President does a favour
A VVIP visit often causes inconveniences to people. It may do a favour too — atleast that’s what is happening in Guwahati now. Unauthorised hoardings hanging precariously beside busy streets in Guwahati, will be removed, thanks to president Ram Nath Kovind’s upcoming visit to the city. Keeping in view his security, Kamrup (Metro) district magistrate, M Angamuthu has directed civic authorities to remove the hoardings and structures.
Earlier, demands made by the residents to remove them had fallen on deaf ears. The President’s visit is also ensuring the city being spruced up. The entire stretch of roads from airport to Raj Bhavan and Kamakhya temple to Bhubaneswari temple is being repaired. Kovind, in his two-day visit, will attend a programme at the Gauhati University and visit the Kamakhya temple.
Lockups teem with high-profile accused
Some police station lockups in Guwahati are teeming with high-profile accused, arrested in connection with the cash-for-jobs scam in Assam Public Service Commission (APSC). The police have so far arrested 22 of the 25 accused including the son of former Congress minister Nilamoni Sen Deka, in the scam.
A local court sent all 22 of them, who are officers of civil administration and police, to 14 days’ police remand. Never before had the Assam police arrested so many officers pertaining to a scam. The police said they were being treated like any other accused. They are sharing lockups and having meals with people arrested on charges of theft, robbery, rape etc.
Living with leopards
You may shudder with fear, but if you are a resident of Guwahati, you have to make peace with the fact that you live alongside leopards, Assam’s forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma has said. A dozen and a half hills, which add to the city’s beauty, are home to a wide range of wild animals, mostly leopards. The leopards often descend on city localities for food leading to their conflicts with the residents.
In the latest incident a few days ago, a man succumbed to the injuries he sustained in a leopard attack. Some others were also injured but lucky enough to have survived. Eventually, the animal was tranquilised by forest officials. The forest minister says: “We cannot stop the conflicts. Guwahati is where the leopards live. People have made this a city by encroaching upon the hills and the jungles and building houses and roads. So, where will the leopards go?”
Cycling for fun and fitness
If you love cycling, come to Assam State Zoo-cum-Botanical Garden in Guwahati. It will give you the right ambience. Since, November 11, the zoo has allowed cycling for visitors inside the premises. A visitor can either hire a zoo bicycle or bring his or her own. Either way, he or she has to spend `30 a day. “There are a lot of people who want to cycle around but cannot do so in the city. So, we came up with the initiative. The response so far has been very good,” divisional forest officer, Tejas Mariswamy, told the New Indian Express.
Prasanta Mazumdar
Our correspondent in Guwahati
Email: prasantamazumdar@newindianexpress.com