SHILLONG: The Gauhati High Court has asked the Meghalaya Government to strictly implement the directives of the Ministry of Environment & Forest pertaining to the violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 by cement companies located in Jaintia hills.

The Court also directed the State Government to undertake a joint inspection of the remaining 1,140 hectares of land acquired or under the process of acquisition by the said cement companies to ascertain the status of forests and to submit the report within three months.

SHILLONG: Concerned over the frequent accidents in the coal mines of the State leading to death of coal labourers, the State Labour Department has decided to organise sensitization cum training programmes in East Jaintia Hills, where a large number of coal mines are located.

Coal labourers continue to perish in the coal mines of Meghalaya with many labourers having lost their lives in the ‘deadly’ coal mines across the State in the last one year.

TURA: In view of the severe water crisis in Tura and surrounding areas, West Garo Hills District Administration held a meeting with the lines departments, civil societies, Church leaders and locality development committees on Friday afternoon to discuss an urgent action plan to tide over the current water crisis.

The emergency meeting was necessitated amidst reports of fights erupting out of frustration over water scarcity, wanton wastage of water and illegal tampering of pipes by unauthorized plumbers.

Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) Secretary T Lyngwa on Sunday informed that the last slot of Government sanctioned SPTS buses would be hitting the streets of the capital in May.

Speaking to The Shillong Times here on Sunday, Lyngwa said, “Twenty more buses will be coming by the first week of May.”
It was in July 2011 that the Government introduced the Government run buses sanctioned under the JNNURM and since then the number of buses have been increased but the bigger buses have not yet reached the State.

NONGSTOIN: A devastating cyclone hit Mawshynrut area of West Khasi Hills District on Wednesday night ravaging 14 villages and killing 3 persons and injuring over 51.

SHILLONG: The State government is proposing to implement the four-tier Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) now rechristened as the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) in all the districts of the State to ensur

SHILLONG: With just only 10 MW power production during the lean period, the Opposition on Wednesday demanded a white paper on the status of the Myntdu-Leshka hydro-electric project completed at the cost of over Rs 1000 crore.

Ardent Basaiawmoit (HSPDP) raised a question in the Assembly on the status of the hydel project. Opposition members Paul Lyngdoh and Dr Donkupar Roy also wanted to know whether the project is viable considering the cost incurred for the project.

Guwahati: Assam government has launched a new healthcare scheme that is meant for providing substantial financial assistance to children upto the age of 12 years who are suffering from some critical diseases that require expensive treatment.

The scheme called ‘Sneha Sparsha’ (Touch of Love) will be set on the roll from the Ist Bohag (April 15), the first day in Assamese almanac. The government has already allotted the required fund (Rs 5 crore) for the scheme under the State Plan for implementation in the current fiscal (2013-14).

Agartala: Left-ruled Tripura provided 86.27 days of work under the central government’s flagship rural jobs scheme in fiscal 2012-13, the highest in the country, a minister said here Tuesday.

Quoting the performance report of the union rural development ministry, state Rural Development Minister Jitendra Chaudhury told reporters that Tripura has been providing the highest average employment for the past four years under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

SHILLONG: UDP legislator Jemino Mawthoh has questioned the State Government for failing to take concrete measures to arrest the problem of urban congestion in the State.

“Out of the total urban population in the State, 60 per cent of the population is concentrated in Shillong city. The increase in the population in Shillong is a result of huge floating population and also the large migration of people from the rural areas to the city,” Mawthoh said while moving a motion in the Assembly on Tuesday.