PG 17 PG 14 Page 24New huNk oN the block

VOLUME 03 | ISSUE 03OCT 24- OCT 30 , 2015PRICE 1̀0

Lows of getting HigH

Srishti saIkia

in Conversation witH

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MLa, MargHerita

PraDYUtBorDoLoi

warD watCH

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PG06

PG13

96.19%in Kamrup (M) have submitted the nrC forms

a day in the life of a lady city constable

rukminigaon a good ward except for encroachment

exCLUsive

PHoto featUreDUrga PUja in gUwaHati

the great guwahati heist

financial crisis mars gMC’s garbage recycling projects PG

04

cops managed to nab the culprits who had taken off with cash taken from the armoured vehicle used to transfer money to AtM machines PG 02

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 20152

Lead Story

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

RAHUL CHANDA

The recent news of Brinks Ar-ya’s 30-year-old driver - the vans carrying cash to refill

ATMs - allegedly fleeing with Rs. 1.8 crores on 21st October has come as a shock to all security agencies in Guwahati. Meanwhile he was arrest-ed along with four of his accomplices from Goalpara district late the same night. Rumud Barman, the driver is in police custody and according to his colleagues he was a hard working man and was working with the same agency since last seven years. How did he plan or even think of com-mitting a crime which has put him behind the bars? G Plus looks into all the angles.

the incidentAccording to Pritambar Nath

of Brinks Arya security agency, on 21st October as usual, the team con-sisting of two officials, one security guard and the driver visited various banks to collect cash in order to re-fill the empty ATMs. The agency has clients like Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, UBI and ICICI Bank in Guwahati. That day they started with cash taken from UBI Pan Bazar, moved to Axis Bank Ulubari and finally reached the HDFC Bank ATM at Ganeshguri to refill cash. When Pritambar Nath along with another executive came out from the ATM after refilling cash, the parked van bearing registration number (AS01 – DC – 2568) was nowhere to be seen. Pritambar said, “Initially I and my colleague thought that because of parking issues the van

must have been parked somewhere else. The security guard also told us that he had observed the driver driv-ing off with the vehicle. We waited for some time and finally contacted the agency and then the police.” A case was immediately registered at Dispur Police Station (Case number – 2312/15 under section 381/408 of IPC). Pritambar also said that there were around Rs. 1.80 crores in the van.

Police probeThe police registered the case

immediately on receiving the in-formation and relayed the same to all police stations. The vehicle was found at Bhangagarh Chariali but there was no one in the vehicle and neither was there any cash. The po-lice then started tracking the mobile number of the driver and also the numbers of the people contacted by his number. The police was soon able

to identify his movement near Goal-para area. Highly placed sources in the police said that a team of Dispur Police rushed for Goalpara and with the help of Goalpara Police laid a trap at the Krishnai area in Goalpara district. They managed to nab five persons related to the crime. Police also recovered Rs. 1.15 crores and an amount of Rs. 65 lakhs is still to be recovered. The incident took place at around 1 pm in the afternoon on 21st October and the police succeeded in arresting the driver from Goalpara along with his accomplices the same night. The five arrested persons were brought to Dispur Police Station on 22nd October.

the interrogationThe source in the police said that

the driver was working with Brinks Arya since last seven years and was a trusted employee of the agency. Rumud, after taking away the cash-

the great guwahati heist

brinks Arya driver who daringly took off with `1.8 cr and the armoured van, caught in Goalpara the same day

30-year-old Rumud barman runs away with `1.8 cr from Ganeshguri

calls his two friends, takes the cash and leaves the armoured van at bhangagarh

three of them take different routes and reach Goalpara

Police tracks numbers and nabs Rumud with four others involved in the crime

Police recovers `1.15 crore fron different places in Goalpara

`65 lakhs still missing and one of the friends, Nayan barman, is absconding

At a time when the entire state is worshipping Durga be-lieving her to be the mother

of all powers, an incident related to a 28-year-old man from Dwar-kanagar beating up his mother has shocked the entire city. The mother is in the ICU of Down Town Hospi-tal fighting for her survival and the man Rinku Das is in jail now.

Jagat Jyoti Deb Das, the elder brother of Rinku Das narrated the horrifying tale about how his younger brother Rinku Das so beat up his mother that she is fighting for her life now. He said, “Rinku is a very arrogant boy and does no work. Every now and then he asks for money from me and my moth-er.” Das said that they have their own house at Dwarkanagar and he has a small shop at Silpukhuri. Since a long time, Rinku was asking his mother to sell the house and distrib-ute the money so he could start up a business. Rinku was also an alco-holic. Recently apparently, he want-ed to buy a mobile phone for which he demanded Rs. 10,000 from Jagat and their mother. On 21st October, he was given Rs. 10,000 to buy the mobile phone. In the evening when Jagat reached home after closing his shop, he searched for his mother but could not find her anywhere. Ja-gat said, “Suddenly my neighbours came and told me that my mother was lying near the drains of the ad-jacent road. I rushed and saw she was bleeding from her face, head and also from her eyes.” Jagat said it was then that the neighbours told him that his younger brother Rinku had bashed her up very mercilessly and had run away. Rinku was appar-ently quarrelling with his mother for some more money to buy a better phone. When she refused to give any more money, Rinku was irked and hit his own mother all over. A case under attempt to murder section is registered in Dispur police station. Rinku was arrested and sent to ju-dicial custody.

Some of the neighbours of Rinku said that Rinku’s behaviour towards his mother was always very bad and he has beaten her before also. He used to come home drunk everyday and fought with his moth-er and brother regularly. Meanwhile Jagat said that according to doctors the mother has just 20% chances of survival and he wants his brother to be punished.

laden vehicle called two of his friends, Boga Barman and Nayan Barman. Even as Rumud drove, his friends distributed the cash into three different bags. They then left the vehicle at Bhangagarh and took different routes to reach Goalpara. In Goalpara, their friends and rela-tives Paban Barman, Madan Bar-man and Kamak Barman helped them hide the cash in their hous-es. According to police Nayan is absconding and the missing Rs. 65 lakhs is with him. The police are trying their best to know the whereabouts of Nayan, but till he is arrested, nothing concrete can be said.

According to sources in po-lice, Rumud is not a criminal-minded man but it seems that he got married recently after which his requirement for money had in-creased. According to Brinks Arya officials, Rumud’s salary per month is Rs. 10,000 and with overtime and incentives he takes home around `15,000 to 17,000 every month.

Meanwhile, a point of con-cern that arises is that while police verification is not yet mandatory in Guwahati, Brinks Arya officials said that they verify all their em-ployees. There are many people from outside the city working in Guwahati and without police veri-fication the situation can be rather distrustful as it is difficult to dif-ferentiate between a criminal and a non-criminal.

28-year-old Dwarkanagar

man beats up mother

for a mobile phone

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 3

City

juthika.baruah@g-plus.in

The educational departments of SEBA, AHSEC and Gauha-ti University have been given

the responsibility of verifying the documents and 96.19% in Kamrup (M) have submitted the NRC form.

Speaking to G Plus, Mukta Nath Saikia, Additional Deputy Commis-sioner of Kamrup (M) said, “The office verification was completed on 8th October and the digitisation work of e-form has been started by WIPRO. The house-to-house verifi-cation will be started immediately and the households so far left out will be given a chance to fill the form after the verification. Many people in the city are temporary residents and they have submitted their form in their hometowns. The people who are living in the city for jobs have submitted their forms in their own place. Resultantly, the percentage has come down to 96.19%. Else it would have been cent per cent.”

The responsibility that has been given to SEBA for verifying the ad-mit cards might also hamper the pre-matriculations preparation of the board. The admit cards will be verified as proof of ancestral links of people living in Assam between 1951 and March 24, 1971. “We have been informed that the admit cards should be verified but we have not received any information on the number of admit cards that need verification. It might not hamper the on-going preparations for the board exams as the admit cards are digit-ised and the software will verify the documents. The software will show whether the documents match or not,” said Kamaljit Gogoi, Secretary

of Secondary Education Board of Assam (SEBA).

Gogoi also observed that in those years that bear relevance now, i.e., 1951 to 1971, the pass percentage in matric exams was very small as there were very few people who took HSLC examination. If and when the new admit cards come, it will not be too tough a job as these will be dig-itised.

The controller of examinations of SEBA, Nabajyoti Sarma, said that both the works are important and that neither can be neglected. “If it hampers the preparation of the board exams, we still cannot ignore the verification work of NRC. There will be lakhs of admit cards and it

the documents will be verified by the respective departments and the final NRc will be published on 1st March, 2016.

JUtHikA BARUAH

the verification of NRc is yet to be started in the city.

the draft NRc will be published on 1st

January, 2016 instead of 1st october, 2015.

the final NRc will be published

on 1st March, 2016.

96.19% completed the NRc form

submission process.

won’t not an easy task. Yet, the works needs to be done very smoothly. Dis-cussions are also on regarding de-ployment of adequate manpower as the verification process is very con-fidential.”

State Coordinator of NRC, As-sam, Prateek Hajela filed a report dated 5th October, 2015 to the Su-preme Court seeking extension of time for publication of the draft NRC on 1st January, 2016. He also stated before the Supreme Court that though it is not mentioned in the report, the date of publication of final NRC may be fixed by the Court as 1st March, 2016. Having consid-ered all that has been stated in the report and the details of the process

96.19%in Kamrup (M) have submitted the

nrC forms

of verification undertaken, the Su-preme Court has stated that the date for publication of draft NRC should be fixed on 1st January, 2016 instead of 1st October, 2015. The process of verification including the field verification is to continue. Adequate manpower and NRC Kendras to deal with the process of verification in-cluding field staff as may be required may be engaged by the State Coor-dinator. In this regard, all assistance will be offered by the State of Assam by making available the requisite and adequate number of employees working at different levels in the State Government.

Speaking to G Plus, Hajela said that the government departments

who are given the responsibility of verifying the documents should take the job seriously and being a govern-ment department it is their respon-sibility to do the verification. As for SEBA, If the Board needs more manpower they can appoint people so that both the verification work and preparation of HSLC work goes on simultaneously. He also said that the non-political organisations who alleged that many people have been left out from submitting the NRC form should urge the people to sub-mit the form or help them to fill the form instead of blaming the govern-ment.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 20154

Concern

After Ramky, Guwahati Mu-nicipal Corporation came up with a new plan for manag-

ing the city’s garbage and involved 31 NGOs for 31 different wards. Accord-ing to GMC officials, the initiative is a big success and is well appreciated by the public. But, are the NGOs reach-ing out to all the households in the city? Guwahati generates 600 MT of garbage every day from approxi-mately 3 lakh households. Where does this garbage go? Ramky was expected to have a compost plant at the Boragaon area where the entire city garbage is dumped. At Ramky, is the plant working? How is the urban local body planning to manage the entire garbage produced, and is there any plan of getting it converted into energy?

the present scenario

Guwahati produces 600 MT of garbage every day. To manage the en-tire city garbage, GMC has 31 NGOs for each ward for primary garbage collection. The collected garbage goes into the bins, and GMC has 215 bins

across the city. To transport the col-lected garbage from the bins, GMC has 23 compactors, 25 dumpers, 15 JCBs and 8 robots. At present all the collected garbage gets transported to the Boragaon processing and dispos-al plant. According to GMC officials there is a compost plant with a capac-ity of processing 50 tons per day and where 100 MT garbage is processed. The processing of 100 MT allows the plant to produce approximately 5 tons of organic manure which is sold. GMC was planning to upgrade the plant to the capacity of processing 250 MT of garbage which would then produce 20 tons of organic manure. The plant was also expected to have a plastic recycling unit and would also produce red brick. But the plan still remains a plan. Similarly other garbage recycling plans also look far from being implemented. G Plus looks at the reasons why the projects are still stalled.

Biomethanation plant

The very recent plan which the GMC was working on is setting up

two biomethanation plants at Paltan Bazaar and Bhootnath. One plant will be of 5TPD capacity and the other of the capacity of 10TPD. The plants will process organic wastes and produce methane gas which will be stored and used to generate elec-tricity. The 5 TPD plant will produce 30 KWH of electricity which can be used to light up 250 bulbs. Similarly the 10 TPD plant will generate 60 KWH of electricity which will be able to light up 500 bulbs. The expression of interest (EOI) was floated and vari-ous companies were showing their interest for setting up the plant. GMC was confident that the work would start by January-end 2015. The ap-proximate estimated budget was Rs 1.5 crore per plant. The plants did not start working.

the reasonsThe Boragaon locality is under

NGT scanner as it is assumed that the Bora Gaon dumping ground is a cause of concern for the ecologi-cal wellbeing of the nearby Deepor Beel. The National Green Tribunal

financial crisis mars gMC’s garbage recycling projects

with fund inflow stopped from state government, the urban local body is not being able to start the planned garbage recycling projects

has asked the Assam government to submit a status report on the present condition of Deepor Beel, a large nat-ural wetland, which is a Ramsar site and an important destination of mi-gratory birds. The tribunal also asked the State Chief Secretary to submit a detailed report on whether any mu-nicipal solid waste was being dumped into Deepor Beel and if any construc-tion activities were going on in and around the wetland. It also asked if the Guwahati Metropolitan Devel-opment Authority and the Guwahati Municipal Corporation were follow-ing the rules.

