New Delhi: The surge of poaching of rhinoceros in South Africa could lead to threats to the one-horned Indian rhino in Assam and West Bengal if the African country decides to go ahead and demand opening the international trade in rhino horns. Speaking at the first stock taking meeting of the World Bank-led Global Tiger Recovery Programme in Delhi, Keshav Varma, programme director of the Global Tiger Initiative, warned that South Africa, unable to contain poaching, was inclined towards opening the trade in rhino horns.

The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) will soon issue notification prohibiting distribution of plastic carry bags free of cost to the customers within Guwahati Municipal area. “Minimum price of carry bags depending upon their quality and size will be charged as and when the notification is issued by the Corporation,” an official statement said.

Oil companies engaged in drilling and exploration activities, power projects, coal and cement industries, besides developers of national highway in both public and private sectors have emerged as major environmental violators in the North-east. In a Question Hour discussion on Tuesday, Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jayanthi Natarajan allayed all apprehension over violation of environment norms in construction of dams in the North-east.

‘It is necessary to ban the use of plastic bags in the city, which pose serious threat to people’s health and result in choked drains, artificial floods, etc.’

GUWAHATI: The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has decided to ban the use of polythene bags in the city from next month. The GMC officials said that it is necessary to ban the use of plastic bags in the city, which pose serious threat to people’s health and result in choked drains, artificial floods, etc.

Guwahati: The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), a powerful and well known farmers’ body in Assam, on Tuesday accused the Congress government in the state of taking away “space” for democratic protests and warned this will only help forces like the Maoists to grow.

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti general secretary and anti-dam activist Akhil Gogoi said here that the Maoists would take over the whole of Assam and dominate the state with their power if Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his government deprived the common people of the space for democratic movement and protests.

GUWAHATI/NORTH LAKHIMPUR: The anti-big dam groups like the KMSS, Asom Jatiyatabadi Tuva Chattra Parishad, All Assam Deuri Students’ Union, TMPK and others have said that they would continue their protests against the Lower Subansiri Project on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

Addressing the reporters jointly on Sunday, the members of the agitating groups, including KMSS general secretary Akhil Gogoi said that the anti-big dam groups would continue to block the transportation of construction materials to the Lower Subansiri Project site.

GUWAHATI: Use of plastic bags and other plastic materials will be banned in Guwahati from June 5. The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is on a mission, a mission to make Guwahati a plastic-free city from June 5. Defaulters will be heavily fined and punished, said a GMC official.

However, this is not the first time that GMC has declared a ban on plastic. On previous occasions when the ban was imposed, people obeyed the rules only for a few days and then again switched back to using plastic bags, plastic cups etc.

Even as Assam has renewed its campaign to get UNESCO World Heritage Site status for Majuli, one of the largest inhabited river islands in the world, some in the state are blaming the Archaeological Survey of India for the failure of its previous attempt. UNESCO had returned Majuli’s nomination for World Heritage Site saying it was “technically incomplete”. ASI had sent only two copies of nomination dossier instead of three as required. Worse, one of them had several pages missing. The World Heritage Committee has now asked New Delhi to send its revised dossier by September 30.

GUWAHATI: The people of Rajbari, Tamulbari, Tintukra, Rail Gate, Bonda, Birkuchi and Sankar Gaon villages under Kamrup (Metro) have been suffering from the non-availability of pure drinking water. People of these villages say that though drinking water is being supplied to the villages through a 34.25-km long pipe built under a Rs 453.54 lakh water supply scheme of the Central Government, breakages in the pipe contaminate the water and people don’t get the pure water for drinking.

The revival of the Namrup fertiliser plant depends on the finalisation of its funding pattern. The Planning Commission has suggested that the funding pattern has to be finalised before seeking in-principle approval for the project and hence the Department of Fertilisers may explore the possibility of open bidding and expression of interest for equity participation from private companies, said Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikanta Jena.