound to disturb normal life for

miles around.

My information is that the

Northeast with its recent terrestrial

origin is composed of soft rock like

sandstone, clay and sand overlaid in

part with a layer of river-borne silt,

which while easier to bore through

are also more vulnerable to

slippage and collapse. Besides, the

Brahmaputra these days has a deep

layer of sediment on its bed which

is prone to instability for obvious

reasons. Continuous construction at

whatever level of depth below is

bound to cause vibrations which

however minute at the ground level

will probably result in a strong

enough cumulative disturbance in

the layer of silt, resulting in

turbidity of water at the surface.

We do not know what kind and

degree of geotechnical survey has

been or will be undertaken, thanks

to security reasons (though

inevitable collaboration with foreign

firms in possession of ‘ultramodern

sophisticated technology’ makes the

plea of national security thin). In the

absence of critical information on

design, local experts with sufficient

knowledge will not be able to

assess the potential damage to the

environment. Particularly the

disposal of the enormous volume of

debris and waste will surely cause

serious problems. If it is dumped on

paddy fields, it will certainly ruin

the lives and livelihoods of lakhs of

indigenous people of the region.

As for dispensing with approach

roads with high raised embank-

ments with advanced technology,

one is left wondering how in this

rain-drenched flood-prone region

the natural flow of overground

water will be managed without

raised structures. Yours etc.,

HIREN GOHAIN, Nijarapar Road,

Guwahati.

Police high-handednessSir, – Once again a case of police

high-handedness has come to the

fore, this time from Dhubri,

surrounding the arrest of a

journalist, Rajib Sarma. The related

report published in The Assam

Tribune (July 18) discloses that the

journalist working for an electronic

media has been following the trail of

illegal cattle trade across the Indo-

Bangladesh border and is demand-

ing a high-level inquiry into the

cattle smuggling in Dhubri.

Besides, the journalist also telecast

news related to the corruption of

the Forest Department in Dhubri

which instigated his arrest. The

incident raises a doubt over how

the network of corruption is well-

knit and deep-rooted prompting the

arrest of the journalist made from

his residence at the wee hours of

July 16. When this State Govern-

ment took office in May 2016, it

promised to root out financial

corruption but except overt action

of arrests including forest officials,

no intended result has been

achieved in the past four years.

Apart from public condemnation of

the arrest of the journalist and his

father’s shocking death thereafter,

the journalistic fraternity strongly

reacted to it and demanded strong

action. The three teams to be

formed for investigating allied cases

of deception will surely find out the

truth. Yours etc., PANNALAL

DEY, Guwahati.

It’s been suggested by different

medical researchers that

genetics could play a part with

reports that people with blood

group A could be at greater risk

of contracting Covid-19 and of

suffering from serious

complications of Covid-19, and

people with blood group O

could be at lower risk of

contracting Covid-19 and less

severity of illness.

Environmental lawsSir, – The Indian Government

came up with the Environment

Protection Act in 1986. This Act

had a new process called EIA

(Environment Impact Assess-

ment). This is applicable to all

projects in India – construction,

infrastructure projects like a

dam, highway, coal mine or a

chemical plant. This process

specifies that before starting the

project, one has to see the

impact that it may have on the

environment. If there are

negative impacts, then the

authorities concerned should

look for an alternative. For this

to be implemented properly,

public hearing is an integral part.

The story behind the fire in the

gas well in Baghjan is that public

hearings were not conducted in

this case. This project violated

the environmental laws, but still

was in operation for such a long

time. Yours etc., PAYEL BORA,

Panjabari, Guwahati.

n Dr Dharmakanta Kumbhakar

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 5CITY

WEATHER

GUWAHATILOCAL FORECAST: Gener-ally cloudy sky with moder-ate rain. Maximum and mini-mum temperatures are mostlikely to be 33°C and 25°C re-spectively on Friday.

TEMPERATURE:Max33.3°C :: Min 25.4°C

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: Expressing its lack oftrust over the land-related policies of the Stategovernment, the Co-ordination CommitteeAgainst Citizenship Amendment Act has soughtrepeal of both the MSME ordinance and theAssam Agricultural Land (Regulation of Reclas-sification and Transfer for Non-Agricultural Pur-pose) Act, 2015, to secure the land rights of theindigenous communities of Assam.

The committee, headed by Dr Hiren Gohainas its president, has stated that even as the Stategovernment tried to curb the opposition againstthe MSME ordinance by promising strict com-pliance with the Land Act of 2015, in reality,both the land policies are not enough to protectthe agricultural land. It also alleged that both theordinance and the legislation have several gaps,leaving enough scope for manipulation.

“With concerns raised from different quar-ters regarding the possibility of MSME ordi-

Call to repeal ‘faulty’ policies to protectindigenous communities’ land rights

nance jeopardizing the land rights of indige-nous people, the Assam government had an-nounced about certain amendments in the or-dinance. State Industries and Commerce Min-ister Chandra Mohan Patowary announced thatall the provisions of the Assam AgriculturalLand (Regulation of Reclassification and Trans-fer for Non-Agricultural Purpose) Act, 2015and other land laws will have to be followedand adhered for setting up of any enterprise.However, the way this government forms andimplements its laws, we are apprehensiveabout the fate of land rights of the people ofAssam,” the committee stated.

The committee further alleged that a closerlook into the land Act of 2015 reveals that itpromotes the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural (primarily business) purpose. It alsoraised its objections over Section 3 (I) of the Actdealing with fine and premium for regular re-classification, a post facto regularisation underSection 9(II) and some other clauses like Sec-

tion 9(II) (4), Section 13 (4), power given to adeputy commissioner for land re-classification,and provisions for district level high power com-mittee for land classification and valuation.

“Floods, natural calamities or several otherfactors may lead to a discontinuation of agricul-tural activities on the agricultural land. It doesnot mean the government should make way forselling those lands for business activities. Rath-er, steps should be taken to assist the farmers tomake best use of their land and augment theirsources of income. The state government musttake proper measures to make agriculture a sus-tainable livelihood option,” it further mentioned.

The committee also demanded a proper landpolicy in Assam, protecting the land rights of peo-ple of Assam, land patta for landless indigenouspeople, land allotment to those affected in floodand erosion, etc. It also called upon the farmers’organisations and land rights bodies to form stronglocal committees across the State to raise theirland-related concerns in a strong way.

State Fire and Emergency Services personnel rescuing a cow that had

fallen into a drain on Mother Teresa Road, in Guwahati on Thursday. –

Photo: Samarendra Sarma

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: As many

as 17,118 pigs died so far due to

African swine fever (ASF) in 422

villages of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji,

Biswanath, Sivasagar, Jorhat,

Dibrugarh, Majuli, Golaghat,

Nagaon, Kamrup (Metro),

Morigaon, Karbi Anglong, West

Karbi Anglong and Sonitpur

districts.

Veterinary Minister Atul Bora

revealed the data while address-

ing a press conference here on

Thursday.

According to him, around

20,000 pig rearing families have

been affected due to ASF outbreak

and caused financial loss of around

African swine fever takes tollon State’s pig population

Rs 30,000 per family. So, the total

loss caused by this disease will be

around Rs 60 crore. In such a

situation, the Veterinary

department has sought rehabili-

tation package under the Assam

Agribusiness and Rural Transfor-

mation Project.

Meanwhile, the department also

pointed out that there is a huge

gap between payment of compen-

sation amount and repopulation

and every pig farmer incurred a

loss of at least Rs 15,000 against an

infected pig.

In such a difficult time, a

recent order issued by the Joint

Secretary of Union Ministry of

Fisheries, Animal, Husbandry

and Dairy, allowing pig farmers

of Punjab and Haryana to export

pigs to the northeastern states,

has drawn flak from the pig

farmers’ community in Assam.

The local pig farmers stated

that such step will cause long-

term affect in the market as the

local pig farmers are already

reeling under utmost distress

caused by the AFS.

Implementation of such steps

will also allow outsiders to

capture the local markets.

Meanwhile, Bora stated that

he has already written to Union

Minister of Animal Husbandry,

Dairy and Fisheries Giriraj Singh

in connection with the matter

and urged him to immediately

withdraw the communication.

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: The Con-gress party has alleged that theruling BJP and the SarbanandaSonowal-led State government areacting in a partisan manner andpreventing MLAs and elected rep-resentatives of opposition partiesfrom discharging their constitu-tional duties and responsibilities.

Assam Pradesh Congress Com-mittee (APCC) president RipunBora alleged that the governmentand the ruling party are deliberate-ly preventing opposition leadersand elected representatives fromattending government functions bynot extending invitations to them.

“Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal went on an official visit to

‘State Govt preventing Opp MLAs

from doing constitutional duties’Barpeta district on July 20. Dur-ing the trip he inaugurated the newbuilding of the Sarthebari PoliceStation in Sarukhetri Assemblyconstituency. But the local MLA ofSarukhetri was not invited for theevent just because he belongs tothe Congress party,” said Bora.

He added, “Today the ChiefMinister has gone to Darrang dis-trict to undertake a review of theflood situation. The MP of Man-galdoi Lok Sabha constituency andthe legislators of the Mangaldoi,Sipajhar and Kalaigaon Assemblyconstituencies have been invitedfor the official meeting of the ChiefMinister. However, there is alsoanother constituency named Dal-gaon in Darrang and the MLA ofthat constituency belongs to the

Congress party. He has not beeninvited for today’s event.”

Bora alleged that such practiceshave been going on for a long timeunder the present government.

“This shows the authoritarianand anti-democratic tendency ofthe BJP-led government, whichtries to prevent opposition mem-bers from fulfilling their constitu-tional responsibilities. We con-demn this kind of behaviour. Thisis not a sign of healthy democracy.We want to remind Sonowal thathe is not only the Chief Ministerof the BJP MLAs, he is the ChiefMinister of 3.30 crore people ofAssam,” Bora said, adding that hehas written a letter to Sonowalseeking the State government’sclarification on the matter.

PRANJAL BHUYAN

GUWAHATI, July 23: Northeast Frontier Railway

(NFR) said it has undertaken certain steps to boost

freight traffic at a time when the prevailing pandemic

situation along with the annual floods have created

many logistical problems in this region.

"The focus is on adopting measures to improve trans-

portation of freight traffic. This is very crucial at this

time of pandemic when places like the North East,

which are located very far from the major industrial

and economic hubs, need to be kept regularly supplied

with essential commodities. Also, the monsoon sea-

son is a challenging period in this part of the country,

with road networks at times getting snapped due to

rising water levels. As part of the new initiatives, our

zone has now opened up additional stations for goods

traffic," a senior NFR official said.

Three stations - Hojai and Kamalajari in Assam,

besides Ambasa in Tripura - were recently opened

for freight booking.

NF Railway taking steps to boost freight traffic"The decision to allow booking of both inward

and outward bound goods traffic from these three

stations has proved to be a very positive step.

These stations are also handling special parcel

trains now, besides regular freight services. Trans-

portation of essential commodities to and from

nearby areas of these stations have now become

easier. This has also helped our zone improve its

customer interface. Local traders and businessmen

are now able to bring and book items through these

stations," said the official.

Sources said the decision of the Indian Railways to

introduce some relaxations in freight transportation

and to offer several incentives have helped the NFR

zone ramp up its goods traffic.

It is noteworthy that during the days of the initial

lockdown phase, the railways had made some relax-

ations in schemes for customers who want to book

less than the standard length rakes or who want to

book rakes originating at two points or having two

different destinations.

Levy of demurrage, wharfage and other ancillary charg-

es had been suspended in case of goods and parcel traffic.

Besides, detention charge and ground usage charge were

also been done away with for container traffic.

"All these measures have resulted in a major boost

to freight traffic. Besides, our zone was able to trans-

port over 2,000 tonnes of materials by special COVID

parcel trains originating from stations like Guwahati,

New Guwahati, Tinsukia and Dimapur. This played a

crucial role in facilitating availability of essential com-

modities for people of this region," said an official.

Meanwhile, loading and un-loading activities of

freight carrying trains in the areas falling under NFR

have shown improvement in recent days.

"Loading of food grains during July up to July 16

this year is more than the corresponding period of

last year. Till July 16, the total loading of food grains

was 0.094 million tonnes, which is about 50 per cent

more than the figure of 0.062 million tonnes report-

ed during the corresponding period of last year. This

increase signals towards a revival of normal activi-

ties pertaining to local economy. The total loading

figures considering all types of freight is also picking

up gradually," Subhanan Chanda, chief public relations

officer (CPRO) of NFR, said.

As part of the initiative to increase freight load-

ing, NFR had recently set up business develop-

ment units (BDUs) at its Maligaon headquarters

here as well as in all the five divisions of the zone.

These BDUs are holding discussions with traders,

merchants, local entrepreneurs and logistic sup-

pliers to have a better understanding of their needs

so that the railways can provide required facilities

to keep the local economy moving.

"The actual outcome and benefits of such discus-

sions are expected within short time in the form of

new goods traffic," Chanda said. He said NFR has also

taken up various development works for betterment

of facilities in all the goods sheds.

"During June, a total of 826 freight-loaded rakes were

unloaded in our zone as compared to 771 rakes during

the corresponding month of last year," Chanda added.

APDCL moveon employees’

incrementopposed

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: In view

of the present financial condition

of the State, the Assam Power

Distribution Company Limited

(APDCL) has decided to defer the

annual increment of all sections of

employees.

The Assam State Power Work-

ers’ Union has opposed the deci-

sion and submitted a memorandum

to the APDCL Managing Director

in this regard. The union has de-

manded immediate withdrawal of

the decision and warned of a mas-

sive protest in coming days if the

authorities concerned do not take

the matter seriously.

Ex-army manarrested

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: The

Crime Branch, Guwahati on

Thursday arrested former army

personnel named Tirtha Chaliha

from the Satgaon area here on

charges of giving death threat to

Health Minister Dr Himanta

Biswa Sarma and his children

through a Facebook post. He has

been booked under sections 294,

506 and 354 of IPC and section 67

of IT Act.

Online essaycontest

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: The Cen-

tral Guwahati Development Com-

mittee is organising an online es-

say competition among students

in two groups.

The two topics for Group-A

(Class-8 to Class-10) are: Books –

the best company in lockdown and

COVID-19 and tourism.

The topics for Group-B (Class-

11 and Class-12) are: Impact of

lockdown on environment and hu-

man life and COVID-19, role and

impact of social media.

The judges for the competi-

tion are Subhransu Chakraborty,

principal, Guru Nanak National

High School; Ahmed Hussain,

principal, Pragjyotish English

High School; Jurismita Dutta, ad-

vocate, Gauhati High Court and

Nayanjit Konwar, advocate, Gau-

hati High Court.

The award for first prize is Rs

3,000, that for second prize is Rs

2,000 and that for third prize is Rs

1,000. Results will be declared on

August 12 and prizes will be dis-

tributed on August 15. Maximum

word limit of the essay is 1,500

words.

According to the organisers in-

terested participants can mail their

essay and details such as name,

class, school, contact number, ad-

dress, etc., to shivtechcpl@gmail.

com by August 5.

Memorandum onadmission fees

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: The All

Assam Law Students’ Association

(AALSA) recently submitted a

memorandum to Education Min-

ister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma

demanding relaxation of admis-

sion fees for the students study-

ing in private law colleges.

WebinarGUWAHATI, July 23: Rotary

Club of Gauhati South is arrang-

ing a webinar on the topic ‘The

positive aspects of Nature and

Environment amidst the Pan-

demic’ at 6 pm on July 26 on

Zoom platform. Subhasish Chat-

terjee will inaugurate the webi-

nar, said a press release.

The speaker will be Dr Bibhab

Kr Talukdar, CEO Aaranyak and

Asia Coordinator, International

Rhino Foundation.

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: Accus-

ing the Congress party of trying

to gain political mileage out of the

COVID-19 pandemic and ongo-

ing massive floods, the ruling

BJP today called upon all politi-

cal parties and non-political or-

ganisations to join hands with

g o v e r n m e n t

during this cru-

cial period

when the State

is facing the

twin challenges.

“At a time

when all the

ministers, MPs

and MLAs of

the BJP are

working in the

ground and

reaching out to the flood-affect-

ed masses and the State machin-

ery is working round the clock

to provide relief, the Congress

party is spreading certain false-

hood to divert the attention of

the citizens and to gain publici-

ty,” State BJP chief spokesper-

son Rupam Goswami said at a

press conference.

He said that the Congress,

which ruled Assam for decades,

never bothered to address the

problem of erosion.

“And now they (Congress) are

shedding crocodile’s tears. Due

to the strong stand taken by Chief

Minister Sarbananda Sonowal,

Cong trying to gainpolitical mileage

through falsehood: BJPriver erosion has now been in-

cluded in the list of natural ca-

lamities by the Centre. The Con-

gress party, which never both-

ered to do anything to tackle As-

sam’s flood and erosion prob-

lems since Independence, has no

moral right to question us. The

NDA government under Prime

Minister Narendra Modi has

shown its com-

mitment to ad-

dress these

problems as is

evident from

the formation

of the North

East Water

Management

A u t h o r i t y, ”

Goswami said.

The BJP

leader added

that the Centre had already de-

clared immediate release of Rs

346 crore to the Assam govern-

ment as the first instalment un-

der the Flood Management Pro-

gramme (FMP). He said ade-

quate relief supplies have been

provided to flood-affected people

of the State.

Goswami also claimed that the

Centre’s assistance to Assam un-

der the Calamity Relief Funds

(CRF) and National Calamity

Contingency Fund (NCCF) has

been higher during the NDA gov-

ernment compared to what it was

during the previous UPA dispen-

sation.

