Guwahati  Diary

Arunachal guesthouse coming up in city
A guesthouse of Arunachal Pradesh government is coming up in posh Rupnagar locality. Being constructed on a piece of land measuring 13,038 square metres, the six-storey building will have four VIP suites, 11 deluxe and nine standard rooms. It will also boast of a conference room, board room, lobby, dining hall as well as kitchens. It will house the office of Deputy Resident Commissioner. Major construction work has been completed and the remaining interior work is expected to be completed by September-end. Arunachal Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister, Chowna Mein inspected the construction work recently and ordered to maintain quality checks. 

Civic body poll during Rongali Bihu annoys parties
Major political parties in Assam, including ruling BJP, have expressed their displeasure that the Guwahati Municipal Corporation elections coincide with Rongali Bihu which is celebrated month-long from mid-April every year. The polls have been scheduled for April 19. The Congress hit the streets demanding postponement of the polls and submitted a memorandum to the state election commission. The party highlighted the significance of Rongali Bihu stating it reflects the cultural identity of the Assamese. It pointed out that Rongali Bihu could not be celebrated for two years due to the pandemic and asked the state election commission to be sensitive. The BJP also sought the postponement of elections. It has written to the poll body seeking postponement of the same.

White-winged ducks from Czech in city zoo 
Two pairs of white-winged wood duck – the state bird of Assam – were brought to the Guwahati Zoo from a Czech Republic zoo recently. Assam’s Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya was confident these endangered and beautiful birds would be the cynosure of all eyes. “It’s homecoming to our very own white-winged wood duck (Deo-hah) from captive breeding in Zoo Zlin, Czech Republic,” he said. Once distributed across the southeast Asia and the northeast, only 800 to 1,000 ducks now survive globally. Their numbers in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar is believed to be around 450.

IIT developing speech tech for NE languages
The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT, Guwahati) is developing speech technologies for seven languages of the northeast to develop speech technology tools for healthcare information dissemination. The tools will enable retrieval of healthcare-related information with the help of spoken keyword spotting in seven languages of the Northeast. As part of the project, a database of health-related information in the seven languages will also be created. The project is expected to facilitate the access of healthcare-related information by people in the far-flung areas of the region.