G Plus Volume 1 Issue 41

VOL 01 | ISSUE 41 | JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

`10 

24 Pages 

GOVT TO 

PUSH 

ON WITH 

EVICTION 

DRIVE 

Nargis Fakhri 

Catching Up, Pg 24 

PG 

17 

BRAZIL 

2014 

ONE FOR THE AGES 

PG 12 

AUTHORITIES PLAY HARDBALL 

AGAINST CITY BUSES 

PG 02 

The City Traffic Police have renewed 

their resolve to set the unruly traffic 

of the city in order and make way for 

smoother commuting for the citizens 

Ward Watch 

@ 

RUPNAGAR 

Ward No 18 

Page No 11

2 

In The News 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

AUTHORITIES PLAY HARDBALL 

AGAINST CITY BUSES 

Mrinmoyee Hazarika 

The City Traffic Police have renewed their resolve to set the unruly traffic of 

the city in order and make way for smoother commuting for the citizens 

In its endeavour to make Guwahati 

a better place for the commuters, 

the district transport authority, 

Kamrup (M) along with the office of 

the city traffic police has dug its heels 

deep against the city buses plying on 

the roads of the city every day. 

The DTO and Kamrup (M) has 

taken stern actions on the faulty 

city buses, which cause major traffic 

congestions on the roads of the 

city most of the time. They started a 

drive from last Wednesday, the 9th of 

July against the faulty autorickshaws, 

trekkers, school buses and vehicles 

from other states plying illegally inside 

the city and other faulty vehicles 

besides the city buses on the roads. 

On the first day of the two-day 

drive carried out by the DTO (enforcement), 

Kamrup (M) the authority 

has seized an altogether twenty 

nine city buses and out of those 16 

were using black tints on their glasses. 

It has also seized eight autorickshaws 

for not operating their meters. 

The DTO (enforcement) has also realised 

an amount of `18,000 fine from 

all sorts of faulty private and commercial 

vehicles plying on the roads. 

City traffic’s initiative 

Lack of professionalism and 

reckless driving shown on parts of 

the city bus drivers and conductors 

has not only caused severe traffic chaos 

on the roads, but also taken precious 

lives of the people. 

The office of the city traffic police 

has issued a notice to all the inspectors 

of traffic police of Guwahati on 

30th June and has asked them to take 

action against the city buses, which 

have violated traffic rules and regulations. 

“A notice, mentioning some of 

the violations done by the city buses 

plying on the roads of Guwahati has 

been issued to all the traffic inspectors 

of the city and asked them to take 

strict and necessary action against 

those city buses which have cumulatively 

violated the traffic rules and 

regulations. These violations have 

also been the causes of traffic congestion 

that occur on the city roads,” city 

traffic SP, Pranabjyoti Goswami told 

G Plus. 

The notice issued by the city traffic 

SP includes six point violations 

found among the city buses plying in 

Guwahati. These are City bus stops at 

any place to pick up passengers; the 

buses do not halt at the designated 

stoppages; most of the time, the city 

buses do not start their trips from the 

starting point or go to the destination 

and make their trips in between as 

per their will contributing to the increase 

in the frequency of the buses 

and traffic congestion on the roads; 

both the drivers and conductors do 

not wear uniform. 

The notice further mentions that 

other vehicles are seen parked at the 

city bus stoppages and the traffic inspectors 

have been asked to ensure 

that thirty metres of road stretch 

designated for the city bus stoppages 

should be kept clear to give smooth 

passage to the city buses to halt at the 

stoppages. These stretches of roads 

should be covered by cones, so that 

the city buses can park/halt inside 

the bays and make rooms for other 

vehicular traffic playing on the roads. 

The city traffic SP also highlighted 

the need of developing a psychology 

even among the traffic personnel 

for proper management of the traffic. 

“There is no separate training 

centre for the traffic police in the 

state. The personnel who have been 

trained at Assam police training centre 

in Dergaon have been inducted 

into the department of traffic police 

after the completion of training. It 

is very necessary to train the people 

who have been entrusted to manage 

the traffic congestion on road,” 

city traffic SP, Pranabjyoti Goswami 

added. 