Call to

organisations,

political

parties to join

hands with

Govt in fight

against

COVID-19, floods

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: The Na-

tional Disaster Response Force

(NDRF) has deployed 16 search

and rescue teams with eight in-

flatable rescue boats, five deep

divers and other life saving

equipment in the flood-affected

areas of Assam including Jorhat,

Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Kamrup

Metro, Kamrup Rural, Dhubri,

Barpeta, Cachar, Sivasagar,

Volunteers distributing food among needy people during ‘Unlock 2’, in Guwahati on Thursday. – AT photo

NDRF teams actively involvedin search, rescue operations

Sonitpur, Dhemaji and Tinsukia.

On Wednesday, one search and

rescue team of NDRF was de-

ployed in Kokrajhar for flood

rescue operations as the situa-

tion worsened in the district due

to rising water level of the River

Saralbhanga.

The NDRF rescue teams car-

ried out operations in a number of

flood-affected areas in eight dis-

tricts of Assam over the past one

week and evacuated more than

2,500 marooned villagers and

transported them to safer places.

Besides, teams are also assisting

district administrations in distri-

bution of relief material and in dis-

tribution of masks in view of the

COVID-19 situation.

NDRF teams are also helping

the civil administration in car-

rying out thermal screening and

maintaining proper social dis-

tancing amid the pandemic situ-

ation.

Tourism studentsmove UGC on

exam guidelinesGUWAHATI, July 23: The All

Assam Tourism Students Union

(AATSU) has sought a change in

the new UGC guidelines regard-

ing physical appearance of stu-

dents in semester exams.

In a letter to the Chairman of

the University Grants Commis-

sion (UGC), AATSU pointed out

that the students cannot afford to

risk their lives by physically ap-

pearing in semester exams as As-

sam is now facing the dual prob-

lems of COVID-19 and flood.

The student body pointed out

that many people have lost their

lives both due to COVID-19 and

floods. It also drew the UGC Chair-

man’s attention to the fact that it is

not possible for every student to

take online exams because not all

can afford smartphones.

The student body requested the

UGC to promote the students of

tourism to the final semester on

the basis of previous academic per-

formance.

Online mimeworkshop held

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: The State

Bal Bhawan, Guwahati today or-

ganised an online mime workshop

titled ‘Expression’ in association

with Nirabaak group. The work-

shop was conducted by Kunal Mot-

ling, a renowned mime artist from

Mumbai.

Around 20 students and all the

teachers of State Bal Bhawan par-

ticipated in the workshop.

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 20206 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI NATIONAL

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· - ¬ı±øÓ¬˘ Œ √̋√±ª± ¬Û?œ˚̨Ú1 ¬Û≈Ú1œé¬Ì (Re-examine of Rejected Registration)

˝◊√√˚˛±1 ¡Z±1± NATIONAL MEANS CUM - MERIT SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME1 ’ôL·«Ó¬ ø¬ı·Ó¬ 2018-

19 ’±1n∏ 2019-20 ¬ı¯∏«¸˜”˝√√Ó¬ "National Scholarship Portal" Ó¬Ô± www.scholarships.gov.in

Œª¬ıÂ√±˝◊√√Ȭ1 Ê√ø1˚˛ÀÓ¬ ÚÓ≈¬Ú ¬Û?œ˚˛Ú ’±1n∏ Úªœfl¡1Ì fl¡1± ¬Û?œ˚˛Ú¸˜”˝√√1 (fresh and renewal) ¬Û1± ˚ø√À˝√√Œfl¡±ÀÚ± ø˙鬱ԫœ1 ¬Û?œ˚˛Ú ¬ı±øÓ¬˘ (Reject) ∆˝√√ÀÂ√, ŒÓ¬ÀÚÀé¬SÓ¬ ‰¬ø˘Ó¬ ¬ıÂ√11 Ê≈√˘±˝◊√√ ˜±˝√√1 31 Ó¬±ø1‡1øˆ¬Ó¬1Ó¬ ¬Û≈Ú1 Account1 qÒ1øÌ fl¡ø1¬ı ¬Û±À1º ˆ¬±1Ó¬ ‰¬1fl¡±11 ˜±Úª ¸•Û√ ˜LaÚ±˘˚˛1 (MHRD) ¬Û1±Ê√ÀÚ±ª± ∆˝√√ÀÂ√ Œ˚, ¤ÀÚÒ1Ì1 ø˙鬱ԫœ¸fl¡˘Õ˘ ¤˝◊√√Àé¬SÓ¬ ̋ ◊√√øÓ¬˜ÀÒ…˝◊√√ SMS Œõ∂1Ì fl¡1± ∆˝√√ÀÂ√º ›¬ÛÀ1±Mê√ ̧ ˜˚˛1’ôLÓ¬ ¤˝◊√√ õ∂øSê˚˛± National Scholarship PortalÓ¬ ¬ıg fl¡1± ˝√√í¬ı ’±1n∏ ˝◊√√˚˛±1 ø¬ÛÂ√Ó¬ Œfl¡±ÀÚ± fl¡±1ÌÓ¬ ¤˝◊√√õ∂øSê˚˛±1 ¬Û≈Ú1±¬ı‘øM√√ fl¡1± Ú˝√√í¬ıº

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matched with Applicant Name)

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Œ˙¯∏Ó¬ ¸fl¡À˘± ø˙鬱ԫœfl¡ ’ª·Ó¬ fl¡1± ˝√√˚˛ Œ˚, ¤˝◊√√ ¸˜ô¶ õ∂øSê˚˛± ˆ¬±1Ó¬ ‰¬1fl¡±11 ˜±Úª ¸•Û√ ˜LaÚ±˘˚˛1(MHRD) ¡Z±1± øÚ1+ø¬ÛÓ¬ ›¬ÛÀ1±Mê√ ÚœøÓ¬ ’Ú≈¸ø1 ¬Ûø1¬Û”1fl¡ Œ˝√√±ª±ÀÓ¬± ¬ı±>Úœ˚˛º

fl¡±˚«±˘˚˛1 øͬfl¡Ú± –

¬Û1œé¬± ’±1n∏ õ∂ø˙é¬Ì ˙±‡±˜±Ò…ø˜fl¡ ø˙鬱 ¸=±˘fl¡±˘˚˛, ’¸˜fl¡±ø˝√√ø˘¬Û±1±, &ª±˝√√±È¬œ-781019

Œª¬ıÂ√±˝◊√√Ȭ- www.madhyamik.assam.gov.in

ŒÙ¬±Ú- 0361-2381657

94357-76767 (94357-76767)

¸=±˘fl¡,˜±Ò…ø˜fl¡ ø˙鬱 ¸=±˘fl¡±˘˚˛, ’¸˜fl¡±ø˝√√ø˘¬Û±1±, &ª±˝√√±È¬œ-781019

Janasanyog/D/2070/20

ASSAM INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

CORPORATION LIMITED(A Government of Assam Undertaking)

R. G. Baruah Road, Guwahati-781024

Ph. 0361-2201215, 2202216, Fax: 0361-2200060,

Email: aidcltd@gmail.com

CIN : U75112AS19655GC001246

NO: AIDC/GM/PMU (PMFME)/93/2020/

Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (AIDC Ltd),

as nodal agency to the Industries & Commerce Department,

Govt. of Assam, invites application from Consultants & Young

Professionals for recruitment of 9 (nine) purely temporary

Contractual position viz (i) State Lead Project Manager-1 No.,

(ii) Manager (Marketing)-1 No, (iii) Enterprise Development

Manager- 1 No., (iv) Manager (Food Technology) 2 Nos., (v)

Manager (Social Sector Specialist)- 1No., (vi) Manager (MIS)-

1No., (vii) Executive Assistant (Accounts)-1 No., (viii)

Executive Assistant (GA)-1 No. for setting up of a State Project

Management Unit (PMU) under scheme "PM Formalisation of

Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME)" of Ministry of

Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India.

Interested candidates who are citizen of India as defined under

the Constitution of India and fulfil the Eligibility Norms of

minimum required qualification and experience, Job

Responsibilities, Tenure, Selection Process, age, as per

Contractual Terms & Conditions of Ministry of Food Processing

Industries, Government of India. (Model PMU Contract No.

FM-11/17/2020-DS (FME) dated- July, 2020) provided in the

URL www.aidcltd.com are requested to apply through e-

mail mode only. Applications received through any other mode

except e- mail would not be entertained for the selection

process. Only short listed candidates would be informed for

next phases of selection process.

The Last date of received the complete application in prescribed

format alongwith other relevant documents through email at

aidcpmfme@gmail.com by latest 31.07.2020 upto 17.00 Hrs.

Sd/- Managing DirectorJanasanyog/CF/1163/20

UWS (T)-2105/2015/208/1201-1207

SHORT NOTICE INVITING QUOTATION

NO- 01 OF 2020-21The Managing Director Assam Urban Water Supply and

Sewerage Board invites Sealed Quotation from reputed

Manufacturers/dealer/authorized agents for supplying

installation, testing and commissioning of one Laptop

computer, 4 Nos. of Desktop computer and 2 Nos. printer of

reputed brand of the following specification.

Laptop specification

A thin and light laptop for office use of make Asus, Dell,

H.P, Acer, Microsoft and with all genuine specifications

mentioned below (Minimum specifications)

Processor: i5

RAM: 8 GB

Screen: 13 to 14 inch

HDD: 1 TB

Operating System: Windows 10 original

M.S. Office Home and Student 2019

Desktop specification

All in one or tower PC for office use of brands Asus, Dell,

H.P, Acer, Lenovo and Microsoft (not assembled) with all

genuine specifications mentioned below (Minimum

specifications)

Processor: i3

RAM: 4 GB

Screen: 18 inch

HDD: 500 GB

Operating System: Windows 10 original

Printer specification

Ink tank printer of brands Canon, H.P, Epson, Samsung

minimum specification as below

Multifunction (Copy, Scan)

Coloured

The quotationer should offer their rates clearly and mentioning

the brand name of the computer and printer in the sealed

cover. The offer will be received up to 3.00 PM of 03.08.2020

and the same will be open on the same date at 3.30 PM in the

office of the undersigned in presence of the quotationer or

authorized representative who would like to be present.

If last date of receipt and opening of quotation happen to be

a any type of ‘Bandh’, the next working date will be consider

as the last date of received and opening of quotations.Sd/- Managing Director,Assam Urban Water Supply andJanasanyog/CF/1161/20 Sewerage Board, Guwahati-6

(Contd from page 1)

“So far, we have released a

total of 6,801 prisoners since

March to decongest the jails.

This includes 6,671 undertri-

als who were released on bail

and personal bonds. Out of

these, 2,000 undertrials were

released at one go in the initial

period,” Das said.

Another 115, who are con-

victs, were allowed to go home

on annual leave, while 15 more

were released on parole, he

added.

Every eligible convict gets

30 days of annual leave for

emergency purposes accord-

ing to the rule.

“Since March we have been

taking various measures

proactively to make our jails

coronavirus free and we suc-

ceeded to a large extent. But

after the first case on June 4,

the inmates got infected, most-

ly in Guwahati,” the IG, Pris-

ons said.

Das said a 200-bed COV-

ID Care Centre (CCC) has

been set up inside Guwahati

Central Jail to treat asymp-

tomatic prisoners and the au-

thorities are creating a sec-

ond such facility at Nagaon

Special Jail. – PTI

Staff Reporter adds: The

Gauhati High Court today di-

rected the Jail authorities to

file an affidavit vis-à-vis the

steps taken in view of increas-

ing number of inmates testing

positive for COVID-19.

The Court today observed

that since the jail manual man-

dates restricted entry, it is ap-

parent that appropriate pre-

cautions were not taken to

avoid the spread of COVID-

19 in the jails.

It has also directed the In-

spector General of Prisons to

file his personal affidavit stat-

ing existing number of posi-

tive cases in each of the jails,

precautions taken before the

inmates were tested positive,

steps taken to disinfect the

prisons including the kind of

medical care provided to the

inmates.

The High Court asked the

IGP to state as to how many

COVID-19 positive inmates

are asymptomatic and symp-

tomatic.

The next date for

hearing has been fixed at

September 8.

376 prisoners ...

(Contd from page 1)

The spokesperson said,

“Respecting and strictly abid-

ing by the LAC is the basis of

peace and tranquillity in the

border areas. Several agree-

ments concluded by India and

China since 1993 firmly ac-

knowledge this.”

The two sides, he said, have

agreed during the conversa-

tion of the Special Representa-

tives to work towards com-

plete disengagement of the

troops along the LAC and de-

escalation from India-China

border areas for full restora-

tion of peace and tranquility.

“Both sides are engaged in

discussion through the estab-

lished diplomatic and military

channels to achieve this ob-

jective expeditiously,”

Srivastava said.

The fourth round of the

meeting of the senior com-

manders was held on July 14,

where they also discussed fur-

ther steps to ensure complete

disengagement.

Another meeting of the

Working Mechanism for Con-

sultation and Coordination on

India-China Border Affairs is

also expected to be scheduled

soon, he said.

The maintenance of peace

and tranquility in the border

areas is the basis of India-

China bilateral relationship,

the spokesperson said. –

IANS

India won’t ...

(Contd from page 1)

The Health Minister while

inaugurating the 16th testing

laboratory at the Ayurvedic

College, said that with the

State Government planning to

set up two more laboratories

at Sonapur Civil Hospital and

Army’s 51 Sub Area Hospital,

Narengi which would enable

providing the test reports

within a short time.

The testing laboratory set

up at the Department of Mo-

lecular Biology at the

Ayurvedic College, Jalukbari

by Krishna Diagnostics has

been set up as part of the pub-

lic-private partnership and can

facilitate 4,000 tests on a daily

basis.

“Heartening to see private

sector respond to my call for

supporting the Government’s

efforts in COVID-19 testing,”

the Minister tweeted.

Sarma also inspected the

preparedness of the 650-bed

COVID care centre at Mirza

today. The centre will soon

become functional.

As on Wednesday, the over-

all count of COVID-19 positive

cases was 27,744, of which

8,325 are still active. The num-

ber of discharged patients as on

today stands at 19,350. As of

today, 66 persons have lost their

lives due to COVID-19.

State COVID-19 ...

Indo-Bangla ...(Contd from page 1)

“Both the countries have taken lots of steps

to strengthen ties. We have also stood with

Bangladesh,” he said, adding, all developments

in Jammu and Kashmir are internal to India and

Bangladesh has accepted this.

Hasina exchanged greetings with Khan yes-

terday afternoon when the latter called her.

Sharing Pakistan’s perspective on what he

termed the grave situation in the ‘Indian Occu-

pied Jammu and Kashmir’, Khan stressed the

importance of peaceful resolution of the dis-

pute for a safe and prosperous region, accord-

ing to reports.

Floods claim 4 ...(Contd from page 1)

Bora informed that in such a critical time,

the agriculture department has allocated Rs

9 crore under the Remunerative Approach

for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvena-

tion Scheme for raising community nursery

through which 58,710 farmers will be bene-

fitted in the coming days.

Flood waters also affected 22,33,850 live-

stock and 14,39,318 poultry so far and claimed

lives of 331 livestock. To assist farmers in the

time of distress, the veterinary department

is running 832 veterinary camps in the flood-

affected areas.

Tibetanprotestersunfurl banneragainst China

DHARAMSHALA (HP),

July 23: A group of Tibetan

protesters hung up a banner

here today denouncing the

Chinese Communist Party

(CCP) on its 99th founding

anniversary.

The Students for Free

Tibet (STF) activists hung a

50 feet x 30 feet protest

banner on Temple Road

Building at McLeodganj in

the city protesting against

China’s ruling political party

that was founded on July 23,

1921. The banner was

inscribed with slogans,

including “Tibet ki azaadi,

Bharat ki suraksha”, “Free

Tibet Now” and “Down

with China”.

Speaking to media-

persons, Rigzin Choden,

National Director of

Students for Free Tibet said,

“It is really a sad day for the

people of Tibet, Turkistan,

Taiwan, Hong Kong and

Southern Mongolia, as CCP

have killed lakhs of innocents

of these countries to capture

the area by force.”

She said China has become

a big threat to India and

other neighbouring coun-

tries. “It is the right time for

India to recognise Tibet as an

independent country to stop

further Chinese activities,”

the activist added. The STF

requests India and other

friendly countries to not vote

for China in the upcoming

conference of the United

Nations Human Rights

Council in October 2020,

Rigzin said. – PTI

NEW DELHI, July 23: The

Indian Army has started the

process to grant permanent

commission to short service

commissioned women officers

in 10 streams, the force said

on Thursday.

The Ministry of Defence

has issued the formal govern-

ment sanction letter for grant

of permanent commission to

women officers in the Indian

Army, paving the way for em-

powering women officers to

shoulder larger roles in the

organisation.

The order specifies grant of

Permanent Commission to

Short Service Commissioned

(SSC) Women Officers in all

10 streams of the Indian Army

– Army Air Defence, Signals,

Engineers, Army Aviation,

Electronics and Mechanical

Engineers, Army Service

Corps, Army Ordnance Corps,

and Intelligence Corps in ad-

dition to the existing streams

of Judge and Advocate Gener-

al and Army Educational

Corps.

In anticipation, the Army

Headquarters had set in mo-

tion a series of preparatory

action for conduct of the Per-

manent Commission Selection

Board for affected women of-

ficers. The Selection Board

will be scheduled as soon as all

affected short service commis-

sion women officers exercise

their option and complete req-

uisite documentation.

“The Indian Army is com-

mitted to provide equal oppor-

tunities to all personnel, in-

cluding women officers to

serve the nation,” the force

said in a statement.

It was after the Supreme

Court ordered the Indian

Army in February this year to

grant permanent commission

to women officers within three

months, that the Army start-

ed the process to give serving

women officers a bigger role.

A bench comprising Justic-

es DY Chandrachud and Ajay

Rastogi said, “Short Service

Commission (SSC) women

officers, both within the peri-

od of 14 years service and be-

yond, should equally be enti-

tled to consideration for the

grant of PCs.”

