The Assam Government officials are gearing up for a possible swearing in of the next ministry on Monday. According to top Government sources, the ITA Centre, Machkhowa has been chosen for the Swearing in ceremony. The first choice was the Raj Bhawan but due to last year's landslide the Durbar Hall is in the precarious condition and the Assam Government officials have abandoned the idea. The next choice was Kalakshetra auditorium but there too the state repairing work has been going on and unlikely to do be over by Sunday. Hence the choice is narrowed down to the Pragjyotish ITA Centre which can hold about 200 guests with Covid Proctocol. The government officials are now eagerly waiting for the Central Parliamentary Board(CPB) meeting at 1000 hours to know the name of the next Chief Minister of Assam.
The all-important process of choosing the next Chief Minister of Assam has begun at the New Delhi residence of BJP Chief J P Nadda with top ledership meeting both Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma seperately. First the trio of Amit Shah-J P Nadda and B L Santosh meet Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma at Mr Nadda's residence. After an hour, the trio met Assam Chief Minister Sarabananda Sonowal. Then both of them met face to face in an apparent bid to stop factionalism as one of them will be announced as the new Chief Minister of Assam by evening. It seems the party high command has met both the contenders seperately, gauged their mood and let know the mood of the party high command. Besides Mr Nadda, Mr Amit Shah, Mr B.L.Santosh, Mr Vajyanata Panda and Mr Narendra Singh Tomar are also in Mr Nadda's house meeting both Mr Sonowal and Dr Sarma.
After 38 years of wait Northeast 15th and Assam's 7th airport – Rupsi in Kokrajhar has become operational from Saturday starting with a trial flight between Rupsi- Guwahati- Kolkata route by Flybig Airlines. The first flight is scheduled to arrive at 11.30 am. In addition, the flight will operate on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Bookings have been opened by Flybig Airlines. According to AAI, the airport has been developed in Assam's Kokrajhar district at a cost of Rs. 69 crore under the Regional Connectivity Scheme-Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (RCS-UDAN). Thereafter, in due course of time, other routes such as Agartala in Tripura, Dibrugarh in Assam, Tezu and Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh will be connected with Guwahati and Shillong.
The Kamrup (Metro) district administration has arranged a COVID-19 test at Guwahati Railway Station for the passengers who arrived by train. On Friday, 18 people have tested positive out of the 635 passengers who were tested on arrival from other states. According to reports, most of them who have tested positive have been given home isolation. However, the passengers travelling in local trains have not been tested. According to railways, 4-5 passenger trains enter Guwahati on a daily basis out of which maximum youths have returned from Kerala. It may be mentioned that most of the people have returned to Assam as many states have gone for lockdown.
Additional Superintendent of Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMCH), Dr. Anupal Sarma said that the positive cases of COVID-19 increased than the previous year. This time the number of deaths has also been increased, Dr. Sarma informed. Dr. Sarma said that the number of cases and deaths have increased this time as most of the people have not done their tests although they have symptoms and most of the people opted for home isolation. "Although the people opted to go for home isolation, they do not check the oxygen level frequently and when their health deteriorates they rushed to hospital and died on their way or in hospital premises," Dr. Sarma added. He further urged that people to be aware of the disease and that they should go for tests and medical treatment. He also requested the people to go to the hospital or COVID Care center if they test positive for the virus. "It is very unfortunate that people are dying because of lack of oxygen even though we have sufficient oxygen," said Dr. Sarma.
Assam is bracing for two power centres in the next five years even as the BJP high command has made a desperate attempt to quell factionalism and find out a Chief Ministers. The day long dramatic development at BJP National President J P Nadda's house only reconfirms the huge problem of factionalism as both incumbent Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma have dug in. The party high command consist of Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh, Assam in Charge Vaijyanta Panda and Narendra Singh Tomar separately met both Sonowal and Sarma and then both of them together. It has been clear that high command was trying to stop factionalism but it is also abundantly clear that whoever emerges as the next Chief Minister, Assam is going to have two power centres.
At least three tea estates of Assam have been shut down and declared containment zone opening up a new front of COVID war amongst the tea labourers who traditionally have less immunity. The three tea estates are Zaloni in Dibrugarh district, Borsapori in Golaghat district and Nilpur in Biswanath District. The administration are deeply worried as labourers are traditionally anemic and have less immunity and COVID would create a harrowing situation as there are no health care facilities to handle the massive populace. The worst is that the tea community is less educated and live in cramped condition and infection would be extremely easy amongst them and in less than a week whole of garden would be contaminated. Hence the authorities are taking no chance and these three estates have been declared containment zone. A total of 133 tea garden workers tested positive for COVID-19 till May 5 at Zaloni tea estate. However, 50 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till 5th May, according to a statement of the Office of the Assistant Labour Commissioner.
The next Chief Minister of Assam will be announced tomorrow following a legislature party meeting of the BJP at Guwahati. The meeting has been convened at 1200 hours and all the newly elected MLAs have been asked to appear at 1100 hours. If the BJP grapevines are to be believed the dice is in favour of Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma to be the next Chief Minister, after a daylong drama at New Delhi. The drama begun this morning, when in a chartered flight, both Mr. Sarbanada Sonowal and Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma arrived at New Delhi and begun a series of meeting at Party President J P Nadda's house.
