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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma celebrated his 56th birthday with supporters and well- wishers at his residence in Guwahati. His supporters visited to extend their best wishes, and brought gifts such as his portrait, a Ganesh murti, flower bouquets and plants. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed his gratitude, saying, "Everyone came to give me their best wishes." On Friday, the Assam Chief Minister announced the inauguration of the newly reconstructed Jagi Bhakatgaon bridge, which connects Morigaon and Jagiroad. The Assam Chief Minister in his official handle on X shared a video of the 1.24 kilometre bridge that has…

The Gauhati High Court has issued notices to the Assam government and its various departments over rampant rat-hole coal mining and asked them to furnish what steps they have taken to stop the unlawful activity. Taking suo motu cognizance of the Dima Hasao coal mining tragedy, the high court registered a public interest litigation on Monday and issued notices the next day to seven government departments, including the office of the chief secretary. "The court has taken note of various reports which suggest that around more than 200 rat-hole mines are in operation in Umrangso area," the divisional bench, comprising…

The Assam government has decided to denotify three Proposed Reserve Forests (PRF) in Tinsukia district for enabling over 20,000 residents to get land rights, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. In a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Sarma, on Friday the state government approved transforming the PRF into revenue villages so that people living in the area can get land rights.  "There are three Proposed Reserve Forests in Tinsukia. We have decided to denotify and make them revenue villages. This will help the people living there to get land rights," he said at a late-night press conference here.

The leading wildlife conservation group Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) has implemented a multifaceted community-oriented approach to accomplish its objectives in the ongoing effort to promote coexistence and lessen human elephant conflict (HEC). The multi-dimensional strategy comprises of staging street plays to sensitise the HEC-affected communities on ways to usher in an ecosystem of coexistence with wild elephants as well as providing the community options of alternative crops not palatable to elephants so as to supplement their livelihood in HEC affected areas where traditional crop culture stands vulnerable to depredation by wild elephants. Aaranyak organized a street play at the 13th Indo-Bhutan Friendship…

One person was arrested in Assam's Cachar district after Yaba tablets valued at Rs 9 crore were recovered from him, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.The recovery was made during an operation carried out based on specific information, he said.