In a move to replace the Bora-gaon dumping ground, the GMC was allotted some 20 bighas of land at Bonda near Chandrapur, but highly placed sources in GMC said that the Bonda land will be difficult to be used as dumping ground as commu-nication is a problem there and also the local people there are protesting against the decision. So, the recycling projects in Boragaon will not be up-graded until it is clear that the site can be used as a dumping ground in the future.

The other two biomethanation

plants expected to come up at Paltan Bazaar and Bhootnath have also not started because of financial crisis. A GMC source said that since February GMC is not getting any funds from the state government. The source said that GMC spends around Rs 6.5 crores on the salaries of the employ-ees every month. It earns approxi-mately around 6 crores in revenues and gets Rs 4 crores every month from the state government for de-velopment purposes. Since February GMC has not got any money from the government and all its revenues are being used to provide salaries. This factor has brought all other projects to a halt.

GMC is also installing litter bins across the city so that people do not face problems searching for a dust-bin to throw their waste. In the first phase it is installing 1000 litter bins. The work has started and within November all the litter bins will be installed. But meanwhile, the long pending dream of converting gar-bage into energy is stalled because of financial crunch.

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

RAHUL CHANDA

the work for two biomethanation plants expected to come up at Paltan bazaar and bhootnath has not yet started

GMc is not receiving funds from state government since February

GMc pays approximately `6.5 crores as salaries to the employees

earns approximately `6 crores from revenues

4̀ crores which it used to get from state government for developmental projects has stopped

because of financial crunch GMc fails to start garbage recycling projects

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 5

Governance

juthika.baruah@g-plus.in

JUtHikA BARUAH

The immersions took place Kachomari Ghat (Fancy Ba-zaar), Pandu Ghat, Saukuchi,

Choonsali (Noonmati) and Basistha.The Kamrup (M) District Ad-

ministration and the railway author-ities had made new arrangements for immersion of the Durga Puja idols and security arrangements had been set up accordingly for smooth con-veyance of the immersion ceremo-nies.

Deputy Commissioner of Kam-rup (M) M. Angamuthu, while vis-iting the ghats said that the railway authorities had prepared railway tracks so that idols could be car-ried in a trolley for immersion in the river. The facility had been extended in order to reduce the hue and cry that takes place on the streets during the immersion. The time limit was set from 12 noon to 10 pm and dur-ing the said time all the immersions were completed. The time limit was set as immersion processions after 10 pm disturbed the citizens.

The administration had also de-clared the day of 23rd October as dry day to ensure non-occurrence of un-ruliness. The DC also said that secu-rity arrangements had been done so

that people couldn’t bring in liquor from Meghalaya. The immersions were done in Kachomari Ghat (Fan-cy Bazaar), Pandu Ghat, Saukuchi, Choonsali (Noonmati) and Basistha.

Although the Administration had declared the day as dry day, the big question was whether the decla-ration was effective at all. One of the visitors, Satyen Das, who had come to view the immersion ceremony said to G Plus, “The administration had declared the day as dry day but it went in vain as the people had al-ready bought liquor the previous day itself. The culture today is such that every function remains incomplete without liquor. The administration should have declared all the three days of puja as dry days so that peo-ple couldn’t have got a chance to buy liquor. The administration did well however to arrange the moni-toring at the entry and exit point of Meghalaya. There are many ways to buy liquor as it is also sold illegally in most of the dhabas. So declaring a dry day is meaningless according to me. Rather some strict action should be taken against those who violate the rules.”

Nilavjyoti Das, Secretary of

Sluice Gate puja committee said, “It doesn’t matter whether the adminis-tration declared the day of immer-sion as dry day because we ensured that no people going for immersion could consume alcohol. The admin-istration had taken this good initia-tive but now-a-days people are also concerned as no one wants to lose his life. And as it becomes risky to go for immersion after consuming alco-hol, we strictly ordered people of our procession not to consume alcohol.”

A feel-good factor in the whole immersion ceremony day was the

Puja committees least affected by the declaration of dry day on the

day of immersion the immersion of idols

of Durga Puja had been completed smoothly.

the immersion had been done in kachomari Ghat, Pandu Ghat, choonsali, basistha and Azara.

Declaration of dry day on the day of immersion had zero effect on the puja committees.

action of the Kumarpara Muslim Jamat Committee whose members served sharbat and drinking wa-ter to the people who went through F.A. Road for immersion of idols. Earlier, a potential communal con-flict was aroused as the Secretary of the Jamat Committee had requested the administration not to allow any procession via F.A. Road as the loud music of the processions disturbed the Namaj in the local mosque. The application was wisely withdrawn by the Jamat Committee and it was heartening to see the members of-

fering sharbat to the people in the procession.

As Navami and Dashami fell on the same day i.e. on Thursday, some puja committees decided to immerse the idols on Thursday itself while some committees decided to im-merse on Friday. According to ritu-als it is said that idols of Devi Durga cannot be immersed on Thursdays. Therefore, the administration had instructed the puja committees to do the immersion on Friday.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 20156

City

They are winsome, pretty and demure but when the occa-sion demands, they can be

really stern. Woman power has been noticeably on the rise as more and more women have come to the fore-front to take up positions and jobs which were once considered as the male’s bastions. The police force is one such. Being a Guwhatian, over the years I have literally seen the growth of women traffic constables in the city. Very often I was awe-struck looking at these young wom-en managing traffic so skillfully in the searing heat. They are young and some of them look like being just out of their teens. And yet, the se-riousness with which they go about their rigorous duties is awesome. I decided that I wanted to know their life and their daily routine better. I wanted to spend a day with them.

Early one morning I went to their housing quarters at Panbazar Police Station and met up with a few of them in their assigned dorm. “It is not a very easy job,” a young con-stable said. “We have to initially go through a rigorous training process. For most women that is the chal-lenging part. We are given physical routines and only if we can survive that are we absorbed in the force.” As I sat in the huge dorm the truth of her statement hit me. Standing in the

heat the entire day managing Guwa-hati’s unruly traffic on its narrow streets is not a career-path I would have chosen. “True, a lot of women wouldn’t necessarily make this a career choice but then there are a lot of us who also do. I have always been very physically active as a child and harbored a dream of joining the army. Instead, I landed here but I am not complaining,” said another young constable. They made it sound pretty easy. And so that morning, I observed as the group of young women constables got ready for their day. “We are all given our schedules and dropped off at our assigned traf-fic points across the city.” I decided to join the group in their van. One by one, everyone was dropped off till I was with the last constable – the one who wanted to join the army. “I am in charge of the Zoo-Tin Ali point. You know how difficult the traffic situation there is.” We got off and I could instantly see the friendly face turn serious. It was as if she had donned her soldier’s countenance.

Traffic constables have a fixed duty every day. It starts at 8:30 in the morning when hell already breaks loose on the streets of Guwahati. With Durga Puja, the traffic has duly increased. As they go about their du-ties they are invariably assisted by male constables. “At times it is very

a day in the life of a lady city constable

Guwahati’s streets are still managed by constables, and over the years we have seen a growth in the number of women traffic constables

BiPAsA sAikiA kAsHyAP

helpful for a woman constable to be present. I have seen nu-merous accidents in the city. At times, when a woman is hurt, men hesitate to go and help them. On some occasions, I had even seen women who were badly hurt but wouldn’t want a man to come and help them. My presence often makes the difference. I have been able to help a lot of women.” She then adds, “Our people are greatly lacking in civic sense. I have encountered many instances where people think that just because I am a woman, they can override my authority. I have seen young kids disobey traffic rules when they see me instead of a male constable. I have learnt to tackle such situ-ations now.” Well, here was an additional and unwanted chal-lenge for these women, I felt.

I asked her about their salaries. “When we started off, we were given a small sum of about six thousand. Even-tually, over the years it has grown and now after seven years of being in service I am paid about twenty thousand. I don’t complain,” she smiled. “I really like my job. Given the circumstances and the condi-

tions, I have to,” she joked. She broke for tea, and invited me for a cup as well. As we sipped, she removed her hat and wiped the sweat from her forehead. I noticed the little vermil-lion mark and asked her about her personal life. “I am from Tinsukia. My husband still lives there. In our line of work we have no other option but to be away from each other for long periods. I do miss a family life, but what can I do?” We disposed our cups in the nearby bin, and I politely took her leave. She wished me luck, and with the cap in position I could see the ‘soldier’ back in action.

“I try my best to encourage young women to take up this ca-reer,” Pranab Goswami, DCP Traffic said while speaking to G Plus. “It is a challenging career choice, but it pushes young women to be at par with men. We don’t have enough of them right now, but soon Guwahati will see an upsurge of lady consta-bles. We are doing our best to recruit more young women. It is also a very positive thing to happen to our city and with this growth, we can also educate out city’s people about gen-der equality.” I left his office swollen with pride and with the realization that our women are coming for-ward and matching men in all fields. Guwahati has accepted the meta-morphosis well!

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 7

City

Green Puja award will be con-ferred to the best Puja pandals who have adhered to eco-friend-

ly norms for a healthy environment. The Kamrup (M) District Adminis-

tration’s initiative of ensuring a grand and trouble-free Durga Puja has been successful as the puja committees as also the public supported the admin-istration by adhering to the rules and regulations issued by the department.

Speaking to G Plus, Deputy Com-missioner of Kamrup (M), M. Anga-muthu said, “The puja committees had been issued guidelines for conducting the puja smoothly and they ensured that they followed the rules and regulations to the hilt. This year the Durga Puja cel-ebrations have been much better and was very systematic compared to previ-ous years. We had emphasized on green puja and maintenance of cleanliness in the puja pandals.”

Angamuthu said, “We have also decided to give Green Puja award and the committees can mail it to us on greenpujaaward2015@gmail.com. We instituted this award so that the puja committees would keep in mind to dec-orate the puja pandals accordingly and thereby keep the environment healthy. Things should always be eco-friendly.”

The DC said that other than these the administration had also given guidelines to keep garbage bins in the puja pandals with proper volunteers who would ensure that the garbage bins

could be properly used by the visitors. Traffic officials had been deployed in each and every puja to ensure smooth flow of traffic in the city during the puja. The City police also ordered the puja committees to deploy women vol-unteers to ensure safety of women visit-ing the pandals during the rush hours.

Talking to G Plus, one of the visitors Sobha Sengupta said, “This year the puja committees have maintained discipline and it was possible only because of the strict orders given by the administra-tion. We are happy that the traffic cops have also done a good job and it seems that this year it will be the best puja ever without any untoward incident happen-ing in the puja pandals.”

Another visitor Rinku Das said that the puja committees have followed the guidelines strictly and that there was an awareness among people to keep the en-vironment clean. “People are conscious about the environment and the admin-istration’s initiative has been great. Other than the Lal Ganesh incident where two people had to lose their lives due to electrocution while visiting the puja, the rest of the scenario was good enough compared to previous years. We hope that the Administration will come up with some fair conclusions about the Lal Gnaesh incident after due proper enquiry.”

The Noonmati Sector II Puja Committee had also taken a wonder-ful theme of saving the wetlands the

JUtHikA BARUAH

administration’s initiative of organising

a better Durga Pujabecomes successful

Durga Puja of 2015 has been much better compared to previous years.

green puja award will be conferred to the puja pandal which has been most eco-friendly.

the award will be announced in a programme to be organised by the district administration.

migratory birds. “The theme that the puja committees have taken is good as it imparts some learning to the people. Most of the people do not have the idea of what is happening in and around the state which they have come to know by visiting the puja pandals. The themes like Save Wetland Save Migratory Birds, Aadorxo Gaon (Ideal Village) of Nayan-tara Club, eco-friendly puja of Santipur, Black Magic of Athgaon are some of the examples that are related to real life. These themes will give knowledge to the people as well as they will be aware of how to deal with such things,” said Abhijeet Kashyap while speaking to G Plus.

Another visitor Mitali Dutta said that it is good that the administration has taken such initiative for the conven-ience of the people but the Lal Ganesh incident has brought a fear in the mind of the people. “Now-a-days the puja committees give much more impor-tance in lighting and they must ensure safety during the puja. Although ad-equate numbers of volunteers have been deployed in each pandal, at some point of time it becomes difficult for them to control such a huge crowd. Therefore, the committees should check the elec-trical wires thoroughly so that such in-cidents are not repeated. It will be good if the administration can catch the cul-prit for whose callousness the two per-sons were electrocuted,” said Dutta.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 20158

CIty

The rumble in my stomach that morning was somewhat in-dicative of the delightful food

sampling that awaited me. In the rush of things, I had missed breakfast. But three hours to noon, I managed to reach Mrs. Swapna Sharma’s small, airy second floor apartment right in the heart of the city. In her small, neat kitchen, she was busy sorting the fresh vegetables from the stale ones. As she turned to talk to me she gave some firm instructions to her help to pick out only the freshest of vegeta-bles. “I cook for sick people in hos-pitals, and I have to ensure that the food I prepare will not affect anyone’s health adversely.”