The traffic SP also issued a notice 

prohibiting six wheeler and fourwheeled 

trucks moving inside the 

city. All the six-wheeled trucks will 

be allowed to enter the city after 11 

pm till 6.30 am. Restriction has been 

applied on some of the roads for four 

wheeled trucks between 7.30 am to 

10.30 am and 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm. 

Moreover, in order to ensure safety 

for the general public and smooth 

traffic flow, the office of the city traffic 

has imposed restrictions on slow 

moving vehicles like rickshaws, thelas, 

pony carts and handcarts from 8 

am to 9 pm on some of major roads. 

These include the DG road, MG road, 

GS road, GNB road, RGB road, PR 

road and B Barooah road. 

DTO’s initiative 

In order to discuss the urgent issues 

related to the services of the city 

buses and trekkers plying in greater 

Guwahati and improve the current 

situation, a meeting was held on the 

21st June of this year where the representatives 

of the DTO, Kamrup (M), 

city traffic police, city bus and trekker 

associations had participated. 

After the meeting, it was decided 

that training programme would be 

organised by the city bus and shared 

“There is 

no separate 

training centre 

for the traffic 

police in the 

state. The 

personnel who 

have been 

trained at 

Assam police 

training centre 

in Dergaon 

have been 

inducted into 

the department 

of traffic 

police after the 

completion of 

training. It is 

very necessary 

to train the 

people who have 

been entrusted 

to manage 

the traffic 

congestion on 

road” 

Pranabjyoti Goswami, 

City traffic SP 

taxi associations at regular intervals 

to enlighten the drivers on the rules 

of the road for streamlining traffic 

behaviour on the roads. 

“In the first phase, a training programme 

was organised on 15th June 

at Bamunimaidan where officials 

from the DTO, Kamrup (M) and city 

bus drivers participated. Besides, the 

office of the DTO, Kamrup (M) has 

carried out an enforcement drive 

at different areas of the city against 

faulty vehicles, auto and other vehicles 

and this will continue in the 

future as well,” Gautam Das, DTO, 

Kamrup (M) told G Plus. 

“This training programme will 

be treated as a refresher course for 

the public service vehicle drivers. 

A refresher course completion certificate 

will be awarded to the participants 

with signature of the DTO 

(registration and licensing), Kamrup 

(M) which will be countersigned by 

the SP city traffic police. The driving 

licenses of city bus and shared 

taxi drivers will be renewed only on 

production of this certificate. The 

certificate will invariably have to be 

produced while driving on demand 

of the enforcement authority, Kamrup 

(M),” the minutes of the meeting 

states. 

Currently, there are roughly 1200 

city buses in the city. The Assam State 

Transport Corporation (ASTC) operates 

around 250 city buses including 

the ones provided under Jawaharlal 

Nehru National Urban Renewable 

Mission (JNNURM) and about 3 

lakh Guwahatians use city buses to 

travel to various destinations every 

day. 

mrinmoyee.hazarika@g-plus.in

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 3 

Date: 29 th June, Venue: Crest 

UNION BUDGET 2014 

In The News 

IS NDA TRYING TO THANK VOTERS 

OR INDUSTRIALISTS? 

RAHUL CHANDA 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 

government faced its first test 

in Parliament when the Budget 

Session started on Monday. The 

Opposition was expected to corner 

the government on the issues of price 

rise, rail fare hike and others but the 

Congress poster boy Rahul Gandhi’s 

napping video inside the Parliament 

drew much criticism on the seriousness 

of the opposition on any national 

issue. The budget presented by the 

new government was lauded by many 

but was also criticised quite a lot. Will 

this year’s budget bring any change to 

the development scenario of the nation 

and especially to this region? 