The court insisted on shak-

ing off typical arguments

founded on the physical

strengths and weaknesses of

men and women and on as-

sumptions about women in the

social context of marriage and

family that do not constitute a

constitutionally valid basis for

denying equal opportunity to

women officers.

“To cast aspersion on their

abilities on the ground of gen-

der is an affront not only to

their dignity as women, but to

the dignity of the members of

the Indian Army – men and

women who serve as equal cit-

izens in a common mission,”

noted the top court.

The Indian Army then had

stated that all women offic-

ers serving in the force from

now on would be considered

for permanent commission.

– IANS

Army starts permanentcommission for women officers

T H I R U V A N A N -

THAPURAM, July 23: Crucial

days lie ahead for Kerala Chief

Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as his

former Principal Secretary

and ex-Kerala IT Secretary M

Sivasankar presented himself

before the NIA today evening

in the sensational gold smug-

gling case.

The Customs Department,

which began probe into the

case last week, had questioned

Sivasankar for over nine hours.

The gold smuggling case

which has largescale political

ramifications, first surfaced

when PS Sarith, a former em-

ployee of the UAE consulate

here, was arrested by the

Customs on July 5 when he

was facilitating smuggling of

30 kg of gold in diplomatic

baggage to Thiruvanan-

thapuram from Dubai.

It turned murkier when the

name of Swapna Suresh, a

former employee of the UAE

consulate and employed with

the State IT Department, sur-

faced. The case turned full cir-

cle when their links with sen-

ior IAS official Sivasankar, who

has been suspended and boot-

ed out from two key posts,

were unearthed.

On Wednesday, the NIA had

completed a joint questioning

session with the three arrest-

ed – Sarith, Swapna and San-

dip Nair and it was only a mat-

ter of time when Sivasankar

was told to appear.

Though Vijayan has been

trying to wash his hands off

Sivasankar as his stock state-

ment has been “None will be

spared, whosoever he is”.

With the news of Sivasankar

appearing before the NIA,

State BJP president K Suren-

dran said that the time is up

for Vijayan and he must quit.

“With each passing moment

of you sticking to your post,

you are challenging the basic

principle of democracy. The

country is expecting that you

would show the example of

resigning as that’s what is ex-

pected to uphold the political

morality,” wrote Surendran on

Facebook. But Congress leg-

islator KS Sabarinath said all

know what Vijayan will say

now. – IANS

Crucial time for Vijayan as NIA beginsquestioning ex-Secy in gold smuggling case

NEW DELHI, July 23: A

Delhi-based private laborato-

ry has claimed that it has been

selected as the central lab for

human clinical trials of Covax-

in, India’s indigenous COVID-

19 vaccine candidate.

The vaccine is being devel-

oped and manufactured by

Bharat Biotech in collaboration

with the Indian Council of

Medical Research and the Na-

tional Institute of Virology.

Dr Dangs Lab said on

Wednesday that it has part-

nered with Bharat Biotech for

conducting the trials.

“We are extremely privi-

leged to announce that Dr

Dangs Lab, New Delhi has

been provided the opportuni-

ty to serve the nation by being

selected as the central lab for

the human clinical trials of

Covaxin; India’s indigenous

COVID-19 vaccine being de-

veloped and manufactured by

Bharat Biotech in collaboration

with the Indian Council of

Medical Research (ICMR) –

National Institute of Virology

(NIV),” it said in a statement.

This is a “randomised, dou-

ble blind, placebo controlled

multicentric clinical trial in In-

dia”, it added.

“Dr Dangs Lab is currently

processing all samples for

screening and safety for the

various phases of this clinical

trial, whereas all the efficacy

studies will be performed in

NIV (Pune),” the statement

said.The lab has already start-

ed receiving samples from 50

to 100 subjects per day from

various trial sites for safety

testing and will be increasing

operations as per assigned

timelines to cover 12 sites

across the length and breadth

of the country over this month,

it added.

“Stringent quality norms driv-

en by good clinical laboratory

practice guidelines are being

followed as mandated by regu-

latory authorities. The lab has

renowned experts in each field,

the statement added. – PTI

Dr Dangs selected as central labfor Covaxin human clinical trials

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 7NORTH EAST

WEATHER

NORTHEASTForecast for NE: Rain/thun-dershower is very likely tooccur at most places overArunachal Pradesh, Assam,Meghalaya, Nagaland, Ma-nipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

Warning: Thunderstorm with

lightning is very likely to oc-

cur at isolated places over

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,

Meghalaya, Nagaland,

Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

Heavy to very heavy rain is

very likely to occur at isolated

places over Assam and

Meghalaya. Heavy rain is very

likely to occur at isolated

places over Arunachal

Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur,

Mizoram and Tripura.

Temperatures:

Max (°C) Min (°C)

Dibrugarh 32.2 25.6

Tezpur 32.7 26.3

Silchar 33.0 26.4

Dhubri 28.3 25.3

Jorhat 28.3 24.3

N Lakhimpur 29.0 23.8

Shillong 24.1 18.5

Cherrapunjee21.7 17.9

Aizawl 22.9 19.3

Kohima 24.2 17.8

Pasighat 32.8 24.4

Itanagar 32.8 24.3

Imphal 26.4 22.3

Agartala 31.7 26.0

PM lays foundation of Manipurwater supply project

CORRESPONDENT

IMPHAL, July 23: Prime

Minister Narendra Modi to-

day laid the foundation stone

of the ambitious Manipur

water supply project through

videoconferencing. The Rs

3050-crore project is aimed

at providing safe drinking

water to every rural house-

hold in Manipur by 2024.

Speaking in the virtual cere-

mony, the Prime Minister said

that apart from Greater Imphal,

the project would benefit 25

small towns and 1,700 villages.

About 25 lakh poor people in

Manipur have received free

foodgrains under the Pradhan

Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yo-

jana, Modi added.

Similarly, more than 1.5

lakh women in Manipur have

got free cooking gas under

the Ujjwala scheme, the

Prime Minister said. He ap-

preciated the Manipur Gov-

ernment for making all nec-

essary arrangements for

smooth running of the State

during the lockdown.

Earlier, in his welcome ad-

dress, Chief Minister N Bi-

ren Singh said that potable

drinking water would be pro-

vided to every household of

the State by 2024 under the

project. He stated that the

New Development Bank-

funded project is the largest

single compact project ever

sanctioned by the Centre for

Manipur.

Biren Singh said that un-

der the leadership and guid-

ance of Prime Minister Modi,

there have been positive

changes in Manipur during

the last three years. The

bandh culture is also becom-

ing a thing of the past, he

maintained.

The Chief Minister said

that various developmental

activities are being taken up

in the State for the welfare of

the people. The Government

has been able to build a wom-

en's market in every district

of the State, he added.

Manipur Governor Dr Na-

jma Heptulla, Union Minis-

ter for Jal Shakti Gajendra

Singh Sekhawat, Minister of

State for the Union Ministry

of Development of North

Eastern Region Dr Jitendra

Singh, Manipur Deputy Chief

Minister Y Joykumar, State

Cabinet ministers, MLAs,

the Chief Secretary and oth-

er high-ranking officials were

present during the day’s cer-

emony, a Manipur DIPR re-

port stated.

Manipur CM N Biren Singh delivering the welcome address during the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Manipur Water

Supply Project by the Prime Minister through video conferencing, in Imphal on Thursday

. – A Manipur DIPR photo

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb receiving the cargo at the Akhaura Integrated Check

Post in Agartala on Thursday. – Photo: Correspondent

Cargo shipped via Chittagong port reaches TripuraCORRESPONDENT

AGARTALA, July 23:

Tripura Chief Minister Bi-

plap Kumar Deb today re-

ceived the first goods con-

signment, which was shipped

from the Haldia port in West

Bengal to Agartala via the

Chittagong port in Bangla-

desh, at the Akhaura Inte-

grated Check Post (ICP)

here. This development

opens a new chapter in the

Indo-Bangladesh maritime

cooperation.

This has been made possi-

ble through the signing of the

India-Bangladesh Coastal

Agreement last month.

The new transhipment

route – Haldia-Chittagoing-

Akhaura-Agrartala – will not

only benefit Tripura but also

other North Eastern States,

said the Chief Minister while

speaking on the occasion.

Heaping praise on Prime

Minister Narendra Modi and

Bangladesh Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina for opening

the Chittagong port to the

North Eastern region of In-

dia, Deb said the consignment

comprising four containers

that came from Haldia to

Agartala via the Chittagong

port, has brought a lot of hope

for the people of Tripura.

“The distance between

Haldia and Agartala via As-

sam is 1,600 km, but the new

coastal route of Haldia-Chit-

tagong- Akhaura-Agrartala

runs only 600 km. I have

heard that the parties that

have brought the four con-

tainers through the new

coastal route have saved Rs

50,000. The new route will

“Connectivity has got a

major fillip during the past

two years. Tripura is now

well connected by rail and

roads. Today, the State has

received the first goods con-

signment by utilising tran-

shipment facilities,” the Chief

Minister said.

Deb said that due to heavy

rain and steep rise in the

water level of the Comilla

(Bangladesh), the floating jet-

ty at Srimantapur (Sonamu-

ra) could not be inaugurated,

but it would be operational

soon.

It may be noted that the

cargo vessel had sailed from

Haldia and headed towards

Chittagong on July 19. On July

22, four containers ferried by

the vessel were loaded in

four trailers that reached

Akhaura today.

be more cost-effective once

the Feni bridge is made op-

erational. An amount of Rs

800 can be saved against oneMT of goods,” he pointed

out.

Meghalaya togo for randomantigen testsSTAFF CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, July 23: The

Meghalaya Government to-

day announced that it would

conduct random tests with

antigen kits in 71 clusters

across the State.

Deputy Chief Minister

Prestone Tynsong said that

the decision to conduct the

random tests was taken fol-

lowing a proposal from the

State Health Department to-

day.

“The Government has de-

cided to conduct random

testing in 71 clusters across

the State, as proposed by the

Health Department. The

testing will commence im-

mediately,” Tynsong added.

The Deputy Chief Minister

said that the 7000-odd COV-

ID-19 management commit-

tees across the State would

assist Heath workers in con-

ducting the tests. If a test

through an antigen kit comes

out positive, the individual will

be quarantined and then an

RT-PCR test will be conduct-

ed to confirm positivity.

Random testing has al-

ready begun in some clusters

including Umpling, Nong-

mynsong, Mapwpat, Khana-

para and others. Tynsong ex-

pressed gratitude to Health

workers and doctors who are

working tirelessly without

thinking of their own safety.

He also warned private hos-

pitals not to stigmatize peo-

ple by turning them away if

they happen to come from a

particular locality with high-

risk persons.

Meanwhile, the total

number of active cases has

risen to 448 in Meghalaya

with 19 new cases reported

in the past 24 hours. Four

persons have also recovered

during this period, taking the

total recoveries to 82.

The maximum number of

active cases is in the East

Khasi Hills district which has

375, followed by Ri-Bhoi dis-

trict with 42. Out of this to-

tal, 281 are BSF personnel,

14 are from other armed forc-

es and the rest are civilians.

Highestsingle-day

spike of casesin Nagaland

CORRESPONDENT

DIMAPUR, July 23: Naga-

land today recorded 90 COV-

ID-19 positive cases, marking

the highest single-day spike in

the State so far. The total pos-

itive cases now stand at 1,174.

Of the 90 fresh cases, 61

are from Kohima, 26 from

Dimapur, two from Peren

and one from Phek.

Principal Director of the

State Health and Family Wel-

fare Department, Dr Vizolie

Z Soukhrie, said that among

the new cases, 43 are from

the armed forces, 42 from

within the quarantine centres,

four are traced contacts and

one is a frontline worker.

So far, 486 COVID-19 pa-

tients have recovered in Na-

galand, while the total number

of active cases is 688.

Arunachal seessteep rise in

COVID-19 casesCORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR, July 23: Aru-

nachal Pradesh on Wednes-

day recorded its highest sin-

gle-day spike of COVID-19

cases with the addition of 91

new cases.

The fresh cases took the

State’s tally to 949, stated a

bulletin issued by the State

Directorate of Health Serv-

ices here late last night.

The number of active cas-

es in the State now stands at

632, while 314 patients have

been discharged so far. Three

persons have died of the vi-

rus in the State.

Of the fresh cases, 31 were

reported from the Itanagar

Capital Complex (ICC), 15

from East Siang, 13 from Ti-

rap, 10 from West Siang, sev-

en from Namsai, three each

from Papum Pare, Longding

and Lower Dibang Valley, two

each from Upper Siang and

West Kameng, and one each

of Lower Siang and Kamle.

All the 31 cases in the ICC

were detected outside quar-

antine facilities. Of the posi-

tive cases in East Siang, one

is a healthcare worker, two

drivers of vehicles transport-

ing essential commodities

and the rest are returnees,

who tested positive in quar-

antine facilities.

Twenty-eight out of the 31

cases in the ICC were detect-

ed through RDT-Antigen tests

which include one from Modir-

ijo, eight from D-sector, three

from Polo Colony, one each

from near Gurudwara, E-sec-

tor, Prem Nagar and the State

quarantine facility at Lekhi,

four each from G-sector, G-

extension and near Sunday

Market, three from GHSS,

Nirjuli, and one from the

Banderdewa check gate.

Three others tested posi-

tive in RT-PCR tests – two

near Sunday Market and one

near Lekhi Middle School.

As per the bulletin, 85 cas-

es were asymptomatic and

six symptomatic. Mean-

while, 11 patients were re-

leased from COVID Care

Centres after they were

cured of the disease.

Among the discharged

cases, four are from West

Kameng, two each from

Namsai and Longding, and

one each from Lower Sub-

ansiri, Upper Subansiri and

Lower Siang districts.

Manipur tallyclimbs to 2,115

CORRESPONDENT

IMPHAL, July 23: With the

detection of 55 new cases, the

COVID-19 tally of Manipur

today reached 2,115. The to-

tal active and recovered cases

stand at 655 and 1,460 respec-

tively, stated official sources.

The recovery rate in the State

is 69.03 per cent.

Out of the 55 new cases, 50

are males and five are females.

They were confirmed positive

at the VRDLs of the RIMS,

the JNIMS, the district hospi-

tals of Thoubal and another lab-

oratory, stated a release issued

by the COVID-19 common

control centre.

The fresh cases belong to

Imphal West, Kakching, Kam-

jong, Leimakhong Garrison,

Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, Thou-

bal and Ukhrul districts. All

(except 12 with local contact

history in Thoubal district) are

returnees from other States.

In the past 24 hours, 42

cured persons were dis-

charged from the COVID care

centres at Meitram in Imphal

West, Senapati, Kakching, RD

Wing, Lamphel and Thoubal.

Meanwhile, the Manipur

Government has issued a list

of activities permitted during

the seven-day total lockdown

that came into force across the

State on Thursday.

According to an order is-

sued by Manipur Chief Sec-

retary Dr J Suresh Babu, the

permitted activities include

essential services, cargo and

goods movement, health-re-

lated activities, public utilities,

agricultural activities, fish-

eries, animal husbandry, fi-

nance and social sector, print

and electronic media, couri-

er services, food processing

units, bottled water manufac-

turing and distribution, con-

struction activities, private

vehicles for emergency pur-

poses, all offices of Central

and State governments of-

fering essential services and

all Treasury offices.

Retail shops dealing in es-

sential commodities, vegeta-

bles, fruits, milk booths, poul-

try meat and fish will be open

in all districts from 6 am to

10 am on all days except Sun-

days, the order said. No ve-

hicles will, however, be al-

lowed to ply.

Meanwhile, 69 persons

were detained and 52 vehicles

were seized in the State for

violation of lockdown norms,

stated police sources.

Nine new casesin Mizoram

CORRESPONDENT

AIZAWL, July 23: Mizo-

ram today reported nine

fresh cases of COVID-19,

taking the State’s tally to 326.

Of 365 samples tested at

the Zoram Medical College

laboratory, eight turned out

to be positive. One person

tested positive in a rapid

antigen test in Champhai

district, an official release

stated.

The fresh cases include a

10-year-old child, while the

rest are aged between 26 and

51 years.

Meanwhile, 16 recovered

patients have been dis-

charged in the past 48 hours.

Ten National Disaster Re-

sponse Force personnel and

one Assam Rifles jawan

were discharged in Aizawl on

Wednesday, while five BSF

personnel were discharged

in Lunglei today.

With this, Mizoram cur-

rently has 142 active cases,

184 discharged cases and no

death.

In another development,

BSF Director General SS

Deswal informed the newly-

elected Rajya Sabha member

from Mizoram, K Vanlalvena,

that movement of the force’s

battalions has been suspend-

ed in the wake of the surge in

COVID-19 cases among par-

amilitary personnel.

The BSF DG met Vanlal-

vena at the BSF headquar-

ters in New Delhi today.

Vanlalvena, who was

sworn in on Wednesday,

called on the top BSF official

to discuss the recent surge

in COVID-19 among paramil-

itary forces in Mizoram.

According to an official

statement from the Mizoram

Government, during the

meeting Deswal telephoned

the BSF Additional DG,

Kolkata, and instructed him

to set up more quarantine fa-

cilities and hospitals within

the BSF campuses.

Vanlalvena also voiced

concern over illegal influx

from Bangladesh. The BSF

DG assured him that secu-

rity would be tightened

along the border, the state-

ment said.

Meanwhile, Deswal ex-

pressed happiness over the

Rajya Sabha MP’s plan to

visit BSF posts along the

border and assured him of

all possible assistance from

the BSF officials.

Tripura registersninth virus death

AGARTALA, July 23:

Tripura registered its ninth

COVID-19 fatality after a 76-

year-old woman succumbed

to the disease here, while 126

fresh cases pushed the State’s

tally to 3,469, an official said

today.