As Guwahati continues to grow, people from all over the region come to this commercial hub of the north-east seeking a better life. Swapna Sharma is one of the many women in Guwahati who are making the most of this aspect. After all, every human being has to have food if not anything else. Every day she prepares meals for office goers, students and patients admitted in hospitals who want an affordable home cooked meal. “I started this because my husband’s business was going into losses and as our earnings dwindled it became difficult to manage our finances. We have three children, and there were days when we actually worried where the next few meals would come from. It was then that I started approach-ing people offering my culinary services. The response was slow, but not disheartening. I initially started with delivering door to door tiffin to neighboring office-goers and stu-dents – just a few orders. But over the months, the word spread and people actually started approaching me. To-day I cook meals for about fifty to six-

BiPAsA sAikiA kAsHyAP

ty people every day,” she smiles con-tentedly. In the spotless kitchen she continued spooning her yellow dal, and soon the room was filled with the strong aroma of a well-cooked meal. I had spent an hour with Swapna Shar-ma already and my empty stomach continued to remind that I hadn’t had breakfast. The aroma made matters worse. Somehow, Swapna sensed my discomfort; she felt my hunger. She immediately went to her stove and served up some piping hot aloo curry for me. It was delightful. I lapped up her curry to the last morsel. She smiled and asked if I wanted some more. I declined politely but she was insistent. I just could not refuse – my rumbling stomach did not allow it.

People in the city are always looking for home cooked meals. In the small cities of the Indian sub-continent people are usually more open to the idea of a home cooked meal, rather than something cooked commercially. It is the Indian like-ness to “mom-made” food, I assume. As I stood around watching Swapna go about her chores, a bike honked somewhere below. Swapna started packing her dal, roti, sabzi and curry into small tiffin boxes taking quick little steps alongside her help and muttering instructions to her to pack the food properly. I took a peep into one of those boxes; there was enough food for two people. “My eldest son takes care of the delivery. This is good work, and it keeps him busy.” She fin-ished her packing by placing a piece of “nemoo tenga” (lime) on top of each box. Yes, Swapna was ready to deliver her priceless packets to her Guwahatian clientele.

Mishra Kashyap is another wom-an who has taken up the duty to feed the hungry, sad stomachs in the city.

“I started by serving boys residing in nearby PGs and hostels. Very soon, the word spread and nearby office-goers approached me and I realized this could be the one avenue that would allow me financial freedom. I am a house wife, and this work gives me ample opportunity to keep myself busy. Plus I love to cook. My husband had to initially support me with the supplies, but now I support him,” she adds jokingly. “I take small orders. Every day I cook for about thirty-two to thirty-five people. But there often

from Ma, with Lovethe women caterers of Guwahati

comes days when I get bulk orders – more like catering jobs.”

Priced modestly between Rs. 60 to Rs. 100 per tiffin, this homely role carried out by these women within their kitchens is playing a pivotal part in a system that can grow to become a full-fledged business career for them. “Of course I want to be called an entrepreneur,” laughs Indira Du-tta, a jovial lady who happens to be a grandma. Indira Dutta uses her spare time to cook for children and young-sters who are living away from home.

“I have young people from nearby institutes who are constantly asking me to cook for them. I graduated in 1977 after which I got married and ever since I’d been very dependent on my husband financially,” Indira Du-tta recalls ponderously. “A few years back, he passed away, and I could no longer manage my own financial needs. This is the one reason why I started doing what I do best - cook. Cooking is my undying love!”

These stories took me back to the days when I was a student and liv-ing away from home. I would give anything just to have a simple home cooked dal-chawal for lunch or din-ner. I remember I would stuff sticky, creamy delicious pasta into my mouth and then think of the home-food that I missed so much. Every day women like Swapna Sharma, Indira Dutta and Mishra Kashyap manage this very elaborate and noble busi-ness of delivering home cooked meals door to door to people in organiza-tions, students and others who want a slice of their food. And yet, there of-ten are moments of disappointment when they see students, especially boys being irresponsible. At times they are not around or go on tours and forget to cancel their orders. The food goes waste. All these women have faced this kind of an issue. “It is disappointing,” Indira Dutta sighs. “We spend long hours cooking in a hot kitchen and seeing food go waste is sad for me. But I have begun to treat these things as minor hiccups in this otherwise very satisfying chosen path of mine,” she smiles contentedly even as a pressure cooker whistles in the next room and sweet aroma of spices drifts in. Damn, there goes my stomach rumbling again!

Zubaan and the Heinrich Boell Foundation in collabo-ration with North East Writ-

ers’ Forum, Zubaan will hold the 2015 edition of Zubaan’s Cultures of Peace, an event that focuses on India’s North East. Started in 2011, Cultures of Peace takes place annu-ally in multiple locations and focus-es on writers and writing, as well as music, food, poetry, and more. This year’s Cultures of Peace takes place in three locations: Guwahati, Ban-galore and New Delhi.

Supported by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, a long-term partner, the Guwahati edition of Cultures will take place on 24 Oc-

Cultures of Peace writers’ conclave to showcase issues of northeast at Gauhati town club today

tober 2015 at the Guwahati Town Club.

Cultures of Peace aim to help to build bridges and make connections with people in other parts of India and to help to create awareness of the region and its present day context. This year topics will be discussed on the subjects Travel Writing, The Trou-bled Question of Ethnicity, The Media and Women, New Directions in Writ-ing and The Translator’s Dilemma.

The participants are Arzuman Ara, Meenaxi Barkataki-Ruschew-eyh, Surajit Barooah, Monalisa Changkija, Bibash Chaudhry, H.N. Das, Sruitamala Duara, Arup Kumar Dutta, Uddipana Goswami, Mitra

Pukhan, Teresa Rehman, L. Somi Roy, Anuradha Sharma Pujari, Anan-ya Shankar Guha, Bijoy T. Singh.

Cultures of Peace Part-ners

The North East Writers’ Forum draws its membership across writers and translators working in English across all the eight States of the region. Established in 1997, it is a vibrant or-ganization which has an eclectic mix of members, young and senior, many of whom are making significant con-tributions to Indian writing in Eng-lish today in diverse genres.  This day-long event is the latest in a long line of projects and events undertaken by

the Forum, which include an impor-tant translation project covering all eight states, as well as several literary festivals. 

Zubaan is an independent, femi-nist publishing house based in Delhi. It grew out of India’s first feminist press, Kali for Women. Zubaan’s aim is to centre-stage the work of women writers, both nationally and interna-tionally. Zubaan publishes both fic-tion and academic non fiction, as well as books for young adults. Zubaan has a significant list of writers from the North East, and a good range of translated works by writers from across India.

The Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBF)

is the Green Political Foundation, affiliated to the “Greens/ Alliance 90″ political party represented in Germany’s federal parliament. Headquartered in Berlin (and with an office in Delhi since 2002) and with more than 25 international of-fices, HBF conducts and supports civic educational activities and projects worldwide. HBF under-stands itself as a green think tank and international policy network, working with governmental and non-governmental actors and fo-cusing on gender equity, sustain-able development, and democracy and human rights.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 9

Crime

Noonmati is gradually turn-ing into a major crime prone area. Adding to past inci-

dents of several unlawful activities like burglary, drunken brawls, etc. a recent incident has raised concern about the safety of women in the lo-cality as well as the city of Guwahati. A resident of the ASEB Colony in Noonmati area has fallen victim to an attempt of rape on October 15th. The incident took place between 5:00 pm to 5:30 pm when the victim was on her way back home from her rela-tive’s place.

“I was on my way back to home, when I suddenly felt that I was being followed by somebody with a bad in-tention. When I turned to face him, I just did not like the way he was star-ing at me,” the victim asserted.

She said that the boy appeared to be around 19-20 years old. He was in normal attire – pair of jeans, polo t-shirt and kito strap on chappals as described by the victim. Sensing trouble, the victim tried to call her parents and as she was unlocking her phone the accused attacked her and holding her from behind dragged her into the thick plantation on the oppo-site side of the road. The victim also mentioned that she was pulled into a pit covered by bushes where she fell with her head down.

“It took a time-frame of around thirty seconds for me to realize what was happening since I hit the ground with my head and after that I realized that the boy was already on top of me. I tried to scream but he covered my mouth with brute force,” the vic-tim mentioned adding, “I somehow managed to kick him with the high-heeled shoes I was wearing and I am sure that I had hurt him because he loosened his grip on my mouth. I then managed to collect all my en-ergy and started shouting for help.”

One of the neighbours realized that some unhealthy activity was go-ing on near her window and started

shouting. Smelling trouble the as-sailant fled from the scene. Within minutes several local people gathered at the scene and began to search for the assailant but he was nowhere to be found. Subsequently, the police was informed about the crime at the Noonmati PS and an investigation was launched.

However, the next day when the victim along with her mother visited the police station to file an FIR, the police showed no interest. Later, on narrating the story, the police as-sured a visit to the location where

rape attemptedon noonmati girl

Following several similar incidents another girl from Noonmati area fell victim to a rape attempt; however no breakthrough has been

achieved by the police

the rape was attempted. The victim with her mother came back home and anticipating a visit by the po-lice. The police visited the spot later in the evening and thereafter tried to pin the blame on the victim citing irresponsible behaviour by her. Sure enough, the police have not made any headway at all in nabbing the culprit but has only succeeded in displaying their ever callous high-handedness thereby shirking all responsibility for their inadequacies.

As mentioned by the local peo-ple, this is the same road where a kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

kALyAN DEB

similar incident had taken place around four years ago where an adult woman had been brutally gang-raped by unidentified strangers. This is a lonely stretch where chain snatching, looting and other similar activities had been reported in the past to the local police station. But the police didn’t take any requisite measures to counter such activities. A success story however may be recalled from the recent past where one Akbar Ali was arrested after a college student was raped and murdered. Similar to the current incident the victim had

left her house around noon for the library after which she was suspected to have been abducted and murdered. Her partially clothed body was found in a shrub.

Drug addiction and drinking in public by youths is a concern for the locals in the ASEB colony here with many such addicts found involved in snatchings and thefts. Despite such unlawful and anti-social activities no strong and adequate measures are be-ing taken by the police officials.

Weather report for the weekSAT

24 OctoberSUN

25 OctoberMON

26 OctoberTUE

27 OctoberWED

28 OctoberTHU

29 OctoberFRI

30 October

Haze. Haze. Haze. Haze. Haze. Haze. More clouds than sun.

20 / 30 °C 19 / 31 °C 18 / 31 °C 17 / 30 °C 17 / 30 °C 17 / 27 °C 18 / 28 °C

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 201510

In Conversation

Please tell us how you entered politics and the profiles you have had till date?

I was always involved with stu-dent activities. I was elected general secretary of the Cotton College Stu-dent’s Union and that was the time I joined NSUI - the student’s wing of the Congress party. Those were very difficult days for the Congress because of the split in the Congress party after 1977 election debacle. I took up the responsibility of putting the Congress students’ wing together in Assam during 1979-80. Then I left Assam for higher studies. I went to Delhi and I was in Jawaharlal Nehru University. There also I contested the university elections and became a councillor. I was always associated with Congress party but briefly, for about five years, I worked with the Indian Oil Corporation as a market-ing executive. I rose rapidly in the organisation but I decided to give up my job and came back to Assam. I set up my company - an advertising agency - and was involved in various activities. I was also a consultant for the tea industry of Assam in those days. Then in 1998 I won in a by-elec-tion from Margherita constituency. Since 1998 I have been winning the elections consecutively and this is my fourth consecutive term. Since 2001, I have been a minister and I have han-dled almost all the ministries. In 2001 I was one of the youngest ministers in the council. I joined as a minister-for-state initially; I was handling the five departments that were given to me: home, finance, industry, informa-tion and public relations and science & technology. Then eventually I was promoted and became forest minis-ter in 2003. In the later part of 2005 I was given additional charge of power. I initiated the whole reforms in the power sector as there hadn’t been any investment for 35 long years in the sector. So, I handled forest, power, industry and commerce and lastly, I also handled education. As a for-

est minister I was the first to get the green politician award from the IFA. I introduced the joint forest concept to initiate community foresting. A lot of eco-battalions were raised in my time.

what are the main changes you brought as a power minister?

The distribution, transmission and generation were in a very primi-tive stage. There was no capacity to meet the requirements of the peo-ple. There was very limited capac-ity to deliver power. So we slowly expanded and built up the facilities. Consequently, the demand also mul-tiplied many times over. Demand surpassed the supply because supply takes time as you have to build up the power generation capabilities. It is only now that my efforts are bearing fruits. When I took over, the capac-ity was very limited and the peak-hour demand in 2006 was barely 600 MW. Today the peak-hour demand is 1500 MW. It was 600 MW because there was no capacity to deliver pow-er. Out of 26,000 villages in 2006, only 7,000 villages had electricity. Slowly we started investing money. I tapped different sources, negotiated with Asian Development Bank, got loans from Government of India on very favourable terms - 90% came as grants. So, huge money was invested in the power sector to build up gen-eration capacities and transmission lines. From 600 MW we augmented the capacity to 1700 MW. We were a power deficit state as there was always a power scarcity because demand was surpassing the supply.

what about the subansiri Dam? will it ever start generating power?

