Guwahati Diary: All that is happening in 'Gateway to the North-East'

While the Assam State Zoo welcomed the birth of two tiger cubs, singer Zubeen Garg hinted on ending his Bihu performances.
Singer Zubeen Garg (Photo| Twitter)
Singer Zubeen Garg (Photo| Twitter)

Guwahati Zoo welcomes two tiger cubs

With the birth of two cubs, the population of Royal Bengal tigers in the Assam State Zoo-cum-Botanical Garden, widely known as Guwahati Zoo, has increased to nine. Their mother, Tigress Kazi, had given birth to two other cubs in August 2020 and they were named Sultan and Suresh.

Divisional Forest Officer Dr Ashwini Kumar said that the mother and the newborns are in good condition with the zoo keepers taking all measures to protect them from the biting cold by placing heaters outside the cage and adequate dry straw inside the enclosure.

The mother is also being taken care of. Around 6-7 kg of meat is being provided to her every day along with other prescribed food.

Scholarships for students with disabilities

To transform the lives of vulnerable communities by improving their socio-economic conditions, Indus Towers Ltd has partnered with Shishu Sarothi to implement the 'Indus Towers Scholarship Program' for the fifth consecutive year.

As part of its corporate social responsibility, the firm offered scholarships to 120 students with disabilities from Northeast for the 2021-22 academic session. Thirty-five students with disability, selected from Assam, were felicitated at an award ceremony at Shishu Sarothi.

An induction session was also conducted for the students to orient them about the scholarship disbursement process. Speaking on the occasion, Assam Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu encouraged the students and shared his insights on the issue of disability.

Zubeen Garg may end his Bihu performances

Singer Zubeen Garg may not been seen performing on Bihu stages from next year. He is miffed over certain regulations pertaining to Bihu functions. He said artists would suffer if the government kept coming up with new rules. "I will complete 50 years next year. I will not perform at Bihu functions thereafter," Garg said.

Bihu functions in public are organised with donations. Recently, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to the Bihu committees to not harass businessmen for donations stating they had suffered a lot in the pandemic. He said the government would provide Rs 1.5 lakh each to the committees older than 10 years..

Rare turtles rescued from train at Kamakhya

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel rescued 235 turtles of the rare Indian flapshell species at Kamakhya railway station in Guwahati recently. Official sources said following the arrival of a passenger train from Indore, RPF ASI Bhanita Barman Talukdar, along with head constable Narayan Das, found 10 bags in two coaches containing suspected living things.

On being checked, they discovered the rare reptiles inside these bags. The personnel handed the turtles over to Guwahati Forest Range under Kamrup East Division. A wildlife case was registered and the seized turtles were taken to the Guwahati Zoo.

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