Indian Customs officials have arrested five individuals from West Bengal and Assam for their involvement in smuggling high-end used cars from Bhutan. The investigation revealed a widespread network of forged documents and illegal vehicle registrations.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has filed a Rs 500 crore defamation case against Congress leaders for alleging land grabbing by him and his family. The lawsuit follows a press conference where Congress leaders claimed Sarma possessed benami land.
Eight persons have been killed in floods and landslides in Assam as incessant rainfall caused massive inundation in 17 districts, affecting over 78,000 people, officials said on Saturday.
Seven rivers, including the Brahmaputra, were flowing above the danger level, even as the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in the state.
The Assam government has banned the serving and consumption of beef in restaurants, hotels, and public places. The decision was made at a meeting of the state cabinet to amend the existing law on beef consumption. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the current law is strong but there has been no prohibition on beef consumption at restaurants, hotels, and religious or social gatherings. The new law aims to put a complete ban on consumption of beef in public places in Assam.
Incidents of violence rocked Assam's Samaguri assembly constituency where by-elections will be held on November 13 with both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress alleging that gunshots were fired targeting each other's supporters over the last 24 hours, police said on Sunday.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
Assam's flood situation remained critical on Tuesday with over 6.71 lakh people affected in 20 districts in the second wave of flooding this year, as the Indian Air Force (IAF) rescued 13 stranded fishermen from the severely-hit Dibrugarh district, an official said.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Thursday even though flood waters started have receding in many parts of the state, officials said.
Dhubri is the worst-hit district, followed by Cachar and Darrang.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated drastically on Thursday with one person losing his life and nearly five lakh people reeling under the deluge across 12 districts, an official bulletin said.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam till Thursday.
Amid the rhythmic chug of the train, a chorus of voices rises, each bearing its tale of hope and despair.
Altogether 34,189 people, comprising 14, 675 women and 3,787 children, are reeling under the impact of the deluge.
Rahul claimed that the Assam CM has taken land in Kaziranga National Park.
Major rivers of the state, including the Brahmaputra, were flowing above the danger level at different places.
The madrasa located in Pakhiura Char under Matia police station and the residence adjacent to it was allegedly used for jihadi activities by two Bangladeshi nationals, who are currently absconding, the police said.
In the last 24 hours, eight people have died after drowning in flood waters -- two each in Barpeta and Karimganj districts, one each in Darrang, Hailakandi, Nalbari and Sonitpur districts and eight people are still missing.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Thursday with one more person losing his life and nearly 7.18 lakh people in 27 districts remaining affected by the deluge, an official bulletin said.
The toll due to the flood since mid-May is now 101, they said.
The Brahmaputra and Barak rivers along with their tributaries are in spate, even as floodwaters started receding from a few areas, they said.
Several rebel Maharashtra MLAs are currently camping in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said two major terror modules were busted in the state in a "nationally coordinated operation".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the poll-bound states of Assam and West Bengal on Monday to launch and lay the foundation stones of several projects.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Assam and West Bengal to lay the foundation stones of several projects.
Many parts of Cachar district's severely affected Silchar town are still waterlogged.
Nearly 86 lakh people in the state's 32 districts have been affected by heavy rain and subsequent floods this year, bringing life to a screeching halt in many parts.
Dhubri is the worst hit with over 8.72 lakh people affected, followed by Barpeta with more than 4.78 lakh people and Goalpara with around 4.28 lakh population.
Seven persons went missing on Friday evening after a boat carrying 22 persons on board capsized on the Champavati river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, in Bongaigaon district of western Assam.
The Assam Congress on Monday suspended its MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed with immediate effect for "repeatedly violating" the party's discipline, a senior leader said.
The flood situation in Assam worsened on Saturday with four more deaths reported and over 6.5 lakh people being affected in more than 1,400 villages due to incessant rains across the state.
With the fresh fatalities, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides across the state has gone up to 42.
The police, however, denied the charge saying they were only investigating a case of alleged terror links of two persons, now absconding, who were teaching at the seminary.
A total of 246 militants of United Gorkha People's Organisation and Tiwa Liberation Army formally surrendered before Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on Thursday.
Two more died in the state today. With this, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslide has gone up to 115 across the state -- 89 were killed in flood-related incidents and 26 in landslides.
Currently, the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, Nimatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns, while the Barak at AP Ghat in Cachar and Badarpurghat in Karimganj are flowing above the danger mark.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, was completely withdrawn in Meghalaya in 2018, Tripura in 2015 and Mizoram in the 1980s.
The flood situation in Assam worsened on Friday following incessant rainfall in the upper catchment areas of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, affecting more than three lakh people in 13 districts and hit road communication in several places.
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