I have always vocally supported the lower Subansiri project because

it is the one project which would have been good for the State given the in-depth research, investiga-tion and work that has been done on this. It was a Government of Assam project which started in 1995 which was later given to the Brahmaputra Board and thereafter it was given to the hydro power generation com-pany. We could have got 600 MW power from there which would have come very cheap as well. Unfortu-nately this was stopped and now if we commission the project, the cost of production will be much more. Those people who opposed the pro-ject are joining the BJP bandwagon now and so, they are keeping mum. The BJP government also wants the project implemented now. There is always a double standard in lead-ership of these movements. AASU leaders who were in the forefront of opposing the dam have now joined the BJP and have sealed their lips. BJP opposed the project earlier but

now have done a total about-turn. This is total hypocrisy and shows the double standards of the BJP and the so-called Jatiyotabadi leadership who have surrendered to Narendra Modi now. These people have ruined Assam’s growth prospects.

How was your relation with Himanta Biswa sarma as we hear that both of you always had issues?

It was all Himanta’s machina-tions and manipulations. He was always a very ambitious person. He would try to harm anybody who he perceived was a threat to his ambi-tions. I always had a very cordial rela-tion and I took him under my wing. I liked him because he was good at his work but eventually I felt that because

of his overambitious nature he was trying to harm me in many ways. He would form nexus with a section of the media, he would form nexus with people, bribe people, and he would indulge in character assassination. He has always indulged in all kinds of unpalatable things. He tried to paint me as an incapable politician through his media units like News Live. I am sure in the BJP now he would be ei-ther ganging up with someone else or rubbing down someone badly - Sar-banda Sonowal perhaps.

after Himanata’s exit and poor results in Lok sabha elections, what is the calculation for 2016 polls?

Himanta joined the Congress party to get rid of his cases. He was

Himanta can harm anybody who he

perceives is a threatPradyut bordoloi, MlA, Margherita

Pradyut bordoloi, MlA from Margherita for four consecutive terms, is confident of win-ning the 2016 Assembly elections without himanta biswa Sarma. he feels Sarma’s exit has taken away all the unhealthy flab from the congress party. bordoloi talked exclu-

sively to G Plus and opined on himanata’s motive of joining the bJP. kALyAN DEB

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 11

In Conversation

in jail probably under TADA. He was caught red-handed while tak-ing money on behalf of ULFA. He was in possession of illegal weapons. There were quite a few cases regis-tered against him. He came out of jail at a time when Hiteswar Saikia became the chief minister and he straightaway took refuge at the feet of Hiteswar Saikia to evade all these police cases. And he was successful that way. He was instrumental in files vanishing from the thanas. He became overambitious and wanted to become the chief minister replacing Tarun Gogoi. When he was unable to do it he turned against his own men-tor now that BJP is in power at the Centre. He was implicated in differ-ent cases like the NC Hills scandal and Saradha scam. He knows that CBI is under the Central government which is run by BJP. If he joined BJP, CBI would go slow on the investiga-tions and that is precisely what is happening. He is being made a wit-ness now. Whom do you make the witness? When you are a part of the crime and in the process you become the approver, you obviously can eas-ily avoid a jail term. Congress party is very strong, our roots are very strong. After Himanta’s exit, we have become much more efficient. We are a clean, efficient organisation now. The flab which is harmful to your body is gone. 2014 Lok Sabha elections were different. It was more a propaganda war. Modi won but people are now re-alising that all the promises made by Modi or BJP were hollow and they are just doing the opposite of what they had promised. The social fabric is be-ing dissected and systematically de-stroyed by communal politicisation. We are going to fight BJP politically and I am very hopeful that we will

able to form the government in 2016.

Don’t you see yourself as a CM in the future?

I have been in politics and in Congress I am one of the senior poli-ticians. I have gathered a lot of expe-rience having handled almost all the ministries. I don’t want to lie by say-ing that I don’t have ambitions and I don’t want to become the chief min-ister. But at the same time I am inher-ently a disciplined person. Neither will I cut somebody’s throat nor will I lose my sleep at night just to become a chief minister like Himanta did. I know my day will come; I am patient. But I will not harm the party just to further my personal ambitions. My progression up the political ladder has been natural. At the moment I am the chairman of the Congress public-ity body.

guwahati, as a city, has so many problems. some hillocks are still devoid of electricity, the garbage disposal site is in controversy and many more. what solutions can you give to make it a truly smart city?

Guwahati has to be a smart city. With broadband connectivity and in-ternational linkage that we are going

to get through Akhuri from Tripura, e-governance is the reality. We have progressed a lot and are regularly having video conferences. Everything is online like e-auction, e-tendering. We have to integrate everything. The smart city concept is to make people’s life more efficient and easy going with modern aids. We have to integrate the modern aids. We have miles to go but we are progressing.

three curious questions to finish up sir, is radio gupshup yours?

Radio Gupshup is promoted by one of my companies which I set up. But since I became a minister I

have not been associated with these companies.

in assam many politicians are buying media units like tv channels and newspapers. what are your plans and why are politicians after media ownership these days?

I don’t own any newspaper or TV channel, and I don’t have any such future plan. People who own TV channels can promote them-selves. I am suffering because I don’t have a TV channel or newspa-per to promote myself. kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

You wanted to shift the gymkhana Club from the tea auction Centre which did not happen. why?

We are building a tea park in Chaigaon where we will have integrat-ed facilities. I wanted to put up an in-ternational tea museum in place of this club given that today conventional tea auctioning is a thing of the past. Today e-auction is there. Gymkhana Club was allowed to be operated on the basis of an executive order. I wanted to build a museum and felt the Gymkhana Club, rather than being a place of wining and dining in the evenings, should be used for better and more rewarding activi-ties. This policy is still there and I hope somebody will implement it.

The Union Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (In-dependent Charge) Dr. Ma-

hesh Sharma had, in the month of September, declared that the Guwahati airport is being re-vamped at an investment of Rs. 1,200 crore to improve connectiv-ity in the North East region. This will be a huge opportunity for the tourism sector as connectivity in the NE remained one of its major setbacks till date. “We have taken new initiatives in connectivity because it is crucial for tourism. Work is going on to make Guwa-hati a hub for air connectivity in the NE region at an estimated cost of Rs. 1200 crore,” Dr. Sharma had announced at the curtain rais-ing ceremony of the International Tourism Mart at Gangtok on 14th of October, 2015. Apart from that, funds of Rs. 480 crores and Rs. 90 crores have also been allocated for up-gradation work at Agartala and Tezu airports.

On the occasion, Dr. Sharma also expressed Prime Minister

guwahati airport to get a boostBiPAsA sAikiA kAsHyAP

Narendra Modi’s continuous interest to promote tourism in the NE. Ac-cording to him, the PM has apparent-ly given instructions to all the Union Ministers to visit the North East. Be-sides Guwahati, airports at Agartala, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are also undergoing renovation to facili-tate hassle-free movement of tourists in the region.

All said and done however, what is surprising is that despite the an-nouncement, nothing has actually been done to carry things forward. Speaking to G Plus, General Manag-

er, LGBI Airport, Mr. R. K. Agarwal expressed his dismay over the matter. “The announcement was made but we do not have anything else apart from the Minister’s words in this regard-ing. We have been waiting for some-thing like this to happen for a long time, and we had made a plan in ac-cordance. However, till we get an as-surance, our hands are tied. We want to incorporate a hub in the Guwa-hati airport, and we want to work on things like expanding the terminal and working on the infrastructure, but we have not been given anything

to even start work with.” The GM also stated that over the years, with many multiple governments that have come and gone, several schemes had been announced but not many of them were carried forward. Most were also left untouched. “If a scheme of such vast expenses is released, we should also be given the breakdown for that. What happens to this latest announcement remains to be seen. We are hoping that this will actually turn into something useful unlike the previous ones where announce-ments remained just announcements

and did not materialize into some-thing tangible.”

The tourism sector in the North East has seen a boost in the past few years. There were 1.19 lakh foreign tourists in 2014 - a growth of 39.8% against 27.9% the previ-ous year. “Tourism is getting a boost and we are doing all we can to get more tourists to explore the NE. But because of bad connec-tivity, we face a lot of problems to actually get people here,” Tourist Information Officer Nilim Baruah said. “If things work out according to the plans of our Union Minister, it will be great.” Air connectivity is one of the most desired means of travel and people from the main-stream India very much rely on that. If this plan of the BJP Gov-ernment actually materializes, the tourism activity in the whole of NE is going drastically change for the better. But what actually transpires remains to be seen. The fact that it has been more than a month since the announcement without any perceptible work done so far can-not be overlooked.

“i don’t want to lie by saying

that i don’t have ambitions

and i don’t want to become

the chief minister.”

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 201512

Space

The recent decision of the state government to treat the issue of sale permission of vacant

land and apartment building sepa-rately was lauded by various sections as it seems that the move will help property buyers register their prop-erty without any hassle and will also cut down graft. At a recent repre-sentative level meeting held by Ad-ditional Chief Secretary, Revenue, Subhas Chandra Das with the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup (Metro), representatives of the Guwahati De-velopment Department (GDD), Dis-pur Circle Office, Guwahati Munici-pal Corporation (GMC), Guwahati Metropolitan Development Author-ity (GMDA) and Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developer’s As-sociation (AREIDA), it was decided to segregate the applications for sale permission of vacant land and apart-ment buildings. Many city builders lauded the move but who exactly will gain and what was the issue before? G Plus takes an in-depth look at the details of the issue.

the permission scrutiny

The sale of property is governed by the Transfer of Property Act; the Registration Act; the Land Revenue and Regulation Acts and the Assam Alienation of Land Act. For land sale, NOC from Deputy Commissioner is required; in addition to NOC from the GMDA. The GMDA’s role is to verify the zoning regulations as per master plan and stipulate the catego-

ry of use of the plot, viz residential, commercial, agricultural, etc. The office of the Deputy Commissioner, while granting NOC, is required to protect the interest of cultivators, tribal belts and blocks and restric-tions imposed by the Assam Aliena-tion of Land Act, in case of sale to foreign nationals. This office further ascertains the quantum of revenue payable to the Government in terms of stamp duty and registration fees.

the issuePrior to 2009, the sale of apart-

ments did not require NOC from the office of the Deputy Commis-sioner. However, by The Registra-tion (Assam Amendment) Act, 2009, all apartment sales were brought under the preview of Deputy Com-missioner’s Office and NOC from

this office was made mandatory. In recent times thousands of applica-tions for sale permission have been lying pending in the offices of Dep-uty Commissioners across the state leading to enormous hassles for the public and huge losses of revenue to government in the form of stamp duty, registration and other taxes. The primary reason for the delay was the old administrative system which had continued even after the regulations were amended in 2009. The system required each applica-tion for sale permission to be sent by the Deputy Commissioner’s office to the Circle Officer for his clear-ance after duly receiving the report of the mondol pertaining to the land on which the apartment building stands. If there are fifty apartments on the plot the same report is unnec-essarily sought fifty times.

whistle blowerAREIDA president PK Sharma

said that AREIDA had approached the Government on this issue. He also said that in response, a high level meeting was called by the Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue), Sri Subhas Ch. Das where even he was present. Sharma said, “After due discussion the meeting decided that the DC’s of-fice would segregate the two catego-ries of application - vacant land and apartment building - and deal with them separately. An application for sale of apartments would be submit-ted by applicants at one time; with the relevant documents and details of all the flat purchasers. This would be sent for the Circle Officer’s report only once. A master file would be created and all subsequent permis-sions, for the purchasers whose par-ticulars have already been submitted, would be granted based on the report in master file. GMDA permission, wherever required, would also be a single permission for the entire plot.”

who will benefitThe public would benefit im-

mensely as this eliminates the scope of corruption and harassment which was deeply entrenched in the system and faster approvals would be a direct out-come. PK Sharma said that AREIDA was advocating for such a system since the existing system neither served public interest nor the government’s revenues. A few officials were holding the public to ransom. It was also man-datory as per The Registration (Assam

new property sale policyto ease buyers’ woes

Discussing the issue with all stake holders, government decides to handle land sale and flat sale applications separately

government forms policy to segregate the applications for sale permission of vacant land and apartment buildings

administration to create master file after receiving the first application for the purchase or sale of a flat

other flat buyers’ application to be verified from the master file

Move expected to cut down corruption and be of lesser harassment to the buyers

Amendment) Act, 2009 to issue NOC within 30 days. Sharma said, “If NOC is not issued within the stipulated pe-riod of thirty days the law made it ob-ligatory for the Deputy Commissioner to take appropriate action. We have advocated for larger public interest to prevail. AREIDA is a responsible body of developers. We are major contribu-tors to government revenue and the second largest generator of employ-ment for the weaker sections of the society after agriculture. Our contri-bution to GDP of the state is as high as 10%. We are the interface between the Government, society at large and the industry.”

According to sources in the ad-ministration, the process has already started and by the first week of No-vember all the applications will be dealt with according to the new policy. Previously if there were 45 flats in an apartment, all the flat buyers had to individually go and apply for the sale permission. For each flat, the mondal and the circle office did the land and the flat survey and had to complete many other formalities. This was basi-cally harassment for the buyers. Now once a master file is made, the mondol and the officials of the Circle Office of-ficials along with the DC office will re-fer to the master file and issue permis-sion accordingly. A city based architect said in anonymity, “The previous pro-cess required bribes everywhere, but with the new process the graft in of-fices like mondol, circle office and DC office will reduce and the buyers will have a stress-free experience.”

