North East

New Delhi, June 30: The Army on Thursday said 13 soldiers of the Territorial Army and five civilians have so far been rescued from the landslide-hit railway construction site in Manipur's Noney district. At least eight people were killed and over 70 went missing after a massive landslide hit the railway construction site on Wednesday night. In a statement, the Army said Assam Rifles and Territorial Army troops carried out the rescue operations throughout the day in the general area of the Tupul railway station, in spite of inclement weather....

Guwahati, June 30: Assam's flood situation worsened with more than 31 lakh people affected and 12 deaths during the last 24 hours. Many parts of Cachar's Silchar town remained under water for over eleven days on Thursday, officials said. The death count due to flood and landslides this year has increased to 151. The number of affected population increased to 31.54 lakh in 26 districts as against the previous day's 24.92 lakh. The Brahmaputra at many places including Beki, Kopili, Barak and Kushiyara were flowing above the danger level though...

Guwahati, June 28: The overall flood situation in Assam showed signs of improvement on Tuesday with most of the rivers showing a receding trend even though 21 lakh people remained affected by the deluge and most localities of Silchar town in Cachar district still under water for more than a week, officials said. The death toll due to this year's floods have increased to 134 with five more deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, while one person was missing, as per a bulletin issued by Assam State Disaster Management...

New Delhi, June 28: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati have developed a new method to mitigate Acid Mine Drainage in the coal mines of northeast India and have claimed it to be the first study to demonstrate bioremediation. In the research, published in the noted Chemical Engineering Journal, Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) refers to the acidic wastewater generated from coal mines (or any polymetallic mines) containing high amounts of sulfate, iron and various toxic heavy metals. According to officials, the research provides an efficient sustainable treatment...

Shillong, June 28: The Meghalaya High Court has directed the state government to implement a central scheme, which seeks to keep all water bodies clean, in the right earnest. Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on Monday, a two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee said people living around these waterbodies should be made aware of the importance of keeping them clean. "It is hoped that the project is taken up in right earnest and, for a start, all water-bodies are kept clean and people living around them made...

Itanagar, June 28: The Arunachal Pradesh government on Tuesday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ruchi Soya Industries, for setting up of oil palm manufacturing and processing unit at Niglok Industrial Growth Centre in East Siang district. The MoU was signed between Arunachal Pradesh Industrial Development Finance Corporations Limited (APIDFCL), MD Hage Tari and Subhas Bhattacharjee (Head North East region) of Ruchi Soya Industries, official sources said. With the signing of the MoU, farmers and other entrepreneurs would be benefitted as large number of unused land in the state...

Guwahati, June 28: Assam reported 60 new COVID-19 cases with the positivity rate rising to 6.71%, as per the National Health Mission (NHM). The active cases rose to 306 from 256 with the detection of the new cases in the last 24 hours, it said. Kamrup (Metro) district, comprising primarily Guwahati city, reported the highest number of cases at 45, it added. Since June 19, the state has reported 308 new cases reported. So far, Assam has reported 7,24,647 cases. A total of 7,16,353 patients have recovered. The increase in...

Diphu, June 28: Heroin worth over Rs 1 crore was seized from a woman travelling on a train in Assam's Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday, police said. During routine checking on the Lumding-Tinsukia passenger train near Bokajan area, the railway police found 232 grams of heroin, hidden in 20 soap boxes, in the possession of the woman, they said. The woman, who was travelling in the compartment for disabled persons, was arrested. She is a resident of a tea garden area in Tinsukia, they added. A case has been registered...