The rail budget 

In the Railway Budget, Union 

Railway Minister DV Sadananda 

Gowda unveiled many new measures 

to make Indian Railways, which runs 

about 20,000 trains and ferries, 23 

million passengers daily, a modern, 

efficient and commercially viable 

utility. He presented proposals, subject 

to parliamentary approval, for 

introduction of 58 new trains, paperless 

office in next five years, digital 

reservation charts, wi-fi in select 

stations and trains, wake-up call for 

passengers, separate freight terminals, 

office-on-wheels for business 

travellers, more money for cleanliness 

and safety, food courts at stations, 

expansion of rail tourism and 

better connectivity in hilly areas and 

north-eastern states. The minister 

claimed that some stations will be developed 

like modern airports. There 

were many points explained by the 

minister in the Parliament and some 

of the interesting highlighting points 

were: 

• Receipts in 2014-15 estimated at 

`164,374 Crore, expenditure at 

`149,176 Crore 

• Receipts in 2013-14 were `139,550 

Crore, expenditure was `130,321 

Crore 

• First bullet train to run on Mumbai- 

Ahmedabad route 

• Trains on select routes to be speeded 

up to 160-200 km per hour 

• Ticketing to be further modernise to 

issue 7,200 tickets per minute 

• Would require `5 Lakh Crores in 10 

years for ongoing projects 

• To strengthen security in trains and 

stations, 17,000 RPF constables have 

been recruited. 4000 women constables 

to also be recruited. RPF teams in 

trains to be provided mobile phones 

• Railway to interact with industry to 

What does NE get? 

The Railway Minister earmarked 

an outlay of `5116 crore for Northeast 

railway projects for the fiscal 2014-15, 

which is a 54 percent hike over the 

previous allocations and 7 new trains 

were announced for the Northeast. 

Northeast Frontier Railway CPRO 

S Lahari said, “The funds which are 

allocated are for the works which are 

already sanctioned. There was a problem 

all these days that the sanctioned 

work were not completed because 

of lack of funds, but with the funds 

coming in the works can be expected 

to be completed soon.” Enquiring 

what Guwahati will get out of the 

funds allocated, the CPRO replied, 

“Guwahati already has a railway line 

and the funds are allocated for the 

entire northeast region which will 

make sure that the places without rail 

connectivity are connected with railway 

services.” 

In the past focus was on sanctioning 

projects rather than completing 

them. In the past 30 years 676 

projects worth `157883 Crore were 

sanctioned, of which 317 completed 

and 359 projects are yet to complete 

and require `182000 Crore. 

Finance 

In what is clearly a ‘thank you 

voter’ budget, the government raised 

tax income exemption limits, cut 

prices of middle class aspiration 

goods such as LCD/LED television 

sets and branded clothes, eased 

norms to boost housing as well as 

raised tax incentives on home loans. 

Still, it was no mindless revenueeroding 

populism. Finance Minister 

Arun Jaitley presented a budget to 

that parliament that not only vowed 

financial probity by restricting the 

attract investment in PPP mode 

• Port connectivity taken up in PPP 

mode 

• 58 new trains, among them five 

Jan Sadharan trains, five premium 

trains and six AC express trains to 

be introduced. Run of 11 trains to be 

extended 

• Wi-fi at select stations and select 

trains 

• Paperless railway offices in five years 

• Resource mobilisation using railway 

land assets will be explored through 

PPP mode 

• Food courts at major stations 

• CCTVs to monitor cleanliness at stations 

• Target to become largest freight carrier 

in the world 

The NDA 

government did not 

keep their promises 

as made before the 

Lok Sabha elections. 

Out of `37880 Crore 

sanctioned for NHAI 

projects across India, 

northeast got only 

`3000 Crores, which 

is less than even 10% 

of the total amount 

sanctioned. 

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, AGP president 

fiscal deficit to 4.1% of gross domestic 

product in 2014-15, but also virtually 

keeping spending unchanged if one 

takes inflation into consideration. In 

a signature initiative, which has been 

awaiting parliamentary nod for more 

than a decade, the government said 

it would also lift limits on foreign investment 

in defence and insurance to 

49% from 26%. 

Talking about northeast, organic 

farming, agricultural research, 

surface connectivity, sports and entertainment 

are set to get a boost in 

northeast India with Jaitley’s first 

budget allocating funds for these 

purposes. Jaitley pointed out that 

India has failed as a country to introduce 

sports in its main-stream 

academic activities. To remedy the 

situation, Modi government will set 

up national-level Sports Academies 

for major games in different parts of 

the countries. Some major allotments 

to the northeast are:- 

`3,000 Crore in the eight northeastern 

states during the ongoing fiscal 

for developing roads. The allocation is 

part of the total proposed allotment of 

`37,880 Crore for the National High- 

ways Authority of India. 