RAHUL CHANDA

juthika.baruah@g-plus.in

the sale of property is governed by the transfer of Property Act; the Registration Act; the land Revenue and Regulation Acts and the Assam Alienation of land Act. For land sale, Noc from Deputy commissioner is required; in addition to Noc from the GMDA.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 13

Ward Watch

kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

warD no

26

Among the handful of locali-ties in Guwahati that are in proper condition and are not

lacking in any basic amenities, the Rukminigaon area can be deemed as one. The road conditions are good and flood/water-logging is not a con-cern for the residents of the area. The few potholes on some parts of the road can well be ignored for the mo-ment. Thus, the residents do not have much to complain. Located adjacent to G.S.Road, the area has several resi-dences of several families and is quite symbolic of a peaceful locality with people from diverse cultural back-ground as its residents. However, in a survey carried out by G Plus there were many who mentioned about the problem of the lack of street lights and highlighted its direct co-relation to any mishaps that might occur due to the increasing number of vehicles plying on the road.

Rukminigaon area forms a geo-graphical conjunction to several surrounding localities and the road is also known as the Rukminigaon-Beltola Link Road. It also leads to Jayanagar in Sixmiles and this is one reason why many people use this road since it is a short-cut and a convenient detour to reach G.S. Road and vice versa.

ConcernsAmong the main concerns of the

people of the area, the lack of street lights makes it to the top of the list. Although there are a few street lights installed in some of the nooks and corners, most of them are not in working condition. Some of the so-cially conscious residents applied for their own street lights under the Pro-ject Jyoti scheme of Guwahati Mu-

ConCentrated area RukmInIGaon

Ward number 26

Sub diviSion 26(b)

CounCillor manjuLa kakotI

Phone number 8011149307

area Sabha member Ranjan DaS

Phone number 9864506116

ProblemS StReet LIGht & enCRoaChment

nicipal Corporation (GMC); however the same has not materialized even after several months of the applica-tion.

Naba Mazumdar, a resident of Rukminigaon said, “The lack of streetlights presently is the only mat-ter of concern. Due to its connectiv-ity to several areas, large numbers of vehicles ply through the road and the darkness is not just worrisome for the motorists but also for the pedestrians. Although no major mishap has taken place as yet, it is always prudent to be safe. We had applied for our own streetlights as per GMC’s scheme. It has been over six months since we had submitted our application along with the required amount but haven’t received any feedback till date. Along

with us several other residents had applied for the same but the plan does not seem to have materialized and we have not heard anything from the au-thorities.”

Meanwhile, some of the residents also mentioned about the bottle-necks that have been created due to encroachment of the street by some locals. The link road that leads to Jayanagar via Rukminigaon Satra is a stretch where the width of the road is much lesser than the entire stretch connecting G.S. Road. The same part also has a diversion that leads toward Basisthapur Road which is even nar-rower.

“The area consists of several resi-dents who are socially conscious and yet there are many who only seek their

own benefit and public welfare don’t seem to be their concern at all. There are residents who have constructed their bound-ary walls on encroached land that is meant for the road and have also encouraged others to do the same which has resulted in the narrow road in this part of the area. I had given away three feet from my part of the land for the construction of the road but there are people who have done the opposite and due their connections in the political circles no action has been taken against them,” said a local who has been residing in the area since 1980 and who refused to give his name.

Councillor’s sayTalking to G Plus, councillor of

ward number 26 Manjula Kakoti, said that the problem of encroach-ment of road can be addressed if the residents of the area come forward with an application that can be for-warded to the Deputy Commissioner with the consent of the councillor.

“The problem arose way back when the roads were not constructed and some of the residents had con-structed their boundary walls on part of the land meant for the road. I had approached the unnayan samiti of the area and asked them to write an application which I would have for-ward to the Deputy Commissioner but no one has come forward yet. I had also visited those residents who had encroached on the road and they said that if the people had problems they should have mentioned it to them and they would have done what was required,” the councillor said.

The councillor also mentioned that work on streetlights is in pro-gress. The first phase of installation of the streetlights as per Project Jyoti has been conducted in parts of the city and the second phase will be carried out soon. Meanwhile, other government allotted streetlights that are not in working condition will be restored and is expected to be com-pleted within a month’s time.

Kakoti also mentioned that work on the diversion towards Beltola is under progress; it is being carried out with a sanctioned amount of Rs. One crore. The councillor also plans to en-list all the by-lanes of the wards that are in substandard condition and these will be constructed as soon as the next fund is allotted.

rukminigaon a good ward except for encroachment

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 201514

Special

inPiCtUresas the city bid adieu to goddess Durga, g Plus tries to capture some of the pandals and scenes from the last four days.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 15

In Focus

MeetMeetMeetMeetMeet

State police have put stringent secu-rity measures in place to maintain peace in Guwahati even as the city

is immersed in celebrating Durga Puja across 500 pandals. Security was beefed up across the state and all big pandals were brought under coverage of CCTV camera. Moreover the introduction of the railway track for idol immersion made the whole process casualty free. The administration deserves apprecia-tion for a hassle-free puja but in future a special drive against drunken drivers should be carried out, as many lives were lost due to road accidents, which damp-ened the festive mood for many families.

Yes, this year’s Puja was a successful attempt in conducting a hassle-free puja. We are also hoping for the best

next year. The administration has done a good job and it is only because of their strict instructions that the puja committees were committed to adhering to the same strictly. The immersion ceremony was also conducted smoothly without any untoward incident at the immersion venues and the declaration of dry day was also a good step for which crimes were lesser.

Traffic was in control during this Puja and people could enjoy till late at night in a safe and secure environment.

Numbers of accidents were lesser and due to the late night public conveyances devotees could visit Puja pandals in various places without bothering about transportation.

As far as traffic is concerned it was lesser of a ‘massacre’ than the previ-ous years. Meanwhile the on duty

police officials were also seen helping senior citizens to cross the road. The night bus fa-cility has also provided a helping-hand since buses were available till 2 pm. So transporta-tion wise it was satisfactory. This time drink-ing water was also seen being distributed at places and that was helpful for the devotees.

This time it was very systematic. Introducing the innovative idea of Railway track-line was very a help-

ful, time-and-labour-saving technique for Devi Bisarjan. The administration has also taken good initiative for traffic regu-lation and the puja committees were also instructed about the rules and regulations issued by the administration. The initia-tive of green puja is also a good step for maintaining an eco-friendly puja. This year the puja went off successfully as a result of the efforts made by the admin-istration and we hope that we get such a hassle-free puja every year.

Yes, the concerned authorities have definitely given their best to fulfill the responsibilities towards the citizen as

compared to the previous years. I hope they will perform much better in the days to come even on regular days to make Guwahati a chaos-free city so far as traffic is concerned.

Hats off to the teams from the adminis-tration and traffic departments for carrying out their duties dedicatedly at the time of Puja. Where everyone goes on leave to cel-ebrate Puja with their family and friends, the officers have sacrifice a lot.

sAtyAJit CHAkRABARty

RitEsH JAiswAL

PRADiP BoRAHHEmANtA kUmAR DEkA

RitU PABAN BAisHyA

sAURAv DEy

Guwahati saw a relatively quieter Durga Puja this year and many are of the opinion that this was due to the proper management by the District Administration and the traffic Police. but was this really the case or was it simply a case of lesser people turning out for the celebrations? Guwahatians have their say.

Has the administration succeeded in managing a hassle-free Durga Puja?

Known for being vocal on several is-sues that have been topics of discus-sion in the public domain of Assam

and actively participating in movements against corruption, Aabhijeet Sharma is the founder of Assam Public Works. APW is an NGO that started with the initiative of tak-ing a stand against extremism in the state and has today come a long way. Till date there are over 100 cases filed by APW in local police stations, 4 cases in High Court and one in Supreme Court.

Aabhijeet Sharma was born on 28th Au-gust, 1974 and did a fair part of his school-ing from St. John’s School, Shillong. He however did his HSLC in the year 1991 from Guwahati. After completing his higher secondary studies Sharma went on to pur-sue his graduation in management from Delhi. Born amidst the verdant environs of Nalbari, Aabhijeet is the eldest son of the family and had a younger brother. How-ever, tragedy struck the family when both his parents and brother left for their heav-enly abodes three years ago. Besides, being a social activist Aabhijeet is also an entre-preneur and is into the business of catering and housekeeping. Presently the owner of two different companies viz. DK Enterprise and ANA Group he has 16 units function-ing all over the state. Aabhijeet started his business in the year 2003 and in the span of the last twelve years the companies are now providing employment to over 300 youths.

“We wanted to be the best in the cater-ing and housekeeping business in Assam and I believe we already are. Today we are providing employment to over 300 families and our target is to achieve 1000 soon. From the current 16 units currently functioning in different parts of the state we are target-ing 100. Like everyone else I have a family

to look after. Hence, business and social work will continue parallel to each other till I breathe my last,” asserted Sharma.

“It is the love for our nation and people that keeps us going. Unlike Lord Hanuman we cannot tear our chest apart to prove our dedication and while we do not believe in holding meetings or dhar-nas or showing off our gamosa, we only seek permanent solutions to our legiti-mate problems which can only be pro-vided by the court of law. That is what APW is trying to achieve,” Sharma con-tended.

Apart from his business Sharma is more known for his social activities in association with his brainchild Assam Public Works. APW started on 24th No-vember 2000 with a mission of making Assam free from extremism. From the day of its inception till 2008 the NGO fought vehemently against the principles of the ULFA. In its battle against ULFA, the NGO made its first strike by filing a case with Assam Human Rights Com-mission on 6th June 2002.

“We gathered those families who were the victims of the militant group, those parents whose children had been lured to join ULFA and we started work-ing with them. These parents asserted that their sons were lured away by Paresh Baruah. Gradually we started to file case after case against Paresh Baruah; this re-sulted in filing of 202 cases by the family members of the ULFA cadres. We raised questions in favour of those families whose members were killed by ULFA. We wanted to know why these people were killed and what kind of liberation movement this was” Sharma said.

“In the year 2006 we conducted a ref-erendum in Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Barpe-ta, Nalbari, Kamrup, Darrang, Sanitpur, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts cover-ing 26 lakh people and asked if they were in favour of a sovereign Assam. 96.4% were against the idea of Assam as a sepa-rate country,” Sharma added.

However, Sharma and APW did not stop there and continued with their pro-cess. They put up hoardings, posters, conducted workshops in schools and col-leges due to which 24 ULFA cadres sur-rendered and rather than being tagged as “SULFA”, they chose to live a normal life and work within the mainstream society to feed their families. Following the surrender of Aurobindo Rajkhowa, APW took up the mission against Bang-ladeshi inf lux in the year 2008. On 28th July 2009, APW filed a case in Supreme Court (PIL no. 27/09) which has resulted in the initiation of the NRC. The NGO also made it to the headlines recently when it took the APSC chairman to the Governor’s house and requested him to conduct an enquiry against him and his practices.

“I believe there is a special power giv-en to all of us by our maker and the way we use it is what defines us. I believe in using my special powers (whatever they are) by trying to do good for my peo-ple and will continue to do so till I die,” Sharma concluded.

Aabhijeet SharmaEntrepreneur/ Social activist

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 201516

Life

tiNAt AtiFA mAsooD His HoLiNEsssRi sRi RAvi sHANkAR Ji

Keep smiling and spread the smile and happiness. There is so much work to be done in

the world. There are conflicts in Syr-ia, in Egypt, in Ukraine, in Pakistan, in Columbia, and in many other parts of the world. We should see what we can do.

If this is too big a task, you can take smaller tasks. In your city, in your town, wherever you are, spread happiness. Start happiness centers and let people come there, sit and breathe, and learn some knowl-edge, and become happy. Tell them, “Leave all your stress and tension, and smile more!”. That is what we should do –  put more smiles on the faces of people, don’t you think so? Give them confidence to move on in life. I think this is what you all can do. You can tell at least five of your friends, “Hey come, let’s breathe to-gether, let’s get rid of tension, let’s spread happiness and not hatred. Let us learn to manage our mind”.

There is so much anger, frustra-tion and mistrust. Don’t you think so?  It is because of the mistrust in the hearts and minds of people, that there are so many conflicts, so much heart burn, and so many problems in the world. So we should do our best to bring people together.

When I was in Iraq, the Prime Minister said, “Gurudev, there are big powers in the world, but they cannot bring the minds and hearts of the people together. Big coun-tries cannot bring the minds and hearts of the people together. It is only humanitarians—the human

voice—that can do that. It is the hu-man touch, the spiritual touch that can do it”. I said, “I totally agree”. We had people from all different communities together. The Kurdish parliament has organized a peace conference. People asked me, “You are going to Iraq? It is so dangerous!” I said, “I know, that is why I want to go.” So we were driving, and just a few meters from us there was a big bomb blast that happened. We were go-ing to see the Governor there. Just five minutes away from his resi-dence, a car exploded – a suicide bombing happened. But we con-tinued with our conference there. In the conference, everybody came. All different groups – the Kurds, the Shi’ias, the Sunnis, and then the Yazidis, and the other local tribal people – everybody came together and participated. The whole atmos-phere was different, the whole energy was different, and the Prime Minis-ter said, “This is what we need in this country:spirituality which can build the bridges, which can bring people together.”