The woman, Gitarani Pal,

was admitted to the Agartala

Government Medical College

on July 11 and she died on

Wednesday, the official said.

Pal also had diabetes, car-

diac problems and high blood

pressure, he said.

“Alert! 126 people found

COVID-19 positive out of

3,051 samples tested. 120

found positive in Antigen test,

Contact:4, Symptomatic:2.

Unfortunately, 1 COVID-19

positive patient died today,”

Tripura Chief Minister Bi-

plab Kumar Deb said in a

tweet on Wednesday night.

So far, 2,033 people have

recovered from the disease,

the official said. The State

now has 1,409 active COV-

ID-19 cases.

Nine patients have died of

the infection and 18 have mi-

grated to other States, he said.

Besides State-run hospitals,

private health facilities will

have to conduct antigen tests

for all patients to detect the

coronavirus cases early, Health

and Family Welfare Director

Dr Radha Debbarma said.

The private hospitals and

nursing homes will need to

buy antigen test kits at Rs 450

a unit from the National Health

Mission office here. The State

Health Department has ap-

pointed a medical officer to

coordinate with various insti-

tutions, he said. – PTI

108 new cases in SikkimGANGTOK, July 23: Sik-

kim on Wednesday reported

the highest single-day COV-

ID-19 spike with the detec-

tion of 108 new cases, taking

the tally of active cases to

326. The total number of per-

sons cured and discharged

now stands at 112, while the

total has touched 438.

As per a health bulletin is-

sued, 108 persons have test-

ed positive in the last 24

hours in the State. Of the new

cases, 61 have been report-

ed from East district, 46 from

South district and one from

Timburbong in West district.

Altogether 52 positive per-

sons from Rangpo and Chana-

tar areas have been shifted to

Himalayan Pharmacy Boys

Hostel, while 46 cases from

Mamring have been shifted to

the isolation facility at the Sik-

kim State Cooperative Union

building. – A Correspondent

BSF’s bid tocheck virus

spreadSTAFF CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, July 23: The

Border Security Force (BSF)

is working on a war footing to

tackle the spread of COVID-

19, which has infected over

269 of its personnel, besides

claiming the life of a jawan, at

its frontier headquarters

here.

“We have closed all our of-

fices, except the control

rooms, and restricted the

movement of our personnel

inside the campus,” DIG of

BSF’s Meghalaya frontier

headquarters UK Nayal told

The Assam Tribune.

Personnel considered being

in the “high-risk” category and

their family members have

been quarantined in their re-

spective quarters and neces-

sary information is pasted on

the doors to caution others

about the status of the family.

Others have been segre-

gated from their friends and

families. The campus is be-

ing sanitized periodically.

The BSF has its own hos-

pital inside the campus, but

it has only 30 beds and not

geared up for such an emer-

gency. Therefore, several

buildings and barracks at the

headquarters have been con-

verted into temporary hos-

pitals. The active COVID-19

personnel are being kept in

separate rooms as an ex-

treme precaution.

“In another 10 days’ time,

we would be able to overcome

this infection,” Nayal said.

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 8 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI

STATENEWS IN BRIEF

Shops looted in DibrugarhDIBRUGARH, July 23: Unidentified miscreants on

Wednesday night broke open at least five shops inBoiragimoth area of Dibrugarh and stole cash and othergoods. The shops were those of hardware, pharmacy,footwear, pan and vegetables. It may be mentionedhere that the theft occurred during the curfew hours.– Staff Correspondent

Book translated to HindiDERGAON, July 23: Junti Duarah, assistant professor

and head of the Department of Hindi at GolaghatCommerce College, has translated a history book inAssamese to Hindi. She translated the book Asam AruManipurar Buranjir Jilingani (Glimpses of the History ofAssam and Manipur) written by writer journalist ApurbaBaruah of Golaghat and published in 2014. The Hindititle is Asom Aur Manipur Ke Itihas Ki Jhalak in Hindiand has been published by Adhikaran Prakashan of NewDelhi. The book contains the annals of pre-Ahom period,Pal, Barman, Barbhuyans, 600-year Ahom regime,Assam under British, role of Assam in the freedomstruggle, relation of Assam and Manipur along with theother Northeastern states. Junti Duarah has an MA inHindi and Sociology along with MPhil, BEd and Ratna inRastrabhasha. – Correspondent

Salons, parlours reopenHAILAKANDI, July 23: The Hailakandi district

administration has lifted the closure order on barbershops, salons and parlours, allowing them to functiononly for hair trimming purpose. In an order issued onWednesday, District Development Commissioner cumDDMA CEO in-charge Vikram Dev Sharma said barbershops and parlours have to maintain detailed records ofcustomers along with their addresses and contactnumbers. The order directed the owners to ensuresanitisation, use of masks and to adhere strictly tosocial distancing norms. Any violation will attract legalaction under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Theshops will remain open from 7 am to 5 pm from Mondayto Friday. – Correspondent

Body found in ditchBARPETA, July 23: A body was recovered from a

roadside ditch on the Amrikhowa Majdia road underSarthebari PS on Wednesday. The body was identifiedas that of Abu Sama (35). It was learnt that Sama was adriver by profession and his car was hired by someonefrom Guwahati to Bilasipara. The miscreants took awaythe car after killing him. – Correspondent

Fire at Diphu marketDIPHU, July 23: Several houses were damaged in a

devastating fire in Santipatty slum area of Diphu town.A number of LPG cylinders blew up in the blaze butthere was no human casualty. According to somevictims, household property worth lakhs of rupees weredestroyed in the blaze. Last week, a similar fireincident near that locality gutted several businessestablishments. – Correspondent

Meritorious students fetedBISWANATH CHARIALI, July 23: The students who

secured more than 90 per cent marks in the last class10 and 12 examinations were felicitated in Jnan BharatiSchool here on Wednesday at a meeting held maintain-ing social distancing. The meeting was chaired bySanjeev Sarma and was attended by leading education-ists. – Correspondent

Containment zoneGOSSAIGAON, July 23: The Gossaigaon Civil

administration has declared the entire Gossaigaonmunicipality area as a containment zone. The initiativewas taken to prevent the spread of the novel coronavi-rus. As per the order, all business establishments havebeen told to remain closed. The administration alsoappealed to the people to cooperate with the adminis-tration during the lockdown. – ANN Service

AASU fetes studentsRAHA, July 23: The AASU, Raha unit on Wednesday

felicitated meritorious students of greater Raha areawho excelled in the HSLC and HS examinations. Ameeting was organised at Sankardev Sishu VidyaNiketan where 73 meritorious students were accordedwarm felicitation with a phulam gamosa and a citationeach. The programme was attended by Prafulla Das,‘pradhan acharya’ of Raha Sankardev Sishu VidyaNiketan, AASU state executive member MridulHazarika, AASU Raha regional unit president SanjayKakati and secretary Pankaj Hazarika. – ANN Service

‘COVID-19 impact on women’JORHAT, July 23: A two-day national webinar was

held at Bahona College, Jorhat on July 20-21. Thewebinar titled ‘Peace, Security and Social Justice:Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Women’ sawparticipation of many students and teachers. Thewebinar, organised by Bahona College in collaborationwith the Internal Quality Assurance Cell, wasinaugurated by principal Dr Prasanna Kumar Dutta. –Staff Correspondent

Guidelines for shopsTIHU, July 23: As a precautionary measure to

prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Tihu townexecutive officer has introduced new guidelines foropening of shops and business establishments.According to the Tihu Chambers of Commerce, theshops located in the east and north side of the mainroads of Tihu town are allowed to open on Monday,Wednesday and Friday, while shops located in the westand south side are allowed to open on Tuesday andThursday. – ANN Service

Kaziranga National Park director P Sivakumar pettingfemale elephant Rukmini, who gave birth to a male calfrecently. – Photo: Sanjoy Kumar Hazarika

Santa NathSarma: a tribute

CORRESPONDENT

MANGALDAI, July 23:

Darrang Deputy Commis-

sioner Dilip Kumar Borah has

felt the necessity of recognis-

ing the service to humanity

by people performing the last

rites of a person dying of the

coronavirus infection.

Talking to this newspaper

at the Tengabari public cre-

matorium here while attend-

ing the funeral of the first

woman who died in the dis-

trict due to COVID-19 infec-

tion, Borah said, “It is very

important that every human

being gets the due honour

even after death. It is his le-

gitimate right in our country

and we are trying to take care

of this during the pandemic

too, when the situation is

completely different.”

Borah said the municipali-

ty staff who have shown great

‘Need to laud peopleperforming last rites

during pandemic’character beyond their nor-

mal duty while performing

the funeral of COVID-19

bodies should get due public

recognition of the highest de-

gree of service to society.

“What these people are

doing is undoubtedly the su-

preme level of service to

mankind. Even very close

relatives of the deceased, in-

cluding son or daughter turn

reluctant to accompany the

body to the crematorium. I

am considering offering pub-

lic recognition to these peo-

ple in the forthcoming Inde-

pendence Day celebrations.

I will also try to give priority

to their appeal in case of any

better job opportunities in

future.”

It may be mentioned here

that Borah attended the fu-

neral of two persons in the

district who became victims

of COVID-19.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

JORHAT, July 23: The

COVID-19 testing centre at

the CSIR-NEIST at Pulibor

here has completed testing

of 10,000 swab samples.

It may be mentioned here

that on May 30, Health and

Family Welfare Minister

Himanta Biswa Sarma had

inaugurated the testing labo-

ratory of the institute.

Disclosing to this newspa-

per, a CSIR-NEIST official

said that after the successful

completion of testing 10,000

samples, the CSIR-NEIST

authorities have decided to

ramp up the daily testing ca-

pacity of the laboratory, from

its present 400 samples per

day to 3,000 samples per day,

in view of the present COV-

ID-19 scenario of the district.

The official stated that the

institute wanted to enhance

the testing capacity of the

laboratory with an aim to

check the spread of the nov-

el coronavirus.

The official informed that

CSIR-NEIST labconducts 10,000COVID-19 tests

CSIR-NEIST Director Dr G

Narahari Sastry has initiat-

ed the process to boost the

testing capacity of the labo-

ratory per day in consulta-

tion with the Jorhat district

administration and the State

Government. “The infra-

structure development for

raising the testing capacity

of the laboratory will be done

by the CSIR, while addi-

tional manpower and the

running expenditure will be

met by the Assam Govern-

ment,” he said.

The proposed strengthen-

ing of the testing capacity of

the laboratory was expected

to be ready within a week.

The initiative was taken

with strong support extend-

ed by the Director-General

of CSIR, Dr Shekhar

Mande, after having discus-

sion with the Union Health

and Family Welfare Minister

Harsh Vardhan. The CSIR-

NEIST laboratory became

the eight laboratory for test-

ing COVID-19 in the State

at the time of its opening.

OBITUARY

Ambika ThakurCORRESPONDENT

DERGAON, July 23: Am-

bika Thakur, retired head-

master of Kochgaon LP

School of Kamargaon Der-

gaon, passed away recently

at Jorhat Medical College

Hospital due to old-age ail-

ments. He was 83. His death

was widely mourned in the

locality. Thakur leaves be-

hind his wife, a son, a daugh-

ter and a host of relatives.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR, July 23: At a time when COV-

ID-19 positive cases are on the rise in Cachar

district, Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli

has allayed fears, terming the situation to be

well under control.

Addressing a press conference at her of-

fice, Jalli said the administration is fully geared

up to tackle the COVID-19 situation and steps

are being taken to meet any exigency in case

of increase in positive cases.

In reply to a question regarding enforcing

total lockdown to contain the spread of nov-

el coronavirus, the Deputy Commissioner

said enforcing total lockdown would hit the

common man hard and deprive them of their

livelihood.

However, she was quick to add that the

administration would take all segments of

people into confidence before placing a pro-

Red Crosshelping out

flood-hit peopleGUWAHATI, July 23:

Since the onset of floods in

Assam, more than 1,200 vol-

unteers of the Indian Red

Cross Society are on the

ground, providing support to

affected people, stated a

press release issued here.

Till date, 9,283 tarpaulins

have been distributed for

shelter to 46,000 people.

Moreover, 2,000 families are

being supported in camps set

up by IRCS Assam.

All beneficiaries are being

provided dry ration, utensils,

mosquito nets, soaps, masks

and clean drinking water.

IRCS Assam has installed 25

family tents in different COV-

ID-19 quarantine centres,

highways, railway lines and

embankments. Red Cross

reached 40,000 people

(10,000 families) with aid

during the floods. IRCS has

also installed hand pumps to

ensure that the affected fam-

ilies have access to clean

drinking water.

Cachar DC allays fears onCOVID-19 situation

posal to the state government.

Jalli said she had also met religious lead-

ers of all faiths and urged them to cooperate

with the administration and follow all proto-

col at places of worship to arrest the spread

of coronavirus.

Urging the media to act as a change agent

in disseminating information to intensify safe-

ty measures, Jalli said there was no fear of a

COVID-19 victim spreading contamination.

“There is no fear whatsoever of a dead body

of COVID-19 victim spreading disease once

he or she passes away and there should be no

stigma attached,” she said, adding that SoPs

are being strictly followed in performing the

last rites of such a victim.

Meanwhile, Additional Deputy Commis-

sioner (Health) Sumit Sattawan said the ad-

ministration has laid emphasis on contact trac-

ing and with priority to the senior citizens,

pregnant women and symptomatic cases.

CORRESPONDENT

GOALPARA, July 23: A

webinar ‘Foreign Policy in

the Post-COVID World: In-

dia’s strategy and global chal-

lenges’ was organised by the

Department of Political Sci-

ence in association with

IQAC, Goalpara College.

The webinar was addressed

by two distinguished speak-

ers – Dr Namrata Goswami,

strategic analyst and author

at Futures Laboratory, Ala-

bama, US, who was former-

ly with IDSA, New Delhi, and

Dr Pahi Saikia of IIT, Guwa-

hati. More than 285 partici-

pants from across the coun-

try and abroad took part.

Goswami traced the op-

portunities and challenges of

foreign policy and speculat-

ed certain trends in the post-

COVID world. Despite the

Chinese aggressive posture

Webinars on post-COVIDscenario held at Goalpara

towards its neighbours, the

loan diplomacy carried out by

China is quite relevant in

present times. She empha-

sised on the use of India’s

own space systems and

health diplomacy to counter

China. Saikia stressed good

relations of India with the

neighbouring countries de-

spite the precarious nature

of the security scenario in the

South Asian region. Assist-

ant professor Dr Jayanta Ku-

mar Brahma moderated the

webinar and Dhrubajyoti Das

offered the vote of thanks.

In another webinar organ-

ised by the English depart-

ment of Goalpara College –

titled ‘Literature, Environ-

ment and Pandemic’ – three

sessions were chaired by

three professors from dif-

ferent universities of India.

Prof Mukesh Ranjan from

Jamia Millia Islamia Univer-

sity, New Delhi, Prof Nan-

dana Dutta from Gauhati

University and Dr Saugata

Kumar Nath from Assam

University, spoke on the top-

ics “Literature and Pandem-

ic”, “Literature and Pan-

demic: Retelling of lives”,

and “Literature, Environ-

ment and Pandemic: Expe-

dition through time”. As

many as 313 participants

joined the webinar.

Dr Dulal Booroah, assist-

ant professor of Goalpara

College, Manamendra Sar-

ma, assistant professor of B

Borooah College, and Deep-

jyoti Kalita helped in making

the webinar a grand success.

The webinar was initiated by

assistant professor Mozbul

Haque Choudhury, while the

vote of thanks was offered by

Loni Baruah of the Depart-

ment of English, Goalpara

College.

CORRESPONDENT

DHEMAJI, July 23: Mem-

bers of the All Assam Stu-

dents’ Union, Dhemaji dis-

trict unit have made a bam-

boo bridge over the Morid-

hal river at No.2 Jamuguri

village, located 7 km east of

Dhemaji town on Tuesday.

AASU’s Dhemaji unit gen-

eral secretary Karunjyoti

Chetiya said that the union

members along with the

Moridhal anchalik committee

functionaries and villagers

built the bridge, which links

Chenimai, Lalung and Ka-

lpanapur villages of Moridhal

panchayat with the NH-15 via

No.1 Jamuguri.

About 150 families, who

were facing innumerable

problems due to lack of a

bridge on the river, will be

benefited from the bamboo

bridge link.

The local people said the

Jamuguri area under Morid-

hal panchayat has been de-

Scribe’s bailextended

CORRESPONDENT

DHUBRI, July 23: The

Chief Judicial Magistrate of

Dhubri on Wednesday ex-

tended the interim bail of

scribe Rajib Sarma, who was

arrested following an FIR

lodged by Dhubri DFO

Biswajit Roy.

The CJM had granted him

interim bail till July 18. On

July 18, his bail was extend-

ed till July 31. “Now the case

has been handed over to the

CID. The rituals of Sarma’s

father is due, so the interim

bail has been extended,” said

the journalist’s advocate

Jamser Talukder.

He said they are hopeful

that on July 31, Sarma will

be granted absolute bail.

Meanwhie, the Dhubri

District Working Journalists’

Association has submitted a

memorandum to the Chief

Minister through the Dhubri

Deputy Commissioner, stat-

ing that the arrest of Sarma

like a dreaded criminal was

defamatory to the entire jour-

nalist community.

The Dhubri District Youth

Congress Committee, in a

recently held press confer-

ence, demanded a CBI probe

into the entire episode of

Sarma’s arrest.

Repair ofbreached dykes

urgedANN SERVICE

PATACHARKUCHI, July

23: The Patacharkuchi Ancha-

lik Nagarik Manch has urged

the authorities to repair

breached dykes of the Deo-

jara river to save the entire

area from floods. It is worth

mentioning here that the De-

ojara creates havoc every

year in the area by breaching

the dyke in two places and

inundating a large area.