`1,000 Crore over and above the 

amount provided for in the railway 

budget. Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda 

Gowda, in the rail budget presented 

Tuesday, allocated an outlay of 

`5,116 Crore for projects in the northeastern 

region. 

Jaitley proposed to set up a sports 

university in Manipur and for this 

purpose an allocation of `100 Crore 

has been earmarked in the budget. 

Jaitley also announced ‘Arun- 

Prabha’, a new 24X7 television channel 

exclusively for the northeast region. 

Criticism 

Assam Congress members said, 

“The Budget deceived the people of the 

northeast. One of the long pending demands 

from the northeast is double-line 

tracks so as to put an end to the delay in 

arrival and departure of trains. The BJP 

itself demanded for it but the party has 

kept the demand in cold storage after 

coming to power.” 

AGP president and former chief 

minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said, 

“The NDA government did not keep 

their promises as made before the Lok 

Sabha elections. Out of `37880 Crore 

sanctioned for NHAI projects across 

India, northeast got only `3000 Crores, 

which is less than even 10% of the total 

amount sanctioned. If you talk about 

Assam, there are some major issues like 

floods, lack of industrialisation, insurgency, 

sealing of the international borders 

and so on, but nothing of these were even 

discussed during the budget session.” 

The CPI(M) is of the view that the 

NDA government is only thinking of 

the industrialists and not the common 

people. According to them, they are paying 

back the favours they took during 

elections. 

If the 2014 budget wooed some, it 

irked many too. But the question that 

remains is will the country and specially 

the northeast region will ever develop? 

The dream of creating smart cities is still 

far from reality and if it ever happens, 

will Guwahati be named in those cities? 

This is just the first budget, and four more 

years are still to go, but till then will everyone 

start earning as promised by Modi?

4 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

City 

CITY TURNS TRANSIT POINT 

RAHUL CHANDA 

As the city develops, the drug market also seems to be growing 

with the authorities making more and more seizures. 

FOR DRUGS 

Smuggling of narcotics and other 

drugs have been increasing 

along the unfenced India-Myanmar 

border since a long time. India 

has been working on plans of building 

economic corridors in Northeast 

India’s neighbourhood to boost foreign 

trade and to give the economy 

the much needed leap forward and 

the execution of the plans is crucial 

to achieve the goals of India’s Look- 

East policy, but the trade of narcotic 

substances and drugs is always going 

on secretly. 

There are laws and measures in 

place by the authorities to bar such 

activities but smuggling of drugs 

keeps happening and get apprehended 

too by the watchdogs like police, 

narcotics department and the CID. 

Guwahati being the gateway to the 

northeast, no communication to the 

rest of the world is possible without 

touching the city and therefore, it has 

become a transit point for the drug 

smugglers. Youths in the city are 

getting addicted to drugs too, which 

help the smugglers to run a business 

here as well. There are some major 

drug pockets in the city where peddlers 

sale and buy drugs. 

The northeast 

According to an analysis done by 

Brig (Dr) SP Sinha, ‘Northeast: the 

Role of Narcotics and Arms Trafficking’, 

the illegal narcotics trade is one 

of the major reasons for the continuance 

of insurgencies in the Northeast. 

The consequences of trafficking 

in narcotics are many; for one, it 

is a major source of funding for the 

insurgent groups, the other is the 

spread of AIDS in nearly all the states 

of the North-east. 

The linkage between arms, drugs 

and insurgency depends on three 

inter-related factors. First, to oppose 

and fight the government the insurgents 

need weapons. In the early stages, 

they procure them by snatching 

personal arms from complacent and 

ill-trained police and village guards; 

then as they become better organised 

they graduate to raiding isolated police 

posts, often in connivance with 

corrupt and sympathetic policemen. 

Next, as the struggle intensifies, the 

insurgents need more sophisticated 

weapons to challenge the firepower of 

the state for which they need funds. 

Very often, illicit trade in narcotics is 

the best source to raise funds. There 

is also a local requirement in the state 

as even various places in the state has 

a demand for drugs for the youths 

who are getting addicted to the life 

destroying chemicals. 