Violence cannot be stopped by violence. It has to be stopped by wis-dom. Only wisdom can stop violence. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and the whole world will be-come blind and toothless (great laughter).” There is no end if people say, “I am violent because that per-son was violent”, then it goes on and on and on, endlessly. Somewhere, we should stop – that is what wis-dom can do, that is what we can do. We can contribute in this manner.

In India, we did this in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, which al-ways used to have bloodshed. Since our volunteers were active there, more than one thousand guer-rilla warriors (these people who were having guerrilla wars, the Naxalites) laid down their arms. I gave a call to them – From Bullet to Ballot. So, they heard that voice, they dropped the bullets and they came and participated in the election pro-cess; otherwise, they would never let the elections happen. And now, for the last 5–6 years, there is no violence there. Recently, there was an elec-tion and it happened so peacefully. When I am saying this, I am saying it out of our practical experience in many parts of the world. We have ex-perienced that violence cannot quell violence, only wisdom can stop vio-lence.

Each one of you here is a pil-lar of wisdom, and we need more of these torchbearers of wisdom in the world today. The world is sinking into depression. The big-gest killer in the coming decade in the world will be depression. And again,  to bring people out of de-pression, only wisdom can help. And you all have to pat yourselves on the back because you have come together, you have started, you have the commitment to bring wisdom to the world.

smile and Make smiles

With a burden LeadenThus, I walkMemories of yesteryears.Sorrows and happinessHatred and love.Me?A submissiveParvenu.The passion flowerBloomed wildlyAmong the tansies.I,Being but tossed,Around, as a merePawnOn a board.The wind, the sun, then Storm.Peeved at my Existence.What is the penuryFor my penalty?A ResonanceThus but answerMe.TergiversationOf those loved onesMy goal terminated toDust-Floating nowA flotsam tossedIn the seas.“Where do I retreatFrom here?”I ask!

wHere Do i retreat

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 17health

Lows of getting High

While the festive season has arrived with Durga Puja just passing by, Diwali

round the corner and Christmas and New Year up the street, the party mood has set in. It is that time of the year when even those who usually don’t indulge in heavy drinking are tempted to go overboard. And the repercussions of the over-indulgence can be anything from a pounding headache, queasiness, dizziness, sen-sitivity to light and sound, muscle ache or irritability.

Drinking alcohol affects the body in many ways. At first, alcohol often makes people feel relaxed and happy. Later, it can cause drowsiness or confusion. These effects can lead to physical and mental changes that can put alcohol users at risk of health problems.

How alcohol Moves through the Body

When a person drinks beer, wine, or any alcoholic drink, the al-cohol quickly enters the bloodstream and is then carried throughout the body. The alcohol gets broken down through metabolism, the process of converting substances we consume to other compounds that the body ei-ther uses or removes. Alcohol is dis-tributed throughout the body, affect-ing the brain and other tissues, until it is completely metabolized.

A drink of alcohol stays in the body for about 2 hours after be-ing consumed. This period of time can vary depending on the person’s weight, gender, and other factors.

How alcohol affects the Liver

Drinking too much alcohol af-fects many parts of the body. It can be especially harmful to the liver, the organ that metabolizes (breaks down) alcohol and other harmful substances. People who drink heavily for a long time can develop diseases such as liver inflammation (alcoholic hepatitis) or severe liver scarring (cir-rhosis). Alcohol-related liver disease can cause death.

How alcohol affects Brain

Alcohol can affect parts of the brain that control movement, speech, judgment, and memory. These ef-fects lead to the familiar signs of drunkenness: difficulty in walking, slurred speech, memory lapses, and impulsive behavior. Long-term heavy drinking can shrink the frontal lobes of the brain which impairs thinking skills.

Male and female Drinking Patterns Compared

Alcohol affects men and women differently. In general, older men are more likely to drink alcohol com-pared with older women. According to a study, men account for about 66 percent of people who drink weekly, while women account for only about 44 percent. But women of all ages are affected more easily than men by the alcohol consumed. Also, women have less water in their bodies than men, so alcohol is more concentrated in the smaller water volume. As a result, women may become more impaired than men after drinking the same amount.

Drinking for a long time is more likely to damage a woman’s health than a man’s health. Research sug-gests that as little as one drink per day can slightly raise the risk of breast cancers in some women, especially those who have been through meno-pause or have a family history of can-cer. But it is not possible to predict how alcohol will affect the risk for cancer in any one woman.

In addition, although light to moderate drinking has not been shown to increase the risk for devel-oping liver cancer, exceeding these levels increases the risk for both men and women. On average, studies have demonstrated an increased risk of 19 percent per 10 grams of alcohol per day for women, compared to only 3 percent for men. If consumed at all, limit alcohol to a maximum of 2 drinks a day for men and 1 drink a day for women, below the age of 65.

Food is probably the last thing you want to look at while recovering, but your body needs energy. Energise your body with clear liquids till you can tolerate solid food. Start eating slowly with easy-to-digest foods such as plain toast, rice or clear soup.

The morning after the alcoholic binge, have omelette with bread. Eggs provide energy to the body, build up the protein content and remove the accumulated toxins in the body.

An antacid can be taken to relieve queasiness and settle your stomach. Even a multi-vitamin or a vitamin B capsule helps in restoring the energy lost during your night of carousing.

apples, bananas and honey

Eating raw fruits or having a fresh and crunchy fruit salad is an effective way of treating hangovers. Apples and bananas in particular work as effective hangover cures.

In case of a headache, hav-ing an apple on an empty stom-ach lends fast relief. A banana shake with a tablespoon of honey is a good option. It not only relaxes your stomach and nerves but the honey present in the fruit shake resumes the lost blood-sugar, while the banana helps in regaining essential minerals like potassium, which the body loses due to alcohol.

Honey is one of the simplest and easily available home rem-edies. It has potent powers to neutralise the harmful effects of alcohol, thanks to the presence of fructose, which competes with the metabolism of alcohol. Honey also helps in the diges-tion of alcohol inside a person’s body.

get riD of Hangover witH 5 simple Home remediesDrinking water is the best cure for a hangover. so try to drink as much water as

you can while you are drinking. if you are hung over and have to rush to your job, do not fret. we bring you some effective home remedies from experts to

overcome hangover and save you from turning your night’s fun into a nightmare the next morning!

gingerGinger is a

tried and test-ed treatment for nausea and s e a s i c k n e s s . And that’s why it is considered as one of the best home remedies for a hangover.

Chewing 2-3 small pieces of gin-ger or taking a cup of ginger tea lends fast relief. In addition, you can pre-pare a brew by boiling 10 to 12 slices of fresh ginger root in 4 cups of water for ten minutes. Now, add the juice of one orange, 1/2 lemon and 1/2 cup of honey to it. This concoction helps stabilise blood sugar, which is usually low after alcohol consumption.

LemonL e m o n

juice or lemon tea is a popular home remedy for hangovers. It helps to assimilate alcohol and provides instant relief. The best trait of lemon is that it makes a gentle medicine that can be taken on a possibly upset stomach.

Lemon rich tea detoxifies the stomach of unwanted materials. On the other hand, fresh lemon juice pre-pared in cold water with little sugar also gives fast relief. This drink con-trols the sugar level in the blood after an excess intake of alcohol.

tomato

Tomato juice contains fruc-tose, a type of sugar that helps your body metabolise alcohol faster. This is why dehydration caused due to a hangover can be compen-sated by taking freshly prepared tomato juice or soup.

Lime

Lime is the answer to queasi-ness, dizziness, sensitivity to light and sound and all kinds of muscle aches caused due to excessive al-cohol intake. It offers vitamin C which stabilises your blood sugar levels.

As soon as you wake up, pre-pare a mixture of two teaspoons of lime water, a teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 cup of water. Drink it slowly and it will stabilise the blood sugar.

Do’s and don’ts of drinking Make sure you never take alcohol

on an empty stomach. Always eat something before or while you are enjoying your drinks as this will not only slow down the rate at which alcohol enters your blood, but will also reduce the after-effects.

Try to alternate between an alcoholic drink and a non-alcoholic beverage. This will lead to an overall reduction in the quantity of alcohol you consume.

Prefer clear alcohol, such as white wine, vodka, gin etc. It is believed that the darker the alcoholic drink, the

more likely it is to cause hangovers, thanks to the presence of more congeners (a substance in alcohol that is supposed to cause headaches).

Avoid sweet and sugary foods after or while you drink. Sweet taste makes it tough for the drinker to judge how much alcohol he/she is actually consuming. It also believed that sugar makes the drink hit you harder.

Try not to have a carbonated drink with alcohol as carbonation speeds up the alcohol absorption.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 201518

G talk

Letter to the editor

koUsHik HAzARikAEditor

swAPNiL BHARALiExEcutivE Editor

is the declassification of the netaji files at

all necessary?

Interactive

E D I T O R I A L

Point

CoUnter Point

Firstly, Happy Durga Puja to all of us. I just wanted to raise the old question that is Assam or the North East not a part of India? National News Channels show little or negligible news and most of these are almost irrelevant to the people. But they never show a clipping or cover anything big happening or has happened in North East

India. Why is it so? Vishal Surana

The term ‘declassification’ has always been something intriguing to the Indian ears with most of them hearing about it happening only in the western countries. But now that something like this is going to happen in their own country, it has be-come a point of debate and controversy. As far as declassification goes, it falls under the ambit of ‘freedom of information’ and different countries have different rules governing declassification. In most of the cases, information is withheld only on cases of state secrets that might be harm-ful when released.

It is obvious that once Netaji’s files are declassified, a lot of controversies will be created but then why should information be held back. History should not be fabri-cated, it should be based on facts and the declassification will set things straight – no matter how unrelenting it is. As modern Indians, there is certainly an enhanced level of understanding and awareness and a simple piece of history will not go on to change the course the country is currently on. So why is there such a huge cry over it? Let the truth prevail and sort itself out. One thing is certain, the battle after this, will mostly be fought in the political power corridors and not on the streets!

Not at all, especially after all these years. Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose, without doubt, was one of our tallest lead-ers. Perhaps, if he had had his way in the freedom struggle, India would have seen a different political history devoid of the Nehru-Gandhi variety. It has been 70 long years since he disappeared under a cloak of enigma. Trying to find out the reasons and chase the circumstances of his disappear-ance makes no sense. It is one thing that the truth should be known. But what about the half-truths that are likely to surface with the declassification? What about wrong in-terpretations of the contents in such files? And to carry things to the international dip-lomatic levels, what about good relations between India and the other countries be-ing damaged because of such truths, half-truths and wrong interpretations? Wouldn’t all that tarnish the extremely respectable enigmatic persona of Netaji? At the expense of expressing my opinion, I wonder how the whole issue has come to acquire national importance. And what is the big necessity of “launching” the declassification drive so ceremoniously on 23rd January next year?

They say silence is golden. They also say speaking your mind is important.

Events and incidents in the so-ciety provide an opportunity to practise both. Keeping mum is good but speaking out is better, especially if it is an opinion. We at G Plus somehow remained mum. No we weren’t stunned into silence. Rather we found it funny that the Sahitya Akad-emists of the country were at their combative best. They were col-lectively staging a protest despite being miles apart geographically. They hated the current govern-ment and they were raising their voices against its failure to curb the growing religious intolerance in the country. How? By becom-ing non-Sahitya Akademists, by returning the very symbol of ap-preciation which identified them as literary stalwarts of the nation, by committing a deed which, by no fancy imagination, is a solu-tion to the problem at hand.

Yes! It was a bandwagon and jumping on to it seemingly be-came a fashion. Two of our lo-cal stalwarts also regarded it as a favourable opportunity to come back into the limelight, fading as they were from the minds of peo-ple of their generation. The new generation seemed to know noth-ing about them and the moment was opportune to blow a trumpet,

give interviews. Without being even a wee bit preachy, I venture to humbly submit before these decorated literary stalwarts that it requires no great intelligence to understand that a gesture of pro-test is no good unless it delivers a good body blow in physical terms. Returning an award does not qualify especially when the mon-etary component of the award has long been enjoyed and digested.

In this age of technology, there are better ways of register-ing a protest. Joining a band-wagon is the last of these. Hello Akademists, come together on Facebook, form a Whatsapp group across India, combine your immense resourcefulness, strategize and plan as you had in your novels, and then hit the gov-ernment where it would hurt the most. Give a body blow! Return-ing recognition (without of course the most vital monetary part of it) so benevolently bestowed on you because of your immense liter-ary capabilities only smacks of hypocrisy and raises unhealthy questions on your intentions. This late in your life, is this warranted? In this day and age, couldn’t you have done anything more tangible using your awesome skills to cre-ate a far better impact than wat is turning out to be mirthless joke?

angry ‘akademists’

This year’s Durga Puja was a relatively low-key affair or so it seemed.

The crowds were thinner, the cacophony was lesser, res-taurants were serving food on time and most surpris-ingly, the traffic was moving smoothly. Yes, there were congestions in certain parts of Guwahati, but overall it seemed that the roads were as crowded as on any regular weekday.

Of course, this was the case last year as well and Guwahatians were more than willing to praise and thank the traffic cops and the district administration for a well managed Durga Puja and the same happened this year as well. People took to social media en masse to post, tweet and share their thoughts about how well a job done it was.

The Traffic yardsTick

Now, think about it for a minute! Aren’t the traf-fic police supposed to do just that – manage the traf-fic and ensure that there is a free flow of vehicles? The last six months or so has seen a trend of people praising the traffic cops at the drop of a hat. This of course is not a bad thing but then is the yardstick that short?

