Singer Zubeen Garg pardons duo
Popular Assamese singer Zubeen Garg has won many hearts by pardoning two youth who had threatened to kill him. Two years ago, the duo from Dibrugarh district issued a threat on social media that they would kill the singer with a 9mm pistol from a distance of 10 metre. Subsequently, Garg’s security was tightened and he also performed at a Bihu programme as scheduled in Dibrugarh. Appearing in a Dibrugarh court on Thursday, Garg advised the two youth to wisely use social media and not fan hatred among the people. He told journalists that he had forgiven them as they were like his younger brothers.
Teachers demand regular jobs
Thousands of Teachers’ Eligibility Test-qualified teachers of Assam staged a massive protest in Guwahati on Saturday demanding the regularisation of their jobs among others. The teachers, who had come from all over the state, had plans to take out a march to Dispur, the seat of power. But, they were confined to a ground on the city outskirts by the police and paramilitary forces. Ahead of the 2016 Assam elections, the BJP had promised in its manifesto that if voted to power, it would regularise the jobs of 41,000 TET-qualified teachers, who were appointed by the previous Congress government in 2012 on contractual basis. The protestors criticised the BJP for going back on the poll promise.
‘Koinadhara’ to be a guest again
A guest house, which three-time former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi had turned into his official residence, will be made a guest house again. Gogoi, who occupied it in 2001 after becoming CM for the first time, vacated it last year. He now stays at Cabinet Colony located in Guwahati’s Dispur locality. Work is on in full swing to renovate “the state guest house”, perched on Koinadhara Hill. It is learnt that the guest house will boast of facilities that of a five-star hotel. Another guest house “Brahmaputra Guest House”, which sits atop another hill, has been occupied by incumbent CM Sarbananda Sonowal, who made it his official residence.
Lakhs of devotees visit Kamakhya temple
Lakhs of devotees from all over India and beyond visited the four-day Ambubachi Mela at the historic Kamakhya temple on the Nilachal Hill in Guwahati last week. The devotees were visibly pleased with the arrangements for basic amenities made by the authorities. As instructed by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, several departments had got together to make the state’s biggest spiritual and religious festival a grand success. The only blot was the headless body of a woman found near the temple ahead of the festival. The police suspected it to be a case of human sacrifice.