These days the international 

drugs entering the Indian market 

comes from Myanmar through 

Moreh and Dimapur as the root trav- 

els towards UP, Bihar, Kolkata, Delhi 

and Nepal entering the international 

market. Meanwhile, it also spreads in 

the entire country depending on the 

demand. This movement cannot be 

completed without touching Assam 

and Guwahati as the main transit 

point for smugglers. The authorities, 

from time to time, keep seizing narcotic 

substances in huge quantities 

and many arrests have been made. 

Sl No Name of drugs 2011 2012 2013 2014 (Upto March) 

No of cases 77 62 64 10 

1 Ganja 

2 Herion 

3 Opium 

4 Ephedrine 

5 Morphin 

Quantity seized 13092.1783 kgs 2346.407kgs 4467.077kgs 926.815kgs 

Person arrested 126/2F 83 84 12 

No of cases 10 24 22 6 

Quantity seized 1.02883 kgs 2.580753 kgs 0.835060 kg 0.511817 kgs 

Person arrested 11 36/1F 32 6 

No of cases 5 5 1 

Quantity seized 7.679020 kgs 17.100 kgs 5.20514 kgs 

Person arrested 8 8 2 

No of cases 1 

Quantity seized 

There are also a few discos and bars where 

drug consumption happens but as the bar 

owners are usually influential people and also 

because of lack of evidence, it is tough to scan 

them often. Since Guwahati has become the 

transit point for smugglers, the smuggling 

racket includes many local people of the city. 

The cases 

Cases registered, people arrested and quantity seized in Assam 

from 2011 upto 2014 March for some major drugs 

Person arrested 1 

No of cases 2 1 

Quantity seized 4.940 kgs 2.000 kgs 

Person arrested 2 2 

10 kgs 

City racket 

Guwahati has a lot of drug 

pockets these days from where 

peddlers sell the drugs to addicts. 

According to highly placed 

sources in the CID, some of the 

pockets are: 

Major pockets for powdered 

substance like 

brown sugar, heroin and 

psychotropic substances 

• Manipuri Basti 

• Satribari 

• Birubari 

• 6 th Mile 

• Dakhin Haraniya 

• Chandmari flyover 

• Hengrabari 

Pockets for ganja 

• Guwahati Railway Station 

• Bamuni Maidan Colony 

Bazar 

• Pandu 

Pockets for cough syrups 

• Maligaon 

There has been a rise in the number 

of cases of Ganja seizure in the 

last few years. Even Heroin has seen 

a trend of being highly used and 

hence the seizure cases are on a rise. 

Opium, Morphin and Ephedrine are 

smuggled but are not easily caught by 

the cops because people use various 

routes for smuggling. Opium is used 

for various medicinal preparation 

like cough syrup and it is used in the 

preparation of Heroin as well. 

Along with the smuggling of 

these substances, recently there was 

an increase in the number of cases 

of psychotropic substances, with 

huge amount of chemicals like Nitrozepum 

tablets, Phensidyl/Correx, 

Lupical Syrup, Xyroy/Xyrex, Spasmoproxyvon 

capsules and Nitrosun tablets 

getting seized by the cops pretty 

often. Many Indian drug users have 

shifted from narcotics to pharmaceutical 

use. These medicines are diverted 

from licit to illicit purpose and the 

main motive is to earn money. There

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 5 

City 

Cases registered under NDPS Act by CID from 2011 to March, 2014 

(Mainly in Guwahati) 

Sl no Name of drugs 2011 2012 2013 2014 up to March 

1 Ganja 

2 Heroin 

3 Opium 

4 

Psychotropic 

substances 

5 Morphine 

No of cases 1 2 6 4 

Person arrested 1 2 7 7 

Quantity seized 22 kgs 21.200 kgs 528.138 kgs 171.000 kgs 

No of cases 1 2 7 7 

Person arrested 3 6 2 4 

Quantity seized 0.0524 kg 13.043 grm 0.010530 kg 0.008730 kg 

No of cases 1 



2.600 kg 

No of cases 7 1 

Person arrested 9 2 


307 btls 

Nitrosun tab 1073 nos 

Spasmoproxyvon cap 5480 nos 

Campose tab 

Syrup 

Others 

Injection 

Correx 

Relephen 

No of cases 1 



11.35 grm 

SPLURGE URGE 

is a huge demand for pharmaceutical 

drugs in countries like Bangladesh. 