As the damaged portions

were not repaired, when the

water level in the tributary

rises due to rain, water sub-

merges the area comprising

more than 15 villages. Due

to the flood, the surface com-

munication also gets affected

following heavy damage on

the main roads.

The Nagarik Manch sub-

mitted a memorandum to the

Barpeta DC through the Ba-

jali circle officer, urging him

to look into the matter.

Students buildbamboo bridge

Vast tracts of land have come under the grip of erosion by the Charikaria river in Dhakuakhana, as seen on Thursday.– UB Photos

prived of all means of infra-

structure and road commu-

nication for decades. “The

political leaders assured to

take initiative for road devel-

opment with RCC bridge

construction over the river

at the eve of election, but

nothing has been done,” said

the local villagers.

AASU’s Dhemaji district

president Dipak Sarma and

general secretary Kalyan

Gogoi have criticised Dhe-

maji MLA Dr Ranoj Pegu and

Lakhimpur MP Pradan Baru-

ah for their indifferent atti-

tude towards the villagers of

Jamuguri (Moridhal). They

said MLA Pegu and MP Baru-

ah assured of road and bridge

scheme at Jamuguri on the

eve of election, but forgot all

after gaining power.

The AASU leaders also

cautioned the elected leaders

not to deceive the rural peo-

ple, who are staring at their

help to fulfill their develop-

mental demands.

Santa Nath Sarma, a retired professor and social worker

breathed his last on July 14 in Guwahati

at the age of 89. Born in 1931 at Mukta-

pur village of Kamrup district, Sarma

was a brilliant student. He passed his

matriculation examination from Bijni

High School and completed his BSc

degree in 1957 from Cotton College.

Since he was compelled to look after

his poor family, he joined Panbazar Girls’ High School as a

teacher in mathematics. After a few years, he completed his

MSc in mathematics from Gauhati University in 1964.

His motto in life was to become a good teacher. He joined

Mangaldai College in 1965 as a lecturer in mathematics,

and served there till his retirement. He was also the found-

er president of the Darrang District Science Society.

A resident of Beltola, Guwahati, Sarma rendered com-

mendable services as principal of Patidarrang College after

his retirement. He was also keen on study of astronomical

sciences and performed pujas and yajnas. Sarma, as working

president of Sukreswar Devalaya, Guwahati, worked for its

all-round development. He was associated with many or-

ganisations like Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha, Brahman Samaj,

Muktapur Unnayan Samiti, Janardan Devalaya Yajna Com-

mittee, Balichanda Sangha, Sadou Asom Devalaya Sangha.

He leaves behind his wife, a son, and four daughters. I pray

to the Almighty to grant eternal peace to his departed soul.

– Suresh Chandra Bhattacharyya

THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 9FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020

STATE

Government of Assam

Public works Roads Department

Office of the Chief Engineer (EAP)ARR&TI Complex Fatasil Ambari, Guwahati-25, Assam, Email: cea.apwd@nic.in

RFB No.: CE/APART/40/2020/7

REQUEST FOR BIDS (RFB)

E-PROCUREMENT NOTICE(Two-Envelope Bidding Process with e-Procurement)

The Government of Assam through Government of India has received financing from the World Bank towards the

cost of the APART Project and intends to apply part of the proceeds to the eligible payment under the contract. Bids

are invited online from the eligible bidders from India for the following works as detailed in the table below.

TABLE

Sl. Package no. Name of the work Approx. Bid Cost of Bid Comple-

No. value of security Documents tion

work (INR) (INR) Period

(Rupees in (month)

Lakh)

1 APART/NOCP/ Construction of road from Moranjan to 86.86 1,73,720 5000 12

ROADS/NL-07 Pagladiya embankment of 3 no Balitara village

Paschim Banbhag Mouza in Nalbari District

(Length-0.805 KM)

2 APART/NOCP/ Construction of road from Panimajkuchi 185.87 3,71,740 5000 15

ROADS/NL-08 Chowk to Mini Culvert of Panimajkuchi village

in Nalbari District (Length-1.440 KM)

3 APART/NOCP/ Renovation of official building of District 27.90 55,800 2000 6

DICC/LKR-01 Industries and Commerce Centres in the

Lakhimpur District

4 APART/NOCP/ Renovation of official building of District 27.68 55,360 2000 6

DICC/GLT-01 Industries and Commerce Centres in the

Golaghat District

The bidding documents are available online on http://www.assamtenders.gov.in from 28/07/2020 to 28/08/2020.

Bidders will be required to register on the website which is free of cost. For submission of the bids, the bidder is required

to have Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). Bids must be submitted online on http://www.assamtenders.gov.in on or

before 14:00 Hours on 28/08/2020. Other details can be seen in the bidding document.

Sd/- Chief Engineer, PWRD (EAP)

Assam, Fatasil Ambari, Guwahati-25Janasanyog/CF/1166/20

ADVERTISEMENTApplications are invited from the eligible candidates

for a Facilitator of Diploma in Agricultural Extension

Service for Input Dealer (DAESI) Programme in Barpeta

District of Assam on honorarium basis for a period of

1(one) year as per norms and conditions mentioned

below within 15 days from the date of publication.

1. Educational Qualification : Graduate/ Post Graduate

in Agriculture/Horticulture with 5 years experience in

these sectors. Preference will be given to Agriculture

Graduate having an experience of around 20 years

in the Department of Agriculture, SAUs or KVKs or

retired person with sufficient field experience.

2. The candidate should have adequate knowledge

about the Agricultural activities undertaken in the

District, experience in organizing training

programmes and should be capable of mobilizing

input dealers for DAESI programme.

3. Honorarium will be paid as per rules framed for

DAESI programme.

4. Application should be supported by 2(two) copies

of passport size photograph along with certificates

of age, educational qualification and other

experiences should be submitted in favour of

Project Director, ATMA, Department of Agriculture,

Barpeta, Assam during the working hours.

5. No application will be received after due date.

Sd/- District Agricultural Officer

cum PD ATMA, BarpetaJanasanyog/D/2077/20

ASSAM PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

*****No. 61PSC/DR-6/2/2019-2020

NOTIFICATIONIn continuation of this office Advt. No. 03/2020 vide No. 18PSC/

DR-5/1/2020-2021, Dated, Guwahati, the 24.06.2020 which

was issued for filling up of 11 (Eleven) Nos. of posts of Asstt.

Architect under Public Works (B&N.H.) Department, it is for

information to all concerned that the last date of receipt of

application form is hereby extended up to 17.08.2020 instead

of 27.07.2020 as the lockdown was imposed up to 19.07.2020

due to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The other terms and conditions of the earlier Advt. mentioned

above will remain the same.

Sd/- Secretary,

Assam Public Service Commission,

Jawaharnagar, Khanapara, Ghy-22Janasanyog/D/2079/20

No. MS/DWSC/TEZ-I/2020-21/SBM 2861

SHORT NOTICE INVITING

EXPRESSION OF INTERESTE.O.I. No.- 01 of 2020-21

The District Water and Sanitation Committee, Sonitpur invites

Expression of Interest (EOI) from interested and experienced registered

Agencies/ Contractors/ NGOs/SHGs having GST No. preferably working

in Sonitpur District for their empanelment to implement “COMMUNITY

MANAGED SANITARY COMPLEX” in different villages under Sonitpur

District.

The detailed EOI document is available in the O/O the Executive

Engineer (PHE), Tezpur Division-1, Tezpur from 10:00 hr of 24.07.2020

up to 16:00 hrs 30.07.2020. Bids are to be submitted in hard copy to the

O/O the Executive Engineer (PHE), Tezpur Division-1, Tezpur on or

before the closing date and time of EOI.

Sd/- Member Secretary. DWSC, Sonitpur

Cum Executive Engineer (PHE)

Janasanyog/C/2384/20 Tezpur Division No. 1, Tezpur

PRESS NOTICE INVITING TENDERExecutive Engineer, PWRD, Nalbari District Territorial

Road Division, Nalbari on behalf of Governor of Assam

invites bids for “Reconstruction of roads & Cross

drainage works under SOPD(G) for the Financial year

2019-20 for 9 (Nine) nos of packages of Nalbari District

of Assam, amounting to Rs. 158.13 L (Approx). Details

may be seen at the office of the undersigned from

30.07.2020 to 31.07.2020 during office hours.

Sd/- Executive Engineer, PWRD,

Nalbari District Territorial Road Division,

Janasanyog/CF/1159/20 Nalbari

ONLINE ESSAY COMPETITIONA. From Class V to Class VII

Topic: Flood Situation in Assam and its impact onagriculture and wildlife. Ways to tackle it.

B. From Class VIII to Class XTopic: Recent conflict between India and Nepal. HistoricalPerspective and ways ahead.

C. From Class XI to Class XIITopic: COVID-19 and its impact on Indian Economy.Suggest measures to boost the economic growth.

General Instructions to the participants1. An essay should not contain more than seven hundred

(700) words.2. Both Assamese and English medium can be used.3. Essays can be both typed and handwritten without any

bar but it should be sent in PDF format.4. A participant should clearly mentioned his/her name,

Guardian’s Name, Contact Number, Class, Name andAddress of his/her institution.

5. This competition is only for the students studying in variousinstitutions of Barpeta District.

6. Only online submission of essays will be accepted.Essays should be sent to the official Email ID ofDistrict Legal Services Authority, Barpeta which isbarpeta.dlsa@gmail.com.

7. Essays should be sent to the official Email ID on or before5 pm on 07.08.2020. Essays sent after the last date willnot be considered.

8. Three (03) winners will be selected from each category.Each winner will be given prize and certificate from DLSA,Barpeta. Decision of the DLSA, Barpeta authority will befinal, without any clarification.

9. Participants must submit one entry.10. Participants must submit scanned recent size passport

photograph.11. Participants should submit scanned copy of their School/

College ID Card, if available.12. The winning essays and photographs of winners will be

displayed on the Facebook page & Notice board of DistrictLegal Services Authority, Barpeta to encourage thewinners.

13. For further information/queries, please contact in thefollowing Mobile No. 6026735350.

Sd/- SecretaryJanasanyog/D/2086/20 DLSA, Barpeta

CORRESPONDENT

DOOMDOOMA, July 23:

The National Green Tribunal

(NGT) has directed the Un-

ion Ministry of Forest, Envi-

ronment and Climate Change,

Oil India Limited (OIL), the

Assam State Pollution Control

Board and the Assam State

Biodiversity Board to explain

how the proposed drilling of

seven oil wells in the Dibru-

Saikhowa National Park situ-

ated in Tinsukia district of

Upper Assam was permitted.

After taking the hearing

through video conferencing

NGT seeks explanation onproposed drilling of oil wells

on a petition (04/2020/EZ)

filed by two environmental

activists Bimal Gogoi and

Mridu Paban Phukan, the

NGT issued this directive on

July 20 against the environ-

ment clear-

ance to OIL

on May 11 for

drilling of hy-

drocarbons in

the Dibru-Saikhowa Nation-

al Park violating of a Su-

preme Court order of Sep-

tember 2017.

The Eastern Zone Bench

of the NGT comprising Jus-

tice SP Wangdi and expert

member Nagin Nada also

took note of the petitioners’

contention that “OIL did not

carry out a biodiversity as-

sessment study for the sev-

en-well exploratory drilling

project be-

sides not

conducting a

public hear-

ing as man-

dated by the Environment

Impact Assessment (EIA)

Notification of 2006.”

The petitioners further

contented that “the EIA re-

port grossly undermines the

risk of the project by stating

that the threat due to ‘blow-

out’ was ‘negligible’. The

NGT noted that the report

“only considered the blow-

out risk applicable to the US

and did not give data from

India in general.”

The petitions also said,

“OIL suppressed the recent

blowout of Baghjan Well No.

5 that has resulted in massive

irreparable injury to the en-

vironment and the people of

the surrounding villages.”

The NGT has given the re-

spondents 30 days time to

give the explanation from the

date of issuing the order.

Dibru-Saikhowa

National Park

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 23: Chief

Minister Sarbananda Sonow-

al today visited Solmari area

in Rangiya under Kamrup dis-

trict which has been inundat-

ed by flood water of Puthima-

ri river and assessed the dam-

ages and government relief

measures for the flood-hit.

He also visited a flood relief

camp set up by the district ad-

ministration at Rangiya TT

College and interacted with the

relief camp inmates and took

stock of their condition as well

as the quality of food items

being served at the camp.

Talking to mediapersons

after visiting the flood-hit, the

Chief Minister said that the

current wave of flood has se-

verely affected 27 districts,

claiming the lives of a number

of people. He said that the

State Government had taken

serious note of the damages

caused by the Puthimari in

Rangiya subdivision and the

district administration has

been asked to extend all nec-

essary help and support to the

flood-affected people.

Besides, he added, the Water

Resources Department has

been directed to take immedi-

ate steps for repair of the breach

caused by the Puthimari at Bo-

goribari and that fund for the

purpose has been released.

The Chief Minister said

that the high-level committee

constituted by the Prime Min-

ister under the chairmanship

of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman

has recommended setting up

of North East Water Manage-

ment Authority for adopting

a holistic approach. He said

that the Central Government

would take steps for passing

an ordinance to that effect in

the forthcoming session of the

Parliament. The Chief Minis-

ter felt that such an initiative

CM visits flood-hit Solmari area in Rangiya

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal visiting flood-affected Solmari area in Rangiya on Thursday.– UB Photos

would lead to a permanent

solution of the flood and ero-

sion problem of the State.

Water Resources Minister

Keshav Mahanta and Minis-

ter of State (i/c) for Irrigation

Bhabesh Kalita were also

present, among others, dur-

ing the Chief Minister’s visit

to Rangiya today.

Our correspondent from

Mangaldai adds: Chief Min-

ister Sarbananda Sonowal on

Thursday denied the common

allegation against the Water

Resource Department’s inten-

tional delay in taking up repair

works of the damaged em-

bankments of the State. The

Chief Minister was talking to

mediapersons during his visit

to the site of the ongoing dam-

age repairing work of river

Saktola embankment at Jonar-

amchowka near here.

“The department had com-

pleted the tender process by

December. But due to the sit-

uation arising out of the COV-

ID-19 pandemic and early bad

weather, the works could not

be started on time. Howev-

er, progress of works in most

of damaged embankments is

now good.”

Regarding the progress of

works in Darrang district, the

Chief Minister further said,

“Repair of the breached portion

of Saktola embankment is al-

ready completed and the works

of the incomplete remaining

portion will be completed with-

in a week. Progress of work on

river Nanoi embankment in Si-

pajhar is also going on well.”

However, the Chief Minister

did not mention anything signif-

icant regarding the prevailing sit-

uation due to COVID-19.

Sonowal later visited a flood re-

lief camp at Maharishi Vidya-

mandir, Mangaldai and also re-

viewed the recent flood scenar-

io of the district with Deputy

Commissioner Dilip Kumar

Borah and other district heads

of the relevant government de-

partments. Water Resource

Minister Keshav Mahanta, Irri-

gation Minister Bhabesh Kalita,

Mangaldai MP Dilip Saikia be-

sides two BJP MLAs of the dis-

trict Gurujyoti Das and Binanda

Kr Saikia gave him company

during his short stay here. Ear-

lier, Sonowal reached Jonaram-

chowka at 3-30 pm directly from

Rangiya by road.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR, July 23: At a time when specula-

tions regarding conduct of examinations by

Assam University Silchar amidst the rising

figures of COVID-19 cases is fetching diverse

reactions from various segments of students

and the society at large, authorities of the

Central varsity here have issued an examina-

tion notification for the final year post gradu-

ate and under graduate students.

In a notification issued by Registrar in-charge

Dr Pradosh Kiran Nath, the authorities have

mentioned that students of TDC CBCS inter-

mediate semesters (2nd & 4th) in affiliated col-

leges of the university would be promoted to

the next semester as per the guidelines issued

by the University Grants Commission (UGC)

on the basis of 50 per cent marks secured in

Internal Assessment and 50 per cent in the

previous semester. However, for students of

TDC 6th semester, offline examination (pen

and paper mode) along with arrear/backlog pa-

pers shall be held after re-opening of the cam-

pus. The tentative schedule of examination is

from September 8 to 28 this year, the notifica-

tion stated. Further instructions to the affiliat-

ed colleges and respective departments at the

university have been notified as well. Mean-

Assam varsity announces tentativeschedule for final year exams

while, the post graduate students are asked to

appear in the examinations likely to start from

September 15, as per the notification.

Talking to The Assam Tribune on the de-

velopments, Vice Chancellor Prof Dilip Chan-

dra Nath said, “the university understands the

gravity of the situation with COVID-19 cases

increasing at brisk pace. The schedule is ten-

tative and we shall go ahead once and only

when the Government gives us a clearance

to conduct examination. However, we must

realise that without examination in the pen

and paper format, the degrees of the final stu-

dents will not be recognised by anyone and

the students must understand that we are tak-

ing measures for their careers only.”

He informed that if the situation demands

the examination will be held three months

later and we shall do accordingly but the stu-

dents must attend the examination for which

we are taking comprehensive steps ensuing

their safety by adhering to the guidelines. The

varsity has asked the district administration

to vacate the campus by August 10 and to hand

over the buildings used as quarantine centres

by sanitising and cleaning them within August

15. Also, additional medical staff is being roped

in with systematic shuttling of bus services as

per the COVID-19 guideline.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH, July 23: The

demand for unconditional re-

lease of peasant leader Akhil

Gogoi by local organizations is

gaining momentum in the dis-

trict as a series of protests con-

tinues to be staged in different

parts of the district.

Protests were staged in at

least three separate locations

in the district today in support

of their demand for release of

Akhil Gogoi and other issues.

The Krishak Mukti Sangram

Samiitee (KMSS) today

Demand for release of AkhilGogoi gains momentum

formed a human chain on Man-

cotta Road from near Chowkid-

inghee intersection as a mark

of protest against Sarbananda

Sonowal-led State government

for alleged unjustified arrest of

their leader Akhil Gogoi.

