Centre accepts State proposal

GUWAHATI, Sept 27 – The Central Government has accepted an Assam Government proposal for construction of a road along the State’s entire stretch of international boundary with Bhutan, between Udalguri and Kokrajhar districts.

Disclosing this, highly placed official sources said that the State has a plan to construct a road along its boundaries with the neighbouring states as well.

Besides, the sources said, the State Government is also taking up with the Central Government a comprehensive plan for development of the entire Majuli island.

The above roads are envisaged as part of a plan to improve the surface communication system and the law and order situation in these interior international and inter-state border areas.

In the case of Majuli, the Public Works Department (PWD) will execute the part of the plan that is connected with the development of roads, bridges and buildings, while the other departments will execute their respective parts of the job.

For Majuli, the PWD has its own plans to replace the existing 15 timber bridges with RCC ones. Two of these RCC bridges have been completed, while construction of another two such bridges is under progress. The State Government has sanctioned seven more RCC bridges proposed to be built in the island, said the sources

The PWD is also trying to use concrete blocks, called the inter-locking concrete paver blocks, instead of bitumen in view of the fact that bitumen is affected by the State’s high rate of precipitation.

At present, these blocks are used on an experimental basis on the bye-lane that connects the Khanapara Central School area with the Ganeshmandir High School area and in a patch of a road in front of the Nalbari Circuit House.

Though the initial cost of these concrete blocks is relatively high, their durability is longer and they require nominal maintenance cost, said the sources.

During the past nine years, the PWD could blacktop 14,386 km of road, against the 4,367 km blacktopped between 1947 and 2001. Currently, blacktopping of roads measuring over 9,000 km is going on.

The State had 5,000 timber bridges in 2001 with the RCC bridges numbering only 309 then. Now, sources said, the State has completed construction of 1,497 RCC bridges and construction of 1,570 such bridges is under progress.

The PWD is blacktopping all the new roads it is laying now. It is not laying any gravel road at present. However, the department has no alternative at present to repair the existing gravelled roads it has inherited, sources said.

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GU teachers’ strike over pay demand

GUWAHATI, Sept 27 – Gauhati University Teachers’ Association (GUTA) members today blocked the office of the Vice Chancellor (VC) and staged a day-long demonstration in support of their demands for implementation of the University Grants Commission’s (UGC’s) full pay package and promotion scheme.

The GUTA members also demanded retirement benefits, including pension and other allowances, at enhanced rates for their retired colleagues, besides immediate release of the arrear amounts against gratuity and earned leave at enhanced rates.

They also threatened to move the Gauhati High Court in support of their demand for raising the superannuation age to 65 years, citing a verdict of the Patna High Court on the issue.

Addressing mediapersons at the venue of the demonstration this noon, GUTA president Dr PJ Handique and general secretary Dr Akhil Ranjan Dutta also demanded release of the arrear amounts for the period between April 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010, due to the GUteachers against their revised pay scales before the Puja vacations.

They alleged Government’s discriminatory attitude towards GU. The University has been forced to introduce self-financing courses and thus the Government is gradually trying to move away from its responsibility to extend financial support to theUniversity, they alleged.

The University is now made to face a deficit of around Rs 23 crore annually in matters of meeting its recurring expenses against salary, pension etc, not to speak of its developmental activities. Besides, the amounts due to the teaching and non-teaching staff of theUniversity against gratuity have not been released since 2002, while the earned leave amounts are due to them since 2005.

The financial condition of the University is such that it could implement the UGC revised pay scales for its teachers partly with effect from May 2010, while the same pay scales were implemented in full in the Central Universities with effect from December 31, 2008, the GUTA office-bearers alleged.

The University has at present 39 full-fledged PG departments and it recently introduced around 15 self-financing courses. It has 298 teachers.

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CM launches health project at Morigaon

GUWAHATI, Sept 27 – Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi formally launched the Morigaon Model District Health Project at a function here today. Morigaon has become the first district in the country to start this project.

Launching the State Health department’s ambitious project in collaboration with The Earth Institute, Columbia University and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, Gogoi said the State government has accorded top priority to the health sector as well as the education sector without which, no society or State can forge ahead. He hoped that the model district health project would aim at reducing infant and maternal rates not just in Morigaon but in other districts of the State as well by 2015.

According to an official statement, Gogoi said that though the State government has taken a slew of initiatives in the health sector, there are still miles to go to achieve the desired results.

The Model District Health Project aims at scaling the health care services from one district to the entire State and subsequently to all parts of the country by 2015. The project would also address the issues like nutrition, water and sanitation, among others.

Lauding the efforts of Dr Nirupam Bajpai, senior advisor, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, Gogoi said that the expertise to be provided by his team would help to improve the health sector in rural areas of the State. He also stressed the need to create awareness through education about the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables to do away with malnutrition, one of the main causes of infant mortality.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Bajpai said that Morigaon is one among the five districts of the country to have been selected under the Model District Health Project. Dr Bajpai, a Padmashree awardee, said that the task to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates was a challenging one. “There is the need for inter-sectoral coordination among the different departments and agencies to provide better and effective health services, especially in the remote villages of the country,” he said.

The other five districts selected for the project are one each in Utter Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Terming the NRHM as the biggest public health programme in the world, Dr Bajpai said that the mission aims at reaching out to 600 million people in the country through interventions in a better and effective way.

Additional Chief Secretary, in charge of Health, PP Verma said that the project would be able to induce better healthcare services to the people of the State, the statement mentioned.

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DoNER to update NE States on action plan

NEW DELHI, Sept 27 – Following complaints over status of the Vision 2020 document, the Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) is planning to update the Chief Ministers of the north-eastern States (NES) about the action plan chalked out to implement the ambitious project.

The Chief Ministers and Governors of the NES are slated to be briefed by top officials of several Central Ministries updating them about the implementation of the Vision 2020 document, when they meet here tomorrow to participate in the 59th North Eastern Council Meeting (10th meeting as the statutory regional planning body for the north-eastern region), official sources said.

The day-long meeting being held at the Parliament Annexe is going to be presided over Union Minister for DoNER and Mines Bijoy Krishna Handique, who is also the chairman of the NEC. The meeting is also being attended by top officials of the Planning Commission, Home Ministry, chairman of the Railway Board, Central PSUs, among others.

The Chief Ministers of Assam, Nagaland and Mizoram are unlikely to attend the meeting. State Minister Prithbi Majhi is likely to represent Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Sources said the some of the concerned Central Ministries were going to make presentations following complaints by the Chief Ministers at the last NEC meeting at Guwahati over the status of the ambitious Vision 2020 document that was released by the Prime Minister on July 2, 2008. The Chief Minister grumbled that they were in the dark about the progress towards implementation of the action plan.

Sources said senior officials of several Central Ministries including Telecom, Inland Waterways, Power and Railways were slated to brief the meeting about the progress made towards implementation of the action plan. The officials are also likely to point out the problems being faced like that of land acquisition.

The NEC meet slated to be addressed by the Chief Ministers and Governors would also deliberate on the modifications suggested by the various working committees concerned with implementation of the Central schemes. Some of the working committees have submitted reports.

The NEC members are also scheduled to be briefed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs about the forthcoming Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, where focus will be on the North-east. The Chief Ministers and State Government officials are going to be briefed about the various aspects concerned with the conclave of overseas Indians.

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