What were they doing all these years? And if this level of traffic discipline draws such praise, people should stop doing it. There is a lot to be done still and Guwahati should not let up the pressure on the au-thorities. The present level of discipline is simply not enough – people still lack basic traffic sense and these need to be imple-mented with an iron hand!

Hello Sir,This is with regard to the recent announcement made by the Union minister (DoNER), Ji-

tendra Singh that there will be new hostels made separately for students from the Northeast states of India at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) which will be completed by 2017.

Much as we appreciate the endeavour taken by the government to give NE students special provisions, the concept of a separate hostel with the aim of helping students from Northeast gel with mainstream Delhi might turn counterproductive. I deem it so because the goal should be the amalgamation of students to form one single fraternity. This physical demarcation of students by creating a separate hostel will only further polarize the north-eastern fraternity from the rest besides raising the intolerance of the people of Delhi. Moreover, students who come looking for better education and opportunities will stand more isolated than ever. We don’t need the spirit of brotherhood thrust upon us. Rather it should be instinctive and come from within. There is definitely something wrong in the mind-set of the people of the capital of India if this is the only solution that the government can come up with. Maybe the capital needs education in sensitization and not just concrete buildings.

Thank you,(NAmE witHHELD)

kALyAN DEB

sHAmim mokLEs

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 19

events

october 24th tooctober 30th

7DaysEvents

next

OCT 24

TOPAZ/7:00 PM BOLLYWOOD NITE

WITH DJ RAVISH FROM JAIPUR; PROGRESSIVE AND HOUSE MUSIC

HOTEL CONTOUR/11:00 AM

BOUTIQUES OF INDIA EXHIBITIONS; WEDDING AND LIFESTYLE EXHIBITION (16TH EDITION)

OCT 25

CHEERS CROSSROADS/7:00 PM

RHYTHM 8 GIG; A PERFORMANCE BY ‘POLLENGERS’: A GUWAHATI BASED QUARTET FORMED IN THE YEAR 2015. THE BAND PLAYS BLUES, FUNK AND HARD ROCK.

OCT 26

BEHIND KANIYA APARTMENT, NEAR SIPANI GUEST HOUSE, PROFESSOR BYE LANE, K.C. ROAD, CHATRIBARI/6:30 AM THE INNER PEACE - [HEALTH WORKSHOP : YOGA&MEDITATION / ZUMBA FITNESS]For registering, Call or WhatsApp on- 88223-19111 / 8752845288

OCT 28

CHEERS CROSSROADS M.I.M.E PRESENTS “ THE CURSE WORDS: A TRIBUTE TO TUPAC “ CONTACT: 99576529788, 9706328494Full coverage charge : INR 500 (Entry, Food and Drinks)Sudem Swargiary (9957652988)Niyor Damansekhar (9706328494)

tHe saree sagaDate: 18th october, 2015venue: slice of Heaven

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 201520

Reviews

Adolf Hitler’s makeover from r a b b l e - r o u s e r

to statesman coincided with a series of dramatic home renovations he undertook during the mid-1930s. This provoc-ative book exposes the dictator’s preoccupation with his private persona, which was shaped by the aesthetic and ideological management of his do-mestic architecture. Hit-ler’s bachelor life stirred rumors, and the Nazi

regime relied on the dic-tator’s three dwellings—the Old Chancellery in Berlin, his apartment in Munich, and the Berg-hof, his mountain home on the Obersalzberg—to foster the myth of the Führer as a morally up-standing and refined man. Author Despina Stratigakos also reveals the previously untold story of Hitler’s interior designer, Gerdy Troost, through newly discov-ered archival sources.

album: hitler at home

artist:despina

Stratigakos

You

ShouLD

LISten

Cast: Kartik Aryan, Nusrat Bharucha, Sunny NijarDirector: Luv Ranjan

This is Assassin’s Creed Syndicate’s playground. One

moment you’re free-running through a bor-ough towards the next story mission, the next you’re sneaking through a dilapidated building picking off criminals as you find yourself ir-resistibly drawn to the promise of experience points and in-game cash--not to mention notoriety among the London underground. The organic way in which missions and side projects pop up is bolstered by their placement in a gorgeous rendition of 1868 Lon-don, complete with massive factories spewing smoke into the sky and intricately detailed cop-ies of every major landmark you can think of--all climbable, of course. Overlaying all of this is one of the best stories the Assassin’s Creed franchise has told in recent years, featuring dual protago-nists that are relatable and lovable. Occasionally during climbing it can feel like your freedom of movement is limited, and controls will some-times sabotage you with some unwieldiness and counterintuitive button placement. More of the environment has been made available for you to climb on, and the rope launcher can attach to

nearly all ledges, so these small occurrences of flying off the rails are inconvenient at worst. But overall combat and movement feel great, and As-sassin’s Creed Syndicate’s story is charming, while countless amusements will keep you lost in Lon-don for hours.

Syndicate’s story is an intimate, personal tale like that of last year’s Assassin’s Creed Unity mixed with older Assassin’s Creeds’ tendencies to pack in the historical figures. The modern day elements are more toned down than they were in previous Assassin games, so much so that they’re barely present. You spend all your time as Jacob and Evie Frye, assassin twins who come to Lon-don in 1868. Under the leadership of Crawford Starrick, the Templars have a stranglehold on the city, and a sinister gang called the Blighters run things to their liking.

A few years back, Luv Ranjan had regaled us with the high-ly misogynistic but entertain-

ing Pyaar Ka Punchnama and now, the filmmaker has come up with a sequel to the story, which again deals with the same issues that had been raised in the prequel.

Sounds familiar? Well, it should because the prequel had the same plot and though the formula worked then, we can’t help but imagine that Ranjan must have been tempted to cash on it again by making the se-quel. Notwithstanding the fact that the movie is a total timepass fare and

has quite some funny gags, the film as a whole has nothing new to offer as such.

To give credit to the director, the characters are entertaining enough, the dialogues are funny and songs are decent enough. However, we feel that the sequel would have been more entertaining had it explored the other side of the story too, for the women hardly get to do anything, leaving the men to rant and whine about the is-sues they face in a relationship.

Aaryan is as entertaining as can be, though it seems like he walked in directly from the sets of the prequel.

Omkar Kapoor and Sunny Singh, who have made their debuts with this film, surprise you with an earnest and decent effort and the chemistry between the three pals comes across as real and relatable, especially when they banter and bicker with each oth-er. The women don’t get to do much but look pretty, though Bharucha gets more screen time than the other two ladies.

All in all, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is not a bad watch as long as you don’t expect the film to offer some-thing different from what the prequel dished out.

Game

ReVIeW

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Pankaj KapoorDirector: Vikas Bahl

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nowsHowing

When Vikas Bahl had made the highly entertain-

ing yet touching Queen, the industry welcomed him with open arms and waited for the talented director to serve up an-other fresh and delicious offering.

When Alia and the family head off to Europe for the destination wed-ding of Bipin’s eldest daughter Isha (Sanah Ka-poor), little do the father-daughter duo realize how the trip is going to change their lives. Of course, the wedding is a mere business deal orches-trated by the tyrannical but bankrupt matriarch Kamla Arora (Sushma Seth), who mutters dia-logues lifted straight from the Dil Dhadakne Do script where Anil Kapoor justifies marrying off his son to the daughter of a potential financial backer.

While at the idyllic European countryside,

Alia develops a romantic relationship with Jag-jinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor), the wedding planner, who too can’t seem to sleep at nights. The two insomniacs man-age to have the time of their lives, while matri-monial politics continue in the background.

Shahid is decent in his role as the street-smart JJ while Alia is blessed with that cuteness usually associated with puppies and kittens. Pankaj Kapur is dependable as always while newcomer Sanah puts in an earnest effort, leaving the hamming to Sanjay Kapur and the rest of the cast. Karan Johar is wickedly witty in his cameo and we hope to see more of him on the silver screen.

Of course, because Isha is getting married to a Sindhi boy, there are dozens of Sindhi jokes, which again seem to be aimed at making up for

the lack of a solid story.If that was not all,

there are many animated scenes, which make the film seem very unreal and fake, like a fairy tale writ-ten by a kid pretending to be an adult. In one scene, Alia picks up a ghastly green frog (animated, of course) from a stream, almost kisses it, cuddles it and carries it around with her all the time. Why Bahl thought this would impress viewers or make them go ‘Áwww’, is something that only he can throw light on...

The music is quite nice (especially the title track, Gulaabo and Raaita Phail Gaya) and might be the only highlight of the film.

The film does have its funny moments, but overall, the treatment of the story is such that it fails to touch your heart. Better luck next time, Mr. Bahl.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 21

Lifestyle

Indrajeet Bhuyan is a 17 year old tech blogger and security researcher. He is passionate about computers and believes in sharing knowledge and information . He uses his spare time help-ing people and companies secure them-selves. fb.me/indrajeet.bhuyan

In March, a Russian secu-rity researcher devised a weird USB stick that is ca-

pable of destroying sensitive components of a computer when plugged-in.

Now, the same research-er, nicknamed Dark Purple, has launched a new version of his computer-frying USB Killer pendrive – USB Killer version 2.0.

USB Killer 2.0 is much more powerful than the pre-vious version and is able to “kill” more than just a PC it is plugged in to.

Well, it doesn’t install malware or exploit a zero-day vulnerability. Instead, the customised USB stick sends 220 Volts (technically minus 220 Volts) through the signal lines of the USB inter-face, frying the hardware.

The first version of this USB stick consisted of a DC/DC converter, a few caps and an FET.

When plugged into a sys-tem, the converter in the USB would charge the caps up to -110V, apply that volt-age to signal lines of the USB interface, and repeat the en-tire process until everything possible in the computer is broken down. However, the second version of this USB stick dumps -220V di-rectly onto the signal lines of the USB interface, which is powerful enough to dam-age practically any computer with a USB port.

So it won’t be wrong to say that a computer could be converted into a bomb because a hacker can prob-ably make your computer explode as well, in the near future.

this UsB stick will fry your

computer within

secondsLosing fat is one of the most dif-

ficult things the human body has to undergo and a well bal-

anced diet combined with effective supplements, helps and aids in losing fat faster because homemade food can only go so much in providing optimum nutrition given our high pressure jobs, families, and social in-teractions. With the depletion of crop nutrients and increased levels of fer-tilizers in our food products, dietary supplements are becoming an inte-gral part of our daily schedule. The trick to use supplements is to know enough about them and how they work and to consult with a qualified Sports Nutritionist. Some of the sup-plements that can make your fat loss progress more effective are:

ProteinThe primary source of nutrition

for the human body, proteins are responsible for repairing damaged muscles after a vigorous workout and for overall growth of the body. But with our high paced lifestyle, getting the optimal amount of protein with every meal becomes difficult. Al-though protein is available from vari-ous natural sources in chicken, fish, meat, eggs, milk, paneer, soya, tofu, lentils, pulses, legumes etc, dietary supplements are preferred by people for convenience and its ease of use. Supplements come in various forms like powders, bars, semi-liquid, liq-uid and gels which can be put in a shaker thereby giving pre-workout, post-workout doses in an instant. Also protein needs to be high on the agenda when aiming for weight loss. These macronutrients can boost the body’s metabolism, preserve lean mass and drive away the feeling of

why supplements are necessary for fat Loss & Muscle gain?

hunger, helping us to avoid junk food which is the main source of putting on unnecessary fat.

Conjugated Linoleic acid (Cla)

CLA is a potent anti-oxidant, an-ti-carcinogen and a powerful immu-nity booster. CLA is found in natural sources like sunflower seeds, safflow-er seeds, dairy products, meats etc. Supplementation of CLA can have the following benefits: increased met-abolic rate, weight loss and improved body composition. Studies have shown that it can also decrease belly fat and lower bad cholesterol levels.

L CarnitineAn amino acid which is found

in natural food sources like mut-ton, lamb, beef, chicken, yeast, milk, wheat-germ, peanuts and cauliflower. Available in liquid and capsule sup-plements, L Carnitine plays a vital role in fat metabolism. The principal function of L Carnitine is to facilitate the metabolism of fats to obtain en-ergy. Without L Carnitine, fats can-not be cannot be driven into the mi-tochondria to be used as a source of fuel during physical activity because of which fat loss occurs.

fish oilThese are Omega 3 fatty acid

which help in stabilizing the hor-mone ‘leptin’ in the body which regu-lates fat. Also good for the heart, fish oils have anti-inflammatory proper-ties, are immune boosters and have muscle building properties. Fish oils

The end of the year is just around the corner. 2 more months and we’ll all be wish-

ing each other Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for weeks. And there’s nothing better than to take a trip towards the end of the year and make a fresh start to the year. The sun moves away from the Northern Hemisphere and towards the south-ern bringing in the chills. India has a lot of destinations you might want to hit before you take up those interna-tional flights and burn a hole in your pocket. So here are some of the best destinations you can check out this November-December.

goa

Considered as the best tourist destination in India, Goa is home to Christmas in December, rave par-ties all throughout November and December and hosts one of the big-gest parties during these months,

BiBHU Moni singHaFitness expert & sports Nutri-tionistGym manager, training & Nutri-tion Head, sFl Fitness, Guwa-hati

can be found in natural sources like sardines, tuna etc. Supplements are available in transparent gel capsules.

green tea extractThis extract has a compound called Epigallo Catechin Gallate (EGCG); which revs up a person’s metabo-lism and accelerates weight loss by augmenting body temperature. It also improves digestion of food and increases the total number of calories burnt. Additionally, it also contains caffeine which increases the heart rate and enhances a person’s fat burning potential. These supple-ments are available in capsules or in normal dried form.