Similar protest was also or-

ganized by the Chabua unit of

the All Assam Mottock Stu-

dents’ Union on NH-37 in

Chabua town. Besides their

demand for the release of Akhil

Gogoi, the student body also

demanded revocation of the

recent new land policy passed

by the Sarbananda Sonowal-

led cabinet, terming it to be

anti-people of the State. They

also condemned the State gov-

ernment for failing to check the

price rise of commodities.

The Dikom unit of All As-

sam Mottock Students’ Un-

ion also staged a protest

against the new land policy of

the State government by

blocking NH-37 near Dikom.

They also burnt the effigy of

Chief Minister Sarbananda

Sonowal. The student body

too raised the issue of price

rise and demanded release of

peasant leader Akhil Gogoi.

One more Coviddeath in Jorhat

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

JORHAT, July 23: A COV-

ID-19 positive patient of Mar-

iani under Titabar Civil Sub-

division of the district expired

at JMCH on Wednesday, in-

formed Jorhat Deputy Com-

missioner Roshni A Korati on

Thursday evening.

Korati stated that Alok

Ghosh (54) died of COVID-

19 on Wednesday. She further

informed that 62 new positive

cases were found today in the

district thereby increasing the

total number of positive cas-

es of Jorhat district to 1169.

The Deputy Commission-

er stated that out of the 62

people found positive, 58 per-

sons were without travel his-

tory. Among the 62 positive

people, 45 were from Jorhat

town out which 44 did not have

travel history.

She said that the number

of active cases of Jorhat dis-

trict is 718 as on Thursday.

Abscondingcooperativesociety fieldassistant inpolice net

CORRESPONDENT

DHEMAJI, July 23: Dhemaji

police posted at Jonai PS on

Wednesday arrested woman

Field Assistant of Asom Bahu-

mukhi Samabai Samiti (ABSS)

Ltd, Jonai branch Dipanjali Do-

ley Das, who was absconding

for the last two months. She,

along with two others, have

been accused of misappropri-

ation of credit money.

The police following analy-

sis of mobile call records and

tower trekking method traced

her existence at Pangin town

in Siang district of Arunachal

Pradesh. Police team led by

ASI Krishna Kanta Sarma (I/

O) later nabbed the abscond-

ing accused from a relative’s

house near Pangin town with

the help of Arunachal Police on

Tuesday evening.

Arrested Dipanjali was

produced before the Sub di-

visional Judicial Magistrate at

Jonai on today and the magis-

trate consigned her two-day

police custody (remand) for

interrogation.

The police following investi-

gation of the case (PS case no.

47/2020) under Sections – 420/

406/464/34 of Indian Penal Code

earlier arrested two other ac-

cused – cashier of the Cooper-

ative Society Bonti Mili (Tay-

eng) and collection agent Mou-

sumi Doley (Pegu), who are

presently in judicial custody.

The investigating officer of

the case said that they served

notice under CrPC to the ac-

cused trio to appear at Jonai PS

for statement, but they did not

respond to the police notice.

Branch Manager of the Co-

operative Society, who lodged

complaint with the police, stat-

ed that the accused trio misap-

propriated about Rs 1.30 crore

‘credit money’ during three fi-

nancial years by manipulating

financial statements.

318 active casesin Golaghat dist

CORRESPONDENT

DERGAON, July 23: After

detection of 42 new positive

cases and the discharge of 29

patients, the number of active

cases has increased to 318 and

cumulative active cases in-

creased to 1090 in Golaghat

district as on Thursday.

Among the 42 new cases,

12 were detected by RT-PCR

while 30 were detected at

(RAT) Rapid Antigen Test.

With this the cumulative

positive cases in the district has

increased to 1090, out of which

772 were discharged and one

died so far of Covid infection

and another died infected with

Covid but with co-morbidities.

DIPRO in-charge Papu Go-

goi said that among the new

cases, 3 were detected from

passengers, 19 were found

among jail inmates trough

RAT, 11 from contact tracing

while 9 from other sources.

As the most of the cases are

detected from Kumarpatty

and Allupatty so these two

areas have been declared as

containment zones.

Protest againstcremation ofCovid patient

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH, July 23:

Neighbours surrounding

Chowkidinghee community

crematorium here last night

tried to prevent conduct of last

rites on the mortal remains of

one Mona Das, who reported-

ly succumbed while undergo-

ing treatment for COVID-19

at the Assam Medical College

and Hospital here yesterday.

The apprehension among

the people is that community

transmission of the disease

would escalate in the area if the

last rites on the mortal remains

of Covid patients are performed

at the crematorium. The pro-

test was staged by a section of

the local people. They appeared

determined not to allow cre-

mation of the body at the cre-

matorium before officials from

the civil administration and po-

lice intervened. After pro-

longed arbitration, civil ad-

ministration and the police

managed to bring the situa-

tion under control and later

the last rites were performed.

Meanwhile, the surge in

the Covid cases has already

instilled panic in the minds of

the people in the town as the

number of commuters, traffic

movement and shopping en-

thusiasts are gradually declin-

ing. Following detection of

some 91 new COVID-19 pos-

itive cases today, the district

was close to reaching 1000

mark till this afternoon.

Volleyball player PuneeMech Paul passes away

DULIAJAN, July 23: Former national- level volleyball play-

er Punee Mech Paul (32) died of coronavirus on Wednesday.

According to information, Punee Mech Paul has been under-

going treatment for kidney-related ailments for the last four

years. On July 19, she became seriously ill after which she was

admitted at Namrup Civil Hospital and later shifted to AMCH

for better treatment. She breathed her last on Wednesday.

The post-mortem report confirmed that she had been in-

fected with coronavirus. Paul has been in service at Namrup

PS. The sudden demise of Paul was mourned by the sports and

social organizations of Namrup, Jeypore and Naharkatia and

greater Dibrugarh district. She leaves behind her husband, a

son, his mother and many relatives. – ANN Service

07:45 Pratham Xongbad

14:00 Biyolir Headline

16:00 Abelir Khabar

16:30 Superfast Prime Time100

17:00 City18

18:00 Prime Time18

19:00 Dintur Shironam

20:00 Porjyobekhyon

21:30 Aparadh Nama

22:00 North East Scan

22:30 Noixo Xironam

08:30 Devotional Music

08:45 Swachh Bharat Batori

08.50 Batori

15:00 Vigyan Prasar

15:30 Classical Music

16:00 Abelir Batori

16:05 Akholor Juti

16:30 Chiphung

17:00 Nimishote Batori

17:02 DD Kisan TV Serial in Hindi

17:30 Krishi Darshan

18:00 Dharabahik

18:30 Batori

18:45 NE News

12:00 Bandbudh Aur Budbak

13:30 Oggy Ka Pataakha

Phuss

15:30 Oggy Spl-Mehman

Aaye Band Bajaaye

17:00 Oggy And The Cock...

18:30 Bandbuh Aur Budbak

20:30 Oggy And The Cock...

11:30 Chhota Bheem Aur

Arazim Ka Raaz

12:30 Chhota Bheem

16:00 Grizzy And The

Lemmings

18:00 Chhota Bheem

21:00 Grizzy And The

Lemmings

22:00 Mr. Bean: The Anim...

23:00 M.A.D.

23:30 Grizzy And The Lem...

LOCKHORNS

THE PHANTOM ® By Lee Falk

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

BLONDIE

Know your DAYBy JACQUELINE BIGAR

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Friday, July 24, 2020:

Attractive and exciting, you can be drawn to unstable situations, but this

year you succeed by progressing slowly, one step at a time. Your talent does

not have to be proved to anyone, but shines through on its own merit. If single,

it’s not for long, as suitors literally clamor for you. If attached, your relationship

is passionate and at times dramatic. Tone it down if you want longevity. LIBRA

balances you.

The Stars Show the Kind of Day You’ll Have: 5-Dynamic; 4-Positive; 3-

Average; 2-So-so; 1-Difficult.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)HH Nervous energy abounds. Take time to release stress. Tempera-

ture extremes impact your health. Focus on ways to beat the heat.

Chronic health situations can take a turn for the better, or promising new

treatments can surface today. Tonight: Cool off.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)HHHHH It is easy to reveal your deepest feelings; you’ll wear your

heart on your sleeve today. Prepare for a time of excitement and

intensity in love. Relationships with young people are uplifting. A fairy tale

character provides inspiration. Tonight: Write your own fairy tale.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)HHH Discussions revolve around home improvements and decisions

about your residence. Prepare a house blessing by smudging with

sage. Visitors suggest interesting ideas and offer valuable insights during

casual conversation. Tonight: Explore the different options, but sleep on it

before initiating change.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)HHHH Today, anticipate some intriguing conversations and mes-

sages. Several short journeys are likely. It’s a great time to catch up

on current events. Much is taking place in the world around you. Tonight: Catch

up with old and long-lost friends with phone calls and emails.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)HHH A relationship takes a turn for the better. Clarify financial situ-

ations; be wary of advice if something doesn’t ring true. A contact

connected to an old job acquired in years past might become a financial

blessing. Tonight: Make a social occasion of doing chores.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)H Today brings inspiration and suggestions from assertive individuals.

The words and actions of others push your buttons. Be sure to get all

sides of the story before acting if controversy arises. A legal or ethical dilemma

might need your attention. Tonight: Turn the world off.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)HHHH Dreams reflect past life recollections and provide insights

concerning your path. Be aware of how repeating habits and patterns

affect your life’s path for good or ill. Examine the past if you want to know the

future. Tonight: Start writing – a personal journal or dream journal.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)HHHH Today brings an excellent cycle for networking. Community

activities, politics and new friendships link to long-term goals. A per-

spective on how you affect associates, what you can and can’t do with them,

is a focus. Tonight: Draw up a list of different people you know.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)HHHH Today ushers in progressive conditions regarding your career.

Changes can be sudden and unexpected. Look toward the future, not

back at the past, then all will be well. Any volatile situations with in-laws should

settle down. Tonight: You will be delighted.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)HHHH You’re experiencing a growth spurt. An underlying sense of

being jolted from your comfort zone prevails. Rise to the occasion. Your

horizons are widening. You might sense a completion or release of a project or

relationship you’ve outgrown. Tonight: It’s time to move forward.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)HHHH Today brings a dreamy but scattered mood. Organize your

surroundings with a feng shui session. Donate items you haven’t been

using to a worthy cause, and you will experience good karma in return. Decluttering

and clearing out old closets frees you. Tonight: Relief.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)HHH Today finds a close partner overcoming an obstacle and prepar-

ing to move forward. Your support and encouragement will be appreci-

ated and will inspire a commitment. Problems and arguments are resolved.

Tonight: Consider changing your priorities and accept unusual invitations.

H H H

Thought for the day

My own view is that every company requires a long-term view.– JEFF BEZOS

Life is for each man a solitary cell whose

___ are ___. – Eugene O’Neill (5,..,7)

Words: Parry, roads, tiller, swampy.Answer: Life is for each man a solitary cell

whose walls are mirrors. – Eugene O’Neill

Given below are four jumbled words. Solvethe jumbles to make proper words and movethem to the respective squares below. Selectthe letters in the shaded squares and jumblethem to get the answer for the given quip.

JUMBLED WORDSHEALTH CAPSULES®

by Bron Smith

Health Capsules is not intendedto be of a diagnostic nature.

CROSSWORD - 6954

Across: 3 Clefs, 8 Venue, 10 Iller, 11 Pub, 12 Allay, 13

Netball, 15 Sears, 18 Ifs, 19 Screen, 21 Antonio, 22 Rang, 23

Bold, 24 Ham it up, 26 Shogun, 29 Log, 31 Toyed, 32 Newborn,

34 Ashes, 35 Ewe, 36 Macro, 37 Males, 38 Snood.

Down: 1 Tepee, 2 Rubbing, 4 Loll, 5 Fiasco, 6 Slyer, 7

Genre, 9 Nut, 12 Also-ran, 14 Aft, 16 Aesop, 17 Snide, 19

Similes, 20 Grist, 21 Annoy, 23 Bugbear, 24 Hudson, 25 Tow,

27 Horal, 28 Gears, 30 Creel, 32 Nero, 33 Owl.

SOLUTION

12:00 Monster Croc Wrangler

12:30 Snakes In The City

13:30 Monster Fish

14:00 Primal Survivor

15:00 Snakes In The City

15:30 Dirty Rotten Survival

16:30 Brain Games

17:00 Science Of Stupid

18:00 Weird But True

19:00 Snakes In The City

20:00 Monster Fish

21:00 Primal Survivor

22:00 Dirty Rotten Survial

23:00 To Catch A Smuggler

23:30 Legendary Catch

12:00 Forged In Fire

12:30 Ancient Aliens13:30 Pawn Stars

14:00 Storage Wars

14:30 Food Tech

15:00 OMG! Yeh Mera India

16:00 Forged In Fire

16:30 Counting Cars

17:00 Storage Wars

17:30 Shipping Wars

18:00 Monster Motor...

19:00 Moon Landing: The...

20:00 OMG! Yeh Mera India

21:00 Forged In Fire21:30 Pawn Stars22:00 Storage Wars22:30 Shipping Wars

23:00 Forged In Fire

07:00 Breakfast Live08:00 Live at 809:00 Good morning Assam10:00 Assamese news11:30 Kotha Barta (R)12:00 Mid Day Live13:00 Assamese Telefilm14:30 Afternoon Prime17:30 Guwahati Bisesh18:00 Guwahati Live18:30 Breaking @ 6:3019:00 Assamesse Prime Time20:00 Discussion Show21:00 Super Prime Time22:00 Live at 1022:30 Noixo Guwahati

23:00 Noixo Batori

1700 Xopun1730 Barala Kai1830 Xopunor Aasutia Rang2000 Jonaki Kareng2030 Xopun2100 Oi Khapla2130 Bah Amarawati Bah2200 Borola Kai

11:00 India vs The World15:00 You Name The Game19:00 Cricket Connected19:30 Vivo IPL HLs20:00 Cricket Connected20:30 Vivo IPL HLs21:00 Cricket Connected21:30 Vivo IPL HLs22:00 Cricket Connected22:30 Vivo IPL HLs23:00 WT20 HLs23:00 Hero ISL HLs

11:00 India vs The World

14:30 Vivo IPL HLs

15:00 You Name The Game

19:00 Cricket Connected

19:30 Vivo IPL HLs

20:00 Cricket Connected

20:30 Vivo IPL HLs

21:00 Cricket Connected

21:30 Vivo IPL HLs

22:00 Cricket Connected

22:30 Vivo IPL HLs

23:00 WT20 HLs

23:0 Football United Special

11:00 Sports Stars Uncovered

11:30 Eng vs WI Test HLs

12:30 Whacked Out Sports

13:00 Champions League

14:00 Great Centuries

14:30 Eng vs WI Test HLs

15:30 England vs WI Test Live

22:00 Whacked Out Sports

23:00 Eng vs WI Test HLs

11:00 WWE Main Event

12:00 The Immortals

12:30 WWE SmackDown

14:30 WWE Main Event

15:30 Australian Open Classic

16:00 WWE SmackDown

18:00 WWE BlockBusters

10:10 Sarfarosh

13:15 Hatya

16:30 Trimurti

19:45 Gupt

22:45 Main Faisla Karunga

10:15 Frozen

12:00 The Expendables

13:45 The Expendables 2

15:15 The Expendables 3

18:00 John Wick: Chapter 2

19:30 Primeval

21:00 Captain America: Civil

War

11:45 Hitman: Agent 47

10:00 Jackass Presents: Bad

Grandpa 5

10:55 Mortal Kombat

12:30 Kiss the Girls

14:20 Footloose

16:15 Pretty Bird

17:15 Dolphin Tale

19:40 The Death of Superman

21:00 Road Trip

22:00 Executive Decision

10:10 The School of Rock

12:10 Staying Alive

13:55 Crawl

15:20 The Meg

17:15 Cloverfield

18:45 Rocketman

21:00 Godzilla: King of the

Monsters

23:30 Entourage

ZEE CINEMA

23:30 The Real Tiger

HBO

23:30 Entourage

WB

22:00 Executive Decision

STAR MOVIES

11:45 Hitman: Agent 47

10:15 Nagina

13:30 The Hero – Love Story of

a Spy

16:40 Sabse Bada Khiladi

19:55 Shaan

23:40 Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin

12:00 Movie15:00 Movie18:00 Movie21:00 Movie

11:20 Koi... Mil Gaya14:45 Kesari18:00 Rustom21:00 Jawaani Jaaneman23:30 The Real Tiger

12:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah

Chashma

16:00 Maddam Sir

16:30 Baalveer Returns

17:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah...

19:00 Tera Kya Hoga Alia

19:30 Tenali Rama

20:00 Baalveer Returns

20:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah...

21:00 Aladdin - Naam Toh...

21:30 Bhakharwadi

22:00 Maddam Sir

22:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah...

23:30 Best of F.I.R.

12:00 Ye Rishtey Hai Pyaar Ke

12:30 Yeh Rishta Kya

Kehlata Hai

15:00 Saath Nibhaana Saathiya

18:00 Anupamaa

18:30 Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata

19:00 Sai Baba

19:30 Uttar Ramayan

20:00 Kasautii Zindagii Kay

20:30 Mahabharat

21:00 Ye Rishtey Hain Pyar...

21:30 Yeh Rishta Kya...

22:00 Anupamaa

22:30 Yeh Hai Chahatein

23:00 Kasautii Zindagii Kay

23:30 Yeh Rishtey Hai Pyar...