According to sources, pharmaceutical 

drugs are gradually becoming 

common party drugs for the youths 

as they are cheaper. 

According to sources in the Narcotics 

department, Myanmar produces 

opium in huge quantity and 

the opium produced there is used for 

preparing heroin. Opium is firstly 

converted into Morphine and then 

treated with a chemical to convert 

it into a refined powdered substance 

known as heroin. The chemical 

known as acetic anhydride is used 

to convert morphine into heroin. As 

India is one of the major producers 

of this chemical, the chemical gets 

smuggled to Myanmar from India 

through various routes. From Guwahati, 

it is believed to be smuggled 

through Nalbari, Baksa and then enters 

Bhutan. 

According to sources in the police, 

the area from Lalmati to Sharabbhatti 

is a red alert zone for drugs 

smuggling in Guwahati. As per CID 

insiders, there are no direct peddlers 

in the city but the addicts gradually 

turn into peddlers. Rubul Ali of 

Sixmile, Tuleswar Singh of Manipuribasti, 

Wajib Hussain of Satgaon, 

Anwar Ali of Dispur, Dip Borah of 

Paltanbazar, Chintu Baruah from 

Gandhibasti, and Rashid Ahmed 

from Katiyala in Karimganj are some 

of the most wanted drug peddlers in 

the city. The city police have already 

released their pictures in their website 

for public information. 

There are also a few discos and 

bars where drug consumption happens 

but as the bar owners are usually 

influential people and also because of 

lack of evidence, it is tough to scan 

them often. The smuggling racket of 

drugs is internationally linked and 

youths are gradually getting drawn in 

by the peddlers. Since Guwahati has 

become the transit point for smugglers, 

the smuggling racket includes 

many local people of the city. 

The existence of insurgent groups 

have come down and therefore the 

drugs smuggled for the requirement 

of weapon is also estimated to be lowering, 

but the demand for drugs has 

been already created in the city. To 

make the city clean, all transit points 

should be sealed in such a manner 

that detection of such harmful substances 

is easy. But, can the points be 

guarded or sealed with perfection? 

The authorities need to work overtime 

to manage that and the connections 

of city peddlers should be 

checked. 

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in 

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City 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

HIGH TIME FOR ‘AUTO MODE’ 

Auto rickshaws in Guwahati are seen to be losing out to the radio taxis in Guwahati due to the 

reliable and comfortable services of these cabs. 

SYEDA AMBIA ZAHAN 

Exorbitant fares, unreasonable 

fights with the commuters and 

refusal to travel to certain destinations 

by the auto rickshaws in 

Guwahati has worked as magic for 

the economy taxies like Green cabs, 

My Taxi and Prime cab. Just one 

phone call and these economy taxis 

are there at your doorsteps. 

With a base fare of just `30 for 

the first two kilometers, hundreds 

of these cabs are plying in the city 

every day, making local commuting 

extremely easy. Air conditioned, 

comfortable, panic button, wi-fi connectivity 

and most importantly, the 

fact that the fares are regulated and 

fair give them an edge over the autorickshaws. 

“You don’t have to spoil your 

mood by picking up a fight with the 

driver every time you negotiate the 

fare. They offer payment also through 

cards and you also get a receipt for 

payment. I am happy with the quality 

service of the chauffeur as well,” says, 

Ankit, a techie who commutes from 

Noonmati to Maligaon every day by 

these taxis. 

“I would rather prefer to pay 

`50 extra for these cabs than to hire 

The Guwahati High Court on Dec 

4, last year, had directed the 

auto rickshaw owners and the 

Union to revise its fare and install 

meters. It directed the auto rickshaw 

drivers to charge `30 for 

the first two kilometres and then 

`3 for the next 200 metres 

an auto rickshaw. The auto drivers 

are rude and demand unreasonable 

fares. I used to pay `200-220 to go 

to office every day, but now I hire a 

cab and I pay between `140- `160.”, 

says Kavita, an associate professor of 

a college in Guwahati. 