After taking oath as Tamil Nadu chief minister on Friday, the new government has declared for a 14-day total lockdown in the state starting from 4am on May 10 to 4am on May 24. The order was issued a day after the state recorded 26,465 fresh Covid-19 on Friday, pushing the active infections to 1.35 lakh. The 197 deaths reported on Friday took the cumulative toll to 15,171. Chief Minister MK Stalin, in a statement, said that the lockdown was being enforced due to "unavoidable reasons". As per several media reports, the decision was taken based on inputs received by Stalin at a review meeting he had with district collectors on Friday, besides consultations with medical experts.
Bollywood trailblazer Kangana Ranaut on Saturday tested positive for COVID-19. Earlier this week, Ranaut's Twitter account was permanently suspended for repeated violations of rules earlier this week, and she shared about herself on Instagram. "I have quarantined myself, I had no idea this virus is having a party in my body," she wrote. "I was feeling tired and weak with slight burning sensation in my eyes for past few days, was hoping to go to Himachal so got my test done yesterday and today the result came I am covid positive," Kangana said. Terming COVID-19 a "small time flu", Ranaut said she is determined to "destroy" the virus from her body.
The central government has allotted a company-wise supply of Remdesivir for Covid patients to states and union territories between April 21 and May 16. "The plan has been prepared in consultation with the marketing companies. The companies have been instructed to ensure timely supplies to all states/ UTs strictly as per the supply plan," a statement read. On May 7, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers DV Sadananda Gowda tweeted: "Considering the requirement of Remdesivir in every state and ensuring its adequate availability, allocation of Remdesivir has been made up to 16th May 2021". "This will ensure smooth supply of Remdesivir across the country so that no patient faces difficulty in this pandemic time," he had added. Gowda had shared an official notification with a list which stated 5,30,0000 vials of Remdesivir have been allocated to the states between April 21 and up to May 16.
The first batch of 83 women military soldiers from the Corps of Military Police Centre and School was inducted into the Indian Army at the Dronacharya Parade Ground in Bengaluru on Saturday. As per a statement, an attestation parade was held as a low-key event while observing all COVID protocols. The Commandant of the CMP Centre and School, while reviewing the parade, complimented the newly attested soldiers for their impeccable drill and congratulated them on their successful completion of the intense 61 weeks of training. The training included aspects related to Basic Military training, Provost training to include all forms of policing duties and management of prisoners of war, ceremonial duties and skill development to include driving and maintenance of all vehicles and signal communications.
Mizoram Deputy Chief Minister Tawnluia has tested positive for COVID-19, an official said on Saturday. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 through Rapid Antigen Test on Saturday morning, the official said. The 77-year-old leader has mild symptoms and is in home isolation, he said. Tawnluia holds various portfolios – public health engineering, urban development and poverty alleviation, and animal husbandry and veterinary in the Zoramthanga cabinet, reported PTI. Tawnlui is also the senior vice president of the ruling Mizo National Front and was elected from Tuichang assembly constituency in the last assembly polls held in November 2018.
The state of Assam on Saturday recorded 5,756 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the active cases tally to 36,799. Today's positivity rate is 8.84 per cent. The deaths in the state has surged to 1,628 with 50 new deaths reported today. The overall caseload of the state now stands at 2,89,069. Of the new cases, Kamrup Metro registered 1,543, Kamrup Rural at 484, Dibrugarh at 392 and Nagaon at 292. The new cases were detected out of 65,140 tests conducted in the last 24 hours. The district wise deaths are: Kamrup Metro (16), Kamrup Rural (6), Dibrugarh (4), Nalbari (4), Barpeta (2) Cachar (2), Dhubri (2), Nagaon (2), Sonitpur (2), Baksa (1), Bongaigaon (1), Darrang (1), Dhemaji (1), Golaghat (1), Kokrajhar (1), Lakhimpur (1), Sivasagar (1), Tinsukia (1) and Udalguri (1).
In view of the devastating second wave of COVID-19, NRL has announced a budget of Rs 25 crore to ramp up facilities and provisions to tackle the same. According to an official release, the company would be setting up multiple infrastructures including a makeshift COVID hospital in Jorhat Medical College which will have 120 beds, 20 ICU beds with ventilators, cardiac monitor, Oxygen Concentrators and Oxygen cylinders. The estimated cost of it is said to be Rs 7 crore. It also stated that Covid care centres would be set-up at Titabor Civil Hospital, Sarupathar, Bokakhat and Golaghat. Additionally, Numaligarh's VKNRL School Of Nursing is also being coverted to a 70-bedded Covid Care Centre to cater to patients which is expected to be ready by mid-May 2021. NRL will also be handling over medical equipment and provisions including N95 masks, Pulse Oximeters, hand sanitizers, air conditioners, nebulizers, BP measuring instruments to Golaghat Govt. Hospital. 250 oxygen cylinders (10 ltrs./47 ltrs) will also be distributed to different hospitals in the state by June 2021, the release stated.