12:00 Khatra Khatra Khatra

13:30 Kichen Champion

15:30 Naagin 3

18:00 Internet Wala Love

20:00 Naagin 3

12:10 Khatra Khatra Khatra

15:10 Khatron Ke Khiladi

Pain In Spain

17:00 Balika Vadhu

19:00 Ishq Mein Marjawa...19:30 Choti Sarrdaarni20:00 Shakti Astitva Ke...20:30 Barrister Babu21:00 Shubharamabh21:30 Naati Pinky Ki Lambi...22:00 Pavitra Bhagya

SOLUTION TO TRIBUNE CROSSWORD – 6954

10:15 Badle Ki Aag Ninja 2

12:15 Arthur and the Minimoys

14:35 Monkey Up1

16:25 Ice Quake

18:25 Riddick

21:00 Avengers: Infinity War

12:00 Baby’s Day Out

14:10 Judwaa 2

17:55 Makkhi

19:55 Golmaal Again

23:10 Hulchul

Across

3 Musical

symbols (5)

8 Locale (5)

10 More unwell (5)

11 Tavern (3)

12 Put at rest (5)

13 A type of game

– “ban tell”

anagram ? (7)

15 Singes (5)

18 Uncertainties

(3)

19 Coarse sieve

(6)

21 The Merchant

of Venice (7)

22 Telephoned (4)

23 Courageous (4)

24 Overact (3,2,2)

26 Military

commander of

Japan (6)

29 Record events

(3)

31 Played with (5)

32 Young baby (7)

34 Cricket trophy

(5)

35 A female sheep

(3)

36 Very large in

scale (5)

37 Men (5)

38 Head wrap (5)

Down

1 Conical tent (5)

2 Chafing (7)

4 Lie lazily (4)

5 A complete

failure (6)

6 More cunning (5)

7 Literary category

(5)

9 Crazy person (3)

12 Loser (4-3)

LEISURE & LIFESTYLE10 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020

19:00 Champions League

20:00 WWE SmackDown

22:00 WWE BlockBusters

23:00 NBA Classics

12:00 UFC 200

13:00 Impact Wrestling

14:00 The Emirates FA Cup HLs

15:00 Impact Wrestling

17:00 NBA Classics

18:15 Football Greatest

18:40 UFC 200 Greatest Fighters

of all Time

19:45 Immortal

20:15 Football Greatest

20:45 Serie A Live

12:00 Untamed Summer

14:00 Born In Africa

15:00 Africa's Deadly Kingdom

16:00 World Snake Day

19:00 Real Wild Battles

20:00 Animal Fight Club

21:00 Africa's Deadliest

22:00 When Predators Attack

23:00 Dangerous Encounters

23:30 Animal Fight Club

12:00 Life’s Journey

13:00 Mysterious Wild

13:30 Animal Unleashed

14:00 Wild Frank

15:00 Animal Planet Exclusives

15:30 Killer Instincts

16:00 Mahayudh

17:00 Spy In The Wild

17:30 Animals Unleashed

18:00 Weird, True & Freaky

19:00 Animal Planet Exclusives

20:00 Fierce 5

20:30 Animals Unleashed

21:00 Jeremy Wade's...

22:00 Coyote Peterson: Brav

22:30 Brave Wilderness

23:00 Mysterious Wild

23:30 Animal Planet Exclusives

14 Toward the

stern (3)

16 Fable writer (5)

17 Sneering (5)

19 Common

figures of

speech (7)

20 Grain to be

ground (5)

21 Harass (5)

23 Persistent

problem (7)

24 NY river;

Canadian Bay

(6)

25 Haul (3)

27 Hourly (5)

28 Toothed

wheels (5)

30 Fish basket (5)

32 Roman

emperor (4)

33 Night bird (3)

22:30 Ishq Mein Marjawan23:00 Choti Sarrdaarni23:30 Barrister Babu

12:00 Guddan Tumse Na...

12:30 Kumkum Bhagya

13:00 Kundali Bhagya

13:30 Guddan Tumse Na...

14:00 Tujhse Hai Raabta

14:30 Kumkum Bhagya

15:00 Pavitra Rishta

17:00 Ramaiya Vastavaiya

20:00 Guddan Tumse Na Ho...

20:30 Tujhse Hai Raabta

21:00 Kumkum Bhagya

21:30 Kundali Bhagya

22:00 Qurbaan Hua

22:30 Manmohini

23:00 Happu Ki Ulta Paltan

23:30 Kundali Bhagya

12:00 Best Of Crime Patrol

19:00 Mere Sai - Shraddha...

20:00 Vighnaharta Ganesh

20:30 Indian Idol

22:00 Mere Dad Ki Dulhan...

22:30 Mil Jate Hai Jo Ba...

23:00 Crime Patrol

It seems like chocolate is good for the heart

as researchers have said that consuming

chocolate at least once a week is linked

with a reduced risk of heart disease.

The study, published in the European

Journal of Preventive Cardiology, suggests that

chocolate helps keep the heart’s blood vessels

healthy.

In the past, clinical studies have shown that

chocolate is beneficial for both blood pressure

and the lining of blood vessels.

“I wanted to see if it affects the blood

vessels supplying the heart (the coronary

arteries) or not. And if it does, is it beneficial

or harmful?” said study lead author Chayakrit

Krittanawong from the Baylor College of

Medicine in the US.

The researchers conducted a combined

analysis of studies from the past five decades

examining the association between chocolate

consumption and coronary artery disease (the

blockage of the coronary arteries).

The analysis included six studies with a total

of 336,289 participants who reported their

chocolate consumption.

During a median follow-up of nearly nine

years, 14,043 participants developed coronary

artery disease and 4,667 had a heart attack.

Compared with consuming chocolate less

than once a week, the findings showed that

eating chocolate more than once a week was

associated with an eight per cent decreased

risk of coronary artery disease.

“Chocolate contains heart-healthy nutrients

such as flavonoids, methylxanthines, polyphe-

nols and stearic acid which may reduce

inflammation and increase good cholesterol

(high-density lipoprotein or HDL cholester-

ol),” Krittanawong said.

The research team noted that the study did

not examine whether any particular type of

chocolate is more beneficial and whether

there is ideal portion size.

“Chocolate appears promising for preven-

tion of coronary artery disease, but more

research is needed to pinpoint how much and

what kind of chocolate could be recommend-

ed,” the study authors wrote.

While it’s not clear how much chocolate is

optimal, the study researchers warned against

overeating. “Moderate amounts of chocolate

seem to protect the coronary arteries but it’s

likely that large quantities do not,” they said.

“The calories, sugar, milk and fat in

commercially available products need to be

considered, particularly in diabetics and obese

people,” the research team concluded.

(Source: IANS)

Chocolate isheart-healthy

Consuming chocolate helps keep the heart’s

blood vessels healthy

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 11BUSINESS & ECONOMY

FM tells PSUs to complete FY21capex plans to push economic growthNEW DELHI, July 23:

Government has asked pub-lic sector undertakings(PSUs) to complete all theirplanned capex for FY21 ontime and become vehiclesof growth for the economyhit by the coronavirus pan-demic.

With private investmenton a standstill, the govern-ment wants companies ad-ministered by it to change themood in the country by step-ping up expenditure and gen-erating economic activitythat results in income gen-

eration and job creation.At a review meeting held

by the Finance Minister Nir-mala Sitharaman today withSecretaries of Ministries ofCivil Aviation, Steel, and theChairman, Railway Boardalong with the CMDs of 7CPSEs belonging to theseMinistries, the Finance Min-ister said that better per-formance of CPSEs can helpthe economy in a big way torecover from the impact ofCOVID-19.

In this regard, she said it isimportant that CPSEs en-

sure that capital outlay pro-vided to them for FY21 is“spent properly and withintime”.

Sitharaman asked Secre-taries to closely monitor theperformance of CPSEs inorder to ensure capital ex-penditure to the tune of 50per cent of capital outlay byQ2 2020-21.

She said that to achievethis planning should be donein advance and all unresolvedissues should be brought be-fore the ministry for imme-diate solution.

The concern this year isthat sluggish economic activ-ities on account of COVID-19 and sagging demand con-ditions may also push PSUsto step back on their invest-ments.

In FY 2019-20, against thecapex target of Rs 30,420crore for the 7 CPSEs, theachievement was Rs 25,974crore, i.e., 85 per cent. In Q1(FY 2019-20) achievementwas Rs 3,878 crore (13 percent) and achievement of Q1(FY 2020-21) has sloweddown to Rs 3,557 crore (14

per cent). Capex target for 7PSUs for 2020-21 is Rs24,663 crore.

This review meeting washeld as part of the series ofmeetings that the FinanceMinister is having with vari-ous stakeholders to acceler-ate the economic growth.

The Finance Minister alsostated that extraordinary sit-uation requires extraordinaryefforts and with collective ef-forts, “we will not only per-form better but also help theIndian economy to achievebetter results.” – IANS

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar addresses during the launch of the pilot project of

National Transit Pass System via video-conference, in New Delhi on Thursday. – PTI

Identified 20 sectorswhere India can be

global supplier: GoyalNEW DELHI, July 23: The

government has so far iden-tified 20 sectors where Indiacan meet domestic demandas well as become a globalsupplier, Commerce and In-dustry Minister Piyush Goy-al said today.

He said industry bodyFICCI and other associationsare working with the gov-ernment in this regard.

“We have identified first 12sectors and now 8 more, sowe have 20 sectors in whichFICCI and other associationsare very much part of ourengagement, where we haveidentified sectors where In-dia can not only meet owndomestic needs but also be-come globally competitiveand become global leader sup-plying to the world,” he said

in a FICCI webinar.These sectors include food

processing, organic farming,agro-chemicals, electronics,industrial machinery, furni-ture, leather, auto parts andtextiles, among others.

He also highlighted thatdespite having skilled carpen-ters and artisans, India con-tinues to import furniture.

“Can we not prepare Indiato become the factory of theworld for furniture, can wenot build to scale at compet-itive prices so that the worldlooks at India, to source fromIndia,” he added.

Further talking aboutyoga, the minister said yogaholds huge potential for in-dustry and young entrepre-neurs as the world is excit-ed about it. – PTI

Q1 GST, I-T mop-upvery encouraging,says Finance SecyNEW DELHI, July 23: Tax

mop-up in first quarter of thecurrent fiscal is “very encour-aging” and indicates that theeconomy is recovering soonerthan what was anticipated at thetime of imposition of lockdown,Finance Secretary Ajay Bhush-an Pandey said today.

He said the Revenue de-partment wants to bring inself-compliance among tax-payers by making availabledata of all financial transactionsvia Form 26AS at the time offiling income tax (I-T) return.

Pandey, who is also the Rev-enue Secretary, said about 70per cent of the Rs 91,000-crore goods and services tax(GST) collected in June is onaccount of transactions in May.

“For the month of June, go-ing by the current trends, wehave certain trend about howmany people have made pay-ment so far, and also the e-waybill... truck movement... allthese things are giving en-couraging signals that the econ-omy is coming back to therealm sooner than what wasbeing anticipated when thelockdown was started inMarch,” he said while address-

ing a FICCI event here.Besides, income tax collec-

tion, by way of advance taxand TDS, in the April-Junequarter was about 80 per centof what was collected in thesame period last year.

“These two numbers – GSTand income tax – are encour-aging numbers and also givesus some hope that whereverpossible businesses are find-ing ways to get started. Butthere were certain sectors likehospitality, education, tourism,which are facing difficulty,”Pandey added.

The government had inMay notified revised Form26AS which would have addi-tional details on taxpayers’high-value financial transac-tions... undertaken during a fi-nancial year, and would facili-tate voluntary compliance andease of e-filing of I-T returns.

Pandey said if a personsees all his transaction at oneplace, it makes return filingvery easy and helps honesttaxpayers. It also sends amessage to those personswho are on the borderline,and they would also try to beon the right side of law. – PTI

Reliance breaks into top 50most valued cos globally

NEW DELHI, July 23: Bil-lionaire Mukesh Ambani’sReliance Industries Ltd hasbroken into the top 50 mostvalued companies globallyafter it became the first com-pany with market capitalisa-tion of over Rs 13-lakh crore.

The oil-to-telecom con-glomerate is ranked 48th inmarket cap globally, accord-ing to stock market data.

Globally, Saudi Aramco is

the company with the high-est market cap of $1.7 trillion,followed by Apple, Microsoft,Amazon, and Alphabet.

Reliance today closed at Rs2,060.65 on the BSE, up 2.82per cent over the previousday’s close. This gave thefirm a m-cap of over Rs 13-lakh crore.

Together with the firm’spartly-paid shares thatwere issued in the recent

rights issue and are tradedseparately, the companyhad a combined m-cap ofRs 13.5-lakh crore or over$181 billion.

No Indian company hasever crossed an m-cap of Rs13-lakh crore.

This is higher than Chev-ron’s about $170 billion m-cap as well as the likes of Or-acle, Unilever, Bank of Chi-na, BHP Group, Royal Dutch

Shell and SoftBank Group.Reliance is the 10th high-

est m-cap company in Asia.China’s Alibaba Group isranked 7th globally.

The only other Indiancompany in the top 100 firmsis Tata Consultancy Servic-es. As per its closing price ofRs 2,170.75 on the BSE,TCS has an m-cap of Rs 8.14-lakh crore or about $109 bil-lion. – PTI

Indian economy set for post-COVID-19rebound as FDI remains buoyant: ReportNEW DELHI, July 23: The

Indian economy is likely torebound in the second half of2020 as the impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic re-cedes, and is projected togrow by 6.7 per cent in thenext financial year, IHS Markitsaid today.

The pandemic resulted insevere disruptions in indus-trial production and consump-tion spending in India duringApril and May.

“The severe negative im-pact is expected to result in asignificant contraction in GDPin the April-June quarter of2020, resulting in a recessionin the 2020-21 financial yearwith GDP expected to con-tract by 6.3 per cent year-on-year,” it said in its outlook onthe Indian economy.

However, as lockdown con-ditions have been progres-

sively eased, early signs ofrecovery were evident in themost recent economic data.

The IHS Markit Purchas-ing Managers’ surveys forIndia showed that economicmomentum improved in June,reflecting the easing of COV-ID-19-related restrictionsduring May and June.

India imposed a total lock-down beginning March 25and restrictions were easedfrom May.

“IHS Markit forecast thatthe Indian economy will re-bound as the impact of the pan-demic recedes, with improv-ing economic growth momen-tum in the second half of 2020and positive GDP growth of6.7 per cent in the 2021-22 fi-nancial year,” said RajivBiswas, Asia Pacific ChiefEconomist at IHS Markit.

Despite the negative short-

term shocks from the pan-demic, total foreign direct in-vestment into India has re-mained buoyant. Foreign di-rect investment by technolo-gy firms in the first sevenmonths of 2020 has alreadyreached around $17 billion,boosted by the $10 billion newinvestment announced byGoogle in mid-July.

Facebook, Amazon andFoxconn are among the otherglobal technology firms thathave committed large newinvestments into India thisyear, IHS said.

“A major boost to investorconfidence in the Indian me-dium-term economic outlookhas come from new foreigndirect investment into Indiaannounced during 2020 by UStechnology companies likeGoogle, Facebook, and Ama-zon,” Biswas said.

IHS said the medium-term economic outlook forIndia remains favourable,supported by a number ofkey growth drivers.

“An important positive fac-tor for India is its large andfast-growing middle class,which is helping to drive con-sumer spending. Total Indianconsumer spending is forecastto grow by 42 per cent be-tween 2020 and 2025, meas-ured in USD terms at con-stant prices,” it said.

IHS Markit forecast India’sconsumption expenditure todouble from $1.6 trillion in2020 to $3.2 trillion by 2030,measured in constant prices,boosted by strong averageannual GDP growth and rap-idly rising per capita incomesfor the country’s fast-grow-ing middle-class urban house-holds. – PTI

CAIT calls for extension of deadline by 2 yrsCompulsory hallmarking of gold

NEW DELHI, July 23:Citing higher prices and lowsupply, the Confederation ofAll India Traders todayurged the Centre to extendthe provision for compulso-ry gold hallmarking by twoyears, so that leftover stockcan enter the market.

Gold prices today wentup to Rs 51,500 per 10gram, while silver ended atRs 62,000 per kg, CAITsaid, adding that the safe

asset class has gaineddemand as an outcome ofthe COVID-19-inducedeconomic turbulence.

Accordingly, the confed-eration expects a sustaineddemand for gold and silverduring the festive seasonstarting from RakshaBandhan on August 3.

The confederationexpects gold prices to touchRs 55,000 per 10 grams onDiwali.

According to PraveenKhandelwal, SecretaryGeneral, CAIT and PankajArora, National Convenorof All India Jewellers andGoldsmith Federation,silver price is expected tobe in a range of Rs 72,000to Rs 75,000 per kilogram.

He was quoted as sayingin a statement: “Gold hasalways been the best andsafest choice of investmentfor the customers as gold

prices generally keep onincreasing whereas on theother hand, it is also themost important invest-ment for traders which isquite safe.”

Prior to the lockdown,gold prices stood at Rs41,000 per 10 gram andthat of silver was at Rs40,000 per kg and now in aperiod of just 4 monthsthere is an increase of 28-30 per cent in gold and in

silver, the increase is ofabout 45 per cent, he said.

The confederation saidthat to allow the jewellersto liquidate their old stocks,the Centre should provide afurther extension of 2years, in the view ofCOVID-19 disruption.

Earlier, the Centre hadmade ‘hallmarking’ onevery gold item compul-sory from January 15,2021. – IANS

SpiceJet allowedto operate

India-US flightsNEW DELHI, July 23: Air-

line major SpiceJet has beenallowed to operate flights be-tween India and US.

Accordingly, the Centre hasdesignated the airline as an In-dian scheduled carrier to oper-ate between India and the US.

The designation allows forthe international expansion ofthe airline. However, com-mence dates or destinationshave not been revealed.

“It gives me immensepleasure to share that Spice-Jet has been designated as anIndian scheduled carrier tooperate between India andthe US,” SpiceJet CMD AjaySingh said today.