CaffeineIt can primarily help you lose

weight in two ways – firstly, it is a good boost for lipolysis and helps the body to use stored fat as energy by in-creasing the body’s metabolism. It is a CNS stimulant which helps reduce fatigue and helps train harder and longer in the gym as a result of which,

more calories can be burnt and more fat loss is targeted. These supplements are available in capsule, powder or tablets.

Branched Chained amino acids (Bcaas)

Three different kinds of amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine are joined together and these amino acids are excellent post workout sup-plements because of their ability to boost energy, reduce fatigue, instigate muscle growth and also enhances fat loss. BCAAs can be found in all pro-tein-rich foods and can also be found in tablet and powder form.

So work out regularly, eat the right food and with the right dedica-tion, you too can achieve the epitome of your physique.

trippin’ time!the Sunburn Fest. Goa has expensive hotels and sea side shacks as shelters. So you can take your pick and get started. First tip: Don’t sleep when you’re Goa. You won’t realize what you missed in the blink of an eye. Tip number two, what happens in Goa, stays in Goa!

andaman islands

Targeting the Andaman Islands for travel is like shooting a lot of birds with one bullet. Ross Islands, Have-lock Islands, Port Blair, Chiriya Tapu among others are the islands you can visit with one trip. All the islands have their unique offerings and noth-ing in the Andamans makes you hit saturation point. Scuba, underwater walking, water sports, jet skiing, en-joying the sunset, birdwatching, An-daman Islands are an ideal vacation spot for the next month.

rann of Kutch

The Great Rann of Kutch is worth visiting in December because the entire white desert dries out after the monsoon rain and the famous Rann Utsav also begins. The Rann Utsav is ideal for camping, watching folk performances and enjoying night safaris in the desert.

Udaipur

The most beautiful destination Rajasthan has to offer is rich in its history, architecture, culture and visitors are showered with royalty. Everything in Udaipur has a sense of

regality. Udaipur will have the per-fect balanced weather for the next 2 months, and a variety of classical and folk programs are lined up including melas with traditional food. Get up and seize this season. Don’t forget to grab a souvenir on your way back!

Manali

With the mountains covered in white all around you, Manali will be the most scenic destination for a vacation this December. You could get cosy with your other half or you could just let out some adrenaline while indulging in adventure sports, skiing, trekking or maybe just roll around on the snow a lot.

(siDHARtH.BEDivARmA@G-PLUs.iN)

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 201522

entertainment

A new Assamese film, titled ‘Khel-The Game’, is set to release on October 30

across the state. The film has been directed renowned Assamese di-rector and producer Ashok Kumar Bishoya and produced by him un-der the banner of Lakshmi Narayan Films. The story, screenplay and dialogues have been penned by the young and very talented Rajdweep who is a lyricist, script writer and a journalist. This marks Rajdweep’s debut as a script writer and his first full length script for an Assamese movie.

The movie, deemed as an action-thriller has Barasha Rani Bishoya and Ankur Kumar Bishoya as Associate Directors. The lead in the movie has been played by Jay-anta Das and supported by An-kur Kumar Bishoya, Madhurima

On this auspicious occasion of Durga Puja, Zustin, a newcomer into the Assamese cultural industry re-cently released his latest Audio-Video song titled

‘Tana Nana Tana Nana Re’. The video features five very popu-lar comedians of the Assamese film industry who have come together for this video making the effort very novel and dif-ferent. The song depicts two young boys who are in love with two girls and as usual, the girls’ fathers make the boys’ hopes of professing their love impossible. The song and its music has been written and composed by Rekibul. The vocals have been rendered by Zustin, the music directed by Pulak Nath and the recording has been done by Palash Gogoi. The key roles in this video have been essayed by Jayanta Das, Hiranya Deka, Sid-dharth Sarma, Rajiv Kro, Rahul Das, Ashim Baishya, Urishma Dole, Priyanka Baishya, Snoove Das and Zustin. Choreogra-phy has been done by Ashim Baishya and cinematography has been done by Suruj Deka. Makeup artists include Dipshikha, Pranjal and Dipa and costumes have been designed by Chow Poran Gogoi. The song has been given a lot of colour and a dif-ferent twist to attract the audience and is being well received by Assamese music lovers.

Intellects, stakeholders, entre-preneurs, policy makers and intelligent young minds were

present at the event who shed light on the most important topics of the North East region. Effectively, the region and its issues came alive in the capital. The NEF is a colorful carnival showcasing the northeast and its various dance forms, folk music, food delicacies, handloom & handicraft, Agro & Horticul-ture, tribes, freedom fighters etc. through some colorful fashion shows, traditional sports, exhibi-tions and discussions. North East Festival acts as a platform to dis-cuss the critical issues of region

and during the NEF 2015, a session on tourism, buyers-sellers meet, discussion on Act East Policy, etc. were also held. Focusing on Tour-ism this year, the third edition of the festival saw the participation of almost 60 tribal artisans and tex-tile entrepreneurs who displayed a wide variety of traditional hand-loom and handicrafts like bamboo caps, chairs and decoration items of the region.

Musical bands including Alo-bo Naga and the Band, Yesterdrive, Traffic Jam, Zubeen Garg, Nis-hant Hagjer, Abiogenesis, Booma-rang and Parikrama and Borkung Hrangkhal also performed.

Bobby Sarma Barua, who earned laurels at national and internation-al film festivals for the remarkable

film Adamya is launching her next ven-ture titled Sonar-Baran Pakhi, a feature film based on the life of legendary folk singer Pratima Barua Pandey. The film is being produced under the banner of BB Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. in collaboration with the Assam State Film Finance and Development Corporation.

The movie will be mostly shot at Dhubri and then the unit will proceed to Kolkata for the rest of the shoot. Pandey was born on October 13, 1934, at Bal-lygunj, Kolkata and she studied at the Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School and the South Calcutta Girls’ College. Three major roles in the film will be essayed by Pranjal Saikia, Pakiza Begum and Pran-ami Bora.

northeastComing alive in new Delhi

a three-day northeast festival was held in new Delhi on october 16th. the event was held to showcase the vast resources, rich culture and

potential of the region. 

HUssAiN AHmED

Khel-the game set for release

kALyAN kUmAR kALitA

Choudhury, newcomer Debashish Bhattacharya and Puja Hazarika. Paran Borkotoky (Jojo), Dhrubajy-oti Phukan, Jayanta Pathak, Kamal Rashid Ahmed and Diganta Sarma have helped provide the music and Papon, Barnali Kalita, Mahalaksh-mi Iyer, Swaswati, Rupjyoti, Bristi, Antara Nandy, Simanta Shekhar,

Madhusmita Borthakur and Udit Narayan are the playback artists. The songs have been penned by Mrinal Kumar Choudhury, Zubeen Garg, Pradyut Baruah, Kamal Rashid Ahmed and Subil Barg. The soundtracks are already getting a good response and should make way for a great success of the movie.

tana nana tana nana re

film on Pratima Barua Pandey

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 2015 23

Citypedia

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HOROSCOPE

Aquarius

Aries

Libra

Gemini

Sagittarius

Leo

Taurus

Scorpio

Cancer

Capricorn

Virgo

Pisces

You likely have a lot on your plate, too, and will need to keep your focus in order to get it all done. However, last week’s Lunar Eclipse in Aries may have shaken your resolve, and you could find yourself getting upset or emotional about a key situation. Try to lighten your schedule this week if you can, as it will give you time to think. Avoid making spontaneous decisions.

Your social life may still be affected by last Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse, causing situations to become quite emotional. If you’re holding a party or celebration, it could be boisterous, so be prepared for plenty of noise. In fact, if you want to have an easier time, it might be a good idea to invite fewer people. It could also coincide with changes to your social circle whereby certain friends leave and new ones join the fold.

Remember to keep your personal details safe, back up important files, and keep receipts and paperwork if you buy big-ticket items or sign contracts. The Lunar Eclipse may have stirred up a desire for adventure - perhaps a kind of wanderlust! Seize opportunities, but don’t do anything you might later come to regret.

Though you may have good intentions at the start of the week, go easy, as your relationship sector is affected and could unleash powerful feelings. If you’ve sensed that you and another have an issue, you might want to tread with care on Monday and for a few days after. It might not be easy to compromise either, so go with the flow. Make key decisions once you feel calmer.

Try to resist should you find yourself falling in love this week. If you can’t, then at least avoid rushing into anything. Last Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse probably stirred up feelings, even obsessive ones. Should you be in the midst of an emotional maelstrom, then know-ing what’s happening might help you avoid acting impulsively. Retrograde Mercury might bring someone from the past back into your life.

Watch out for communication snafus, especially on Monday and in the days following. A volatile vibe could see you ready to stand your ground and be completely honest. Given the emotional factor that’s showing up, it might be better to try a more tactful or conciliatory approach. If you don’t mind losing a friend or business connection, go for it. If you want to keep a friend, be careful about what you say.

You may think you’re fine with a certain situation, but your feel-ings could reveal a completely different picture. You could find yourself getting emotional even though you’re trying hard not to. This could be due to last Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse stirring up feelings and perhaps causing you to consider the worst-case scenario. You’ll be feeling a lot steadier and more at peace with the world a few days down the line.

The Moon is your personal planet, so you may notice the residual effects of last Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse more than most. Be ready for action in your career sector, which might include a new opportunity or the chance to change to a more lucrative job. When one door closes, another opens. The cosmos may have big plans for you, so look at the bigger picture.

You’re full of vitality and eager to take the world by storm. However, Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse may have brought up emotions that you didn’t know you had, which could derail you somewhat. Consider lightening your schedule if you can, as it might make your life a lot easier. Where finances are concerned, you may experience delays, but you can avoid a lot of stress by not leaving things to the last minute.

Take care of yourself, especially early in the week as there could be minor accidents, especially if you’re feeling upset or frustrated. Try to leave Monday and Tuesday free of too many appointments and unnecessary stress, as you’ll find life a lot easier if you do. The Sun in your spiritual sector encourages you to relax, so make this your mantra for the days ahead.

If you already know what this is about, then it might help to try and resolve it sooner rather than later. Opt for a heart-to-heart talk, if possible. If that isn’t going to work, then you might need to go with the flow and tackle any problems if and when they show up. However, the aspects encourage change, so things could be different and perhaps better once the air is cleared.

Watch your spending this week, as you may be encouraged to splurge on impulse. If you see something you like, you’ll be very tempted to go for it no matter how much it costs. However, it’s best to avoid doing anything you might regret at a later date or that might wreck your credit rating. Relationships continue to be fun and motivational. If you need someone to get you moving, you won’t be short of people eager to cheer you on.

SuDoku

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A Sudoku puzzle consists of 81 cells which are di-vided into nine columns, rows and regions. The task is now to place the numbers from 1 to 9 into the empty cells in such a way that in every row, column and 3×3 region each number appears only once.

G PLUS OCT 24- OCT 30, 201524

Catching upMost shared story of the week

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The possesion. Photo: Adib Zamali

GYANJyoti chitraban

Guwahati

PIcoF theweek

About MeHi there, I am Srishti

‘Liza’ Saikia and I hail from Guwahati. I am 19 and currently pursuing BBA from Gauhati Commerce College. I have been modelling for quite some time now. I love swimming, singing, dancing and hanging out with my friends.

MojoI am inspired by

Steve Jobs and Kangana Ranaut. I say this while knowing that both are two very different personalities and I look up to them because they have shown that there is nothing in the world people can’t do if you are focused in pursuing your ambitions

Route in the Woods

After my graduation, I want to pursue MBA and then I want to study acting at the New York Film Academy and I know for a fact that I will pursue acting in the end.

srisHti saikia

NewChic

on theblock

As the city bids adieu to the festivities of Durga Puja, the G PLUS Social Media

handle received various photos of the most creative puja pandals this year. And among all of these, a photo shared by one of our fans from Hojai was the buzz of the week. The theme of the pandal was Goddess Durga and

her Facebook page. Naturally, this post was the most engaging post this week as the post was shared 65 times, liked by more than 450 people and kept the comments section buzzing.

Situated in Kahilipara against a scenic backdrop in the foothills of the Narakasur

Hills on a 10-acre plot of land, the establishment of Jyoti Chitrabon came into existence in 1961. It is the only film studio in the entire northeast. Paying due respect to the father of Assamese Cinema, Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwalla, the name of the film studio was rightfully selected as “Jyoti Chitrabon” by Dr. Bhupen Hazarika where Jyoti stands for Jyoti Prasad

Agarwalla and Chitrabon being the name of the studio established by him in his “Bholaguri Tea Estate” during the production of the movie “Joymoti”. The studio became functional in the year 1968 with one shooting floor, which was named after Pramathesh Chandra Baruah who was a towering personality of Indian Cinema and hailed from this part of the country. “Bhadari” was the first short feature film shot on this floor under the direction of Nip Baruah.