“This designation wouldhelp us plan for our interna-tional expansion in a muchbetter and calibrated manner.I have always maintained thatthere is an opportunity inevery adversity and thepresent crisis situation hasseen SpiceJet rise to the oc-casion and play a pivotal role.”

Presently, only Air Indiaoperates flights between In-dia and the US. Apart fromSpiceJet, IndiGo got thisdesignation last year. – IANS

GoAirlaunchesGoMorescheme

Adjacent seatbooking

MUMBAI, July 23: Budgetcarrier GoAir has launchedGoMore scheme, which willallow passengers to book ad-jacent seat on the same PNRin order to maintain social dis-tancing amid the pandemic.

Besides, the city-basedairline also announced thelaunch ‘Online Doctor Con-sultation’ facility in associa-tion with MFine, an on-de-mand healthcare platform.

The Wadia Group-promot-ed GoAir is the third domes-tic carrier after Vistara andIndiGo to come out with suchan offer, wherein the passen-ger will have to shell out addi-tional cost for a safe air travel.

The Supreme Court onJune 26 had ordered that theairlines in the country will nothave to keep the middle seatvacant. The apex court heldthat airlines had followed ad-equate safety measures toensure safety of passengersduring COVID-19 pandemic.

“GoAir today launchedtwo initiatives that will pro-vide deep confidence to pas-sengers when they plan theirtravel. The airline has intro-duced GoMore wherein pas-sengers can book anotheradjacent seat on the samePNR in order to provide ad-ditional safety.

“Also with the launch ofonline doctor consultation,GoAir passengers will haveinstant access to over 3,000doctors across more than 500hospitals network on a back-and-call by just paying con-sultation fee of Rs 99,” theairline said in a release. – PTI

HDFC AMCnet up 4%

MUMBAI, July 23: HDFCAsset Management Compa-ny today reported a muted 4per cent increase in net prof-it to Rs 302.4 crore for theJune quarter, as its funds un-der management declined by2 per cent.

The largest mutual fundmanager’s AUM declined 2per cent to Rs 3,56,200 crore,compared to Rs 3,62,400crore in June 2019. It has amarket share of 14.5 per cent.

It declared a dividend of Rs28 a share, as against Rs 24per share in the same periodlast year. – PTI

Jio tops 4Gdownload

speed chartNEW DELHI, July 23:

Reliance Jio topped 4G speedchart with an average down-load speed of 16.5 mbps inJune, while Vodafone and Idealed in terms of upload speed,according to TRAI data.

Idea followed Jio in downloadspeed chart with 8 mbps speed,data published on TRAI’sMyspeed portal showed.

The Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (TRAI) re-corded average downloadspeed of 7.5 mbps and 7.2 mbpson 4G network of Vodafoneand Bharti Airtel in June.

For upload speed, Vodafoneand Idea led the chart withspeed of 6.2 mbps each. Jioand Airtel recorded averageupload speed of 3.4 mbps each.

The data speed of telecomoperators’ networks showedincrease in June after plum-meting to their lows inMarch-April period. – PTI

12 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATISPORTS

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020

Printed and published by Ganesh Ch. Das on behalf of Assam Tribune Pvt. Ltd. at the Tribune Press, Tribune Buildings, P.O.- Assam Tribune, M.R.D. Road, Chandmari, Guwahati-781003. Tel. 0361-2660102 (EPABX), 0361-2661360, 0361-2668807 (News Desk), FAX 0361-2666396. E-mail:

advt@assamtribune.com; news@assamtribune.com; atribunenews@gmail.com. Editor: Prafulla Govinda Baruah

Originating from Japan,

‘su do ku’ is a mind game

and a puzzle that can be

solved with proper

reasoning and logic. Fill

the grid with digits in such

a manner that every row,

every column and every

3 x 3 box accommodates

the digits 1 to 9 without

repeating any.

Solution of last problem

SU DO KU

NEW DELHI, July 23: Former Sri

Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara on

Thursday delivered a powerful message

against racism, saying education with-

out values will not stop discrimination.

Sangakkara said a change can be

brought only by teaching real history

instead of a sanitised version of it.

Offering his views on the ‘Black

Lives Matter’ movement that has gath-

ered momentum following the death

of African-American George Floyd,

Sangakkara said, “It doesn’t matter if

you are educated or not. I have seen

some of the worse acts committed by

people with best education.”

“If your education is not based on

values and not rooted in that in-built

moral campus then you will be in trou-

ble. Education is not going to take away

any of your prejudices, it will only help

you argue them away better,” he told

Cricbuzz.

Sangakkara said there are various

Teach real history instead of a sanitizedversion: Sangakkara on racism

versions of racism and “skin colour is

not the only basis for discrimination.”

“If you take Black Lives Matter, if

you take racism and discrimination in

the world, I think one of the most im-

portant things is to teach our children

history as it should be, and not the san-

itised version of it. We need to shine

the spotlight on the

whole character – the

good, the bad and the

ugly,” he said.

“Once one under-

stand what real his-

tory is, we will find

changes in

attitude. If you wake people up to that

reality instead of believing we are the be

all and end all of civilization, I think that

will be a powerful lesson to everyone.

“Change won’t happen overnight,

it’s not the flavour of the month where

you protest about it and forget it. It’s a

slow and tedious process involving eve-

ryone in the world.”

The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement

has found support from former and cur-

rent cricketers around the world. In

fact, the opening England-West Indies

Test saw players from both sides take

a knee to express solidarity to the

cause. Sangakkara, who has scored

12400 runs in 134 Tests and 14234

runs in 404 ODIs, said, “We

are all taught to love our coun-

try but sometimes we follow

that blindly and that stops up

from appreciating other cul-

tures, races, religion and

ethnicity.” – PTI

LIVERPOOL, July 23: Standing on

the Kop that should have been filled

with Liverpool’s most ardent sup-

porters, Jordan Henderson did what

no captain of the team had done be-

fore: Lift the Premier League trophy.

As fireworks exploded from the

roofs of the mostly empty Anfield

stands, red smoke filled the void.

Not since 1990 two years before

the inception of the Premier

League has Liverpool been

crowned champion of England.

Only a late government reprieve

ensured players at least had a few

family members inside the stadium

to witness the crowning moment

of a season like no other in the his-

tory of English football.

Top-flight football trophies are

never handed out in July in England,

but the chilly weather inside Anfield

felt more like winter when Liver-

pool started to run away with the

championship, only the pandemic no

opponent put glory in doubt.

For three months, players and

fans agonized whether the season

Liverpool players receive PL trophy

would even resume. The only way

it could was with fans shut out of

the stadiums. No exemptions, even

for a title party.

Instead seats in the centre of the

Kop were removed and replaced

by the purple podium where man-

ager Jrgen Klopp followed by his

coaching team and players went up

to collect their winners’ medals.

I was never on the Kop before, it

was pretty special, Klopp said.

It makes sense in the moment

when the people are not in that we

use the Kop to celebrate it with

them together in our hearts.

Mohamed Salah, whose goals

have transformed Liverpool into

English, European and world cham-

pions, was wrapped in an Egypt flag.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, the 21-

year-old Liverpool-born defender,

peered down as he inspected his

medal. He really was a Premier

League champion, achieving what

hometown greats Steven Gerrard

and Jamie Carragher had been una-

ble to as the drought persisted.

In the Main Stand, Kenny Dal-

glish wearing a red face mask fea-

turing a club crest sipped cham-

pagne. He was manager in 1990

when Liverpool won what was then

the Division One title.

Now Liverpool is finally a 19-time

champion of England, one behind the

record held by Manchester United,

which usurped the Reds by collect-

ing the Premier League trophy 13

times from 1993 to 2013. – AP

Liverpool’ players with the English Premier League trophy. – AP/PTI

Inter draw clears wayfor Juventus to seal title

ROME, July 23: Juventus

is one win away from a

record-extending ninth

straight Serie A title.

Inter Milan twice hit the

post but was held to a 0-0

draw by Fiorentina on

Wednesday, meaning that ri-

val Juventus can clinch the

trophy on Thursday.

If Juventus wins at Udi-

nese, it will move nine points

clear of Atalanta with three

rounds remaining – and the

Bianconeri hold the tiebreak-

er over the Bergamo squad

courtesy of a better head-to-

head record.

Inter is third, one point

behind Atalanta, and remains

in the running for second

place.

Second place has no mean-

ing for me, said Inter coach

Antonio Conte, who man-

aged Juventus to the first

three titles of its streak.

It just means you’re atop

the losers’ list.

Romelu Lukaku and Alex-

is Snchez each hit the wood-

work for Inter, which also had

a potential goal from Anto-

nio Candreva waved off for

offside.

We played a solid match

but you’ve got to score goals,

Conte said. “We’re lacking

the killer instinct.

Parma beat Napoli 2-1 in a

match with three penalties.

Gianluca Caprari and Dejan

Kusulevski converted for

Parma while Lorenzo Insigne

converted for Napoli.

It was the second time this

season that Parma beat Na-

poli, which dropped behind

Roma and AC Milan in the

race for fifth place. – AP

Archer needs to figure ifhe’s in right frame: Anderson

MANCHESTER, July 23: Veteran England

pacer James Anderson reckons both he and

Jofra Archer should play the series-decider

against the West Indies but insisted his fellow

speedster should first figure if he is in right

frame of mind to play.

The 25-year-old Archer had claimed that

he was subjected to racist abuse on

social media for breaking the bio-bubble

protocol.

The visit to his home in Brighton led to his

axing from the second Test.

He was placed in five days of isolation at

Old Trafford’s on-site hotel and was also fined

at a disciplinary hearing.

“We’ve not seen much of Jofra because he’s

obviously been in isolation for a few days but,

knowing him as I do, I’m sure he’ll want to

play in this game, with it being so crucial and

the series resting on it.

“Over the next few days he’s going to have

to sit down with the captain and coach and

figure out if he is in the right place to play,”

Anderson said on Wednesday, responding to

Archer’s claim.

Archer has been on the receiving end of

racist abuse in the past, notably during the

second Test defeat by New Zealand last year.

“The scrutiny is always something that can

be difficult for guys coming into the interna-

tional set-up because it is very different; you

do feel more under the spotlight and it’s just

finding coping methods for that, finding ways

of dealing with the extra attention,” Ander-

son said. – PTI

Jofra Archer

GUWAHATI, July 23:

Chief Minister Sarbananda

Sonowal today distributed

annual grants-in-aid to Dis-

trict Sports Associations and

State Sports Associations af-

filiated to Assam Olympic As-

sociation (AOA) through a

video conference at Brah-

maputra State Guest House.

An amount of Rs 34,800

each was distributed to 25

district sports associations

and Rs 72,752 each was dis-

tributed to 29 state sports

associations today.

Speaking on the occasion,

Chief Minister Sonowal, who

is also the president of AOA,

said that Assam was going

through a very difficult phase

with COVID-19 pandemic,

flood, erosion, storm, land-

slide, Baghjan oil well fire inci-

dent etc. He urged the sports

associations to slowly revive

sporting activities in the state

along with keeping the sport-

sperson of the state motivat-

ed during these difficult times.

Along with sports activi-

ties, the Chief Minister also

appealed the sports associa-

tions to volunteer in the

flood relief and rehabilitation

activities.

AOA general secretary La-

khya Konwar, vice president

Bishnuram Nunisa, AOA

member Pronoy Bordoloi

were also present during the

video conference, a release said.

Grants-in-aid distributedto sports associations

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal during a video conference of Assam Olympic Association inGuwahati on Thursday.

NZC will issue NOCs toall IPL-bound players

NEW DELHI, July 23: New Zealand Cricket (NZC)

will issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to all its six

internationals set to compete in the IPL but said the “due

diligence” on health safety protocols will have to be done

by the players themselves.

The six New Zealand players who are set to play in the

IPL are Jimmy Neesham (Kings XI Punjab), Lockie Fer-

guson (Kolkata Knight Riders), Mitchell McClenaghan

and Trent Boult (Mumbai Indians), Kane Williamson (Sun-

risers Hyderabad) and Mitchell Santner (Chennai Super

Kings).

“Regarding the IPL, NZC will be issuing NOCs to the

relevant players and it’s up to them to decide,” NZC

spokesperson Richard Boock told PTI via email.

The IPL is likely to be held from September-end till

November, a window thrown open by the ICC’s decision

to postpone the October-November T20 World Cup in

Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the NZC will be updating its players about the

health safety protocols and latest COVID-19 related de-

velopments, the onus will be on the six individuals to do

due diligence.

“Well, yes, the issuing of NOCs is considered on a case-

by-case basis and it’s rare that they are ever refused.

However, the due diligence is something for the respec-

tive players to shoulder - although we are happy to pass

on as much info as we can to assist in these matters,”

Boock added. – PTI

NZ A tour ofIndia cancelled

NEW DELHI, July 23:

New Zealand A team’s tour

of India has been cancelled.

PTI had earlier reported

that the tour scheduled in

August was unlikely to go

through due to the surge of

COVID-19 cases in India.

“My information is that

the A tour of India will not be

happening. It was decision

taken by mutual agreement

between both the boards,”

NZC Spokesman Boock said.

While the Indian men

team’s itinerary is in place

with away series in Austral-

ia and home series against

England, the next group –

India A – will be in a quan-

dary as at least four assign-

ments (home and away)

during the season might

be cancelled or postponed.

– PTI

Amir testsnegative againKARACHI, July 23: Paki-

stan left-arm pacer Muham-

mad Amir was on Thursday

cleared to join the national

side in England after his sec-

ond test also returned nega-

tive for coronavirus.

Amir plays only the short-

er formats.

“The PCB will now be

making arrangements to

send Amir and masseur,

Muhammad Imran to Eng-

land as soon as possible so

that they can join the train-

ing camp in Derbyshire,” the

Pakistan Cricket Board

(PCB) said in a release.

Amir, 28, left many peo-

ple disappointed including

the national team’s head

coach and chief selector,

Misbah-ul-Haq when he

announced his sudden re-

tirement from Test cricket

last year.

Former players are of

the opinion that if Amir is

available and fit, then he

should also be considered

for the Test series against

England. – PTI

Anand loses to Carlsen inLegends of Chess tourneyCHENNAI, July 23: India’s Viswanathan Anand suffered

his second consecutive loss, going down to world No.1

Magnus Carlsen in the second round of the USD 150,000

chess24 Legends of Chess online tournament.

The former world champion had kept the Norwegian

ace in check in three games of the best-of-four contest

before slipping 1.5-2.5 by in the final game late on Wednes-

day. The Indian ace is making his maiden appearance on the

Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.

He had gone down by a similar margin to Russia’s Peter

Svidler in the opening round. He takes on another former

world champion Vladimir Kramnik in the third round.

Anand is back in action after having last participated in

the Online Nations Cup in May.

Carlsen is in joint lead with veteran Israeli Boris Gelfand

and Svidler. All of them have six points after two victories

each. – PTI

Diamond League track meetin England cancelled

LONDON, July 23: The Diamond League track meet in

Gateshead, England, has been canceled because of the coro-

navirus pandemic.

It is the fifth of the 15 meets in the series to be cancelled.

The event in London was also called off.

The Gateshead meet was originally scheduled for Aug.

16 and then moved to Sept. 12 before being canceled.

The first full Diamond League meet is currently set to

be held on Aug. 14 in Monaco.

Exhibition meets have been organized remotely from

Oslo and Zurich with athletes worldwide competing simul-

taneously in a few events. – AP

Bangladesh Test tour to SLcould be rescheduled

NEW DELHI, July 23: Bangladesh is planning to tour Sri

Lanka in October for their rescheduled three-Test series,

following the postponement of this year’s ICC T20 World

Cup because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the Bangladesh

Cricket Board (BCB) are currently in talks with its Sri

Lankan counterparts (SLC) and if everything falls into place

“Bangladesh men’s pending three-Test series against hosts

Sri Lanka could be rescheduled to October.”

The three-Test series, which is part of the ICC World

Test Championship, was earlier scheduled to be held be-

tween July and August but was deferred due to the pan-

demic. The ICC on Monday postponed the T20 World Cup

which was scheduled to be held in Australia between Octo-

ber-November.

The report said that both “boards are keen on having the

Test series squeezed into the earliest possible window”.

“The ICC’s announcement of the three major tourna-

ments has provided what window we can work with, as

now that we know that the tournament dates are fixed, we

can work around with our schedule,” BCB CEO Nizamud-

din Chowdhury told the website. – PTI

FIDE Online ChessOlympiad to start on July 25CHENNAI, July 23: The FIDE Online Chess Olympiad,

which will feature top players like world no.3 Ding Liren

and Indian ace Viswanathan Anand among others, will be

held from July 25 to August 30.

Teams from 163 countries will take part in the first-ever

online Olympiad. Russia is the top-ranked team, followed

by China, USA, Armenia and Ukraine.

The India team, captained by Vidit Santosh Gujrati, is

the seventh-seed in the prestigious competition.

India is placed in the top division along with the likes of

Russia, China, US, Ukraine and others. Eight teams from

the top division will qualify for stage 2 and battle it out with

countries from other divisions.

World no.1 Magnus Carlsen is a notable absentee from

the event. – PTI

India confident of Tokyohosting Games next year

NEW DELHI, July 23: The Indian Olympic Association

on Thursday said that it is confident of Tokyo hosting “the

best ever Games” next year and the country is looking

forward to participating in the multi-sporting spectacle.

In a message on the occasion to mark exactly one year

before the Olympics, the IOA wished the athletes and offi-

cials world over, and the Tokyo organisers a successful

Games next year.

“We are confident that the IOC, its associates, and our

friends in Tokyo would be hosting the best ever Games in

the history of the Olympic movement one year from now,”

IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta said.

“The entire nation is looking forward to Team India’s

participation in the Games,” he said in a statement. – PTI