Auto Rickshaws have been facing 

a tough time since the last year. Monopoly 

in the market of private transportation 

had given them a free hand 

to fix their fares as they like and this 

led to dissatisfaction among their 

passengers. Now, since the economy 

cabs were launched in the city, these 

auto rickshaws are facing a sudden 

drop in the number of passengers. 

The Guwahati High Court on 

Dec 4, last year, had directed the auto 

rickshaw owners and the Union to 

revise its fare and install meters. It 

directed the auto rickshaw drivers to 

charge `30 for the first two kilometres 

and then `3 for the next 200 metres. 

The HC further directed that all 

orders were to be carried out within 

March 31, 2014 and asked the DTO 

to check on the completion of orders. 

“But even after two months of 

the deadline, barring a few, more 

than ninety percent of the auto rickshaws 

are plying on the road without 

a fare meter. Twelve licenses have 

been cancelled so far. We have forwarded 

a list of about 40 auto rickshaws 

to the Regional Transport 

Authority (RTA) for cancellation of 

licenses, but it seems the number 

of auto rickshaws flouting norms is 

in hundreds. Our officials are keeping 

a close watch and we are hopeful 

that we would be delivering better 

auto service through this strict step.” 

Munin Das, DTO (enforcement), 

Kaprup Metro said. 

It seems the auto owners themselves 

are responsible for their desperate 

situation. The All Guwahati 

Auto Drivers’ Union has demanded 

an exorbitant price of `60 for the first 

2km and `30 for every subsequent 

kilometre while the economy cabs 

are charging half of this price. 

“We can’t settle at a minimum 

price of `30 due to continuous fuel 

price hike. The economy cabs can do 

that because they have the blessings 

of our government. Our government 

is promoting multi-national companies 

of the Tatas’ pushing the future 

of our boys to darkness,” says Naren 

Pathak, General Secretary of All Assam 

Auto drivers Association. 

At present, 5500 auto rickshaws 

ply on the streets of Guwahati. “The 

government wants to destroy a significant 

avenue for the educated unemployed. 

Since 2004, the transport 

department has stopped giving permits 

to new drivers. Where will our 

boys go?” Naren Pathak retorted. 

But in this rift between the 

auto rickshaw drivers and the RTA, 

the economy cabs have emerged 

as a force in city where autos once 

dominated the local commutes. The 

“Auto Rickshaw drivers themselves 

are to be blamed for their irrational 

attitude. They should open their 

eyes and check the reality.” Says Mr. 

Dipak Sharma, Advocate, Gauhati 

High Court.

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 7 

In The News 

SMOKELESS TOBACCO BECOMES 

A recent order from the SC prohibits 

the authorities from prosecuting the 

tobacco sellers and vendors. 

LEGAL AGAIN 

rahul chanda 

Assam became the first state to 

legally ban the consumption 

of all forms of smokeless tobacco 

including pan masala containing 

tobacco and nicotine within the 

state on 13 February 2014. Thus the 

sale, consumption, manufacturing, 

trading, storage and advertisement 

of all forms of smokeless tobacco 

including pan masala were banned 

in Assam. But was it? It was legally 

banned, but the truth is that in spite 

of banning the product, it was easily 

available in paan shops. 

The paan shop owners used to 

purchase the tobacco from wholesalers 

illegally and used to sell it to the 

customers at higher rates than the 

printed price. Recently the Supreme 

Court had asked the state government 

to stop prosecution on the sale of the 

tobacco easing the paan shop owners’ 

difficulties in selling the tobacco 

illegally. 

The revolt 

The state government decided to 

take this step after considering the fact 

that smokeless tobacco accounts for 

90% of oral cancers, but the paan shop 

owners were very unhappy with the 

decision. The Greater Guwahati Paan 

Shop Business Association (GGPSBA) 

General Secretary Balram Sarkar said, 

“We have been continuing our agitation 

against the decision of banning 

smokeless tobacco since 2013. It was 

the question of 20 lakh pan shop owners’ 

livelihood across Assam. We had 

written letters to the 126 MLAs of Assam 

on withdrawing the decision. We 

also wrote to the Governor of the state 

but no one helped us and finally, we decided 

to move to the court. The Gauhati 

High Court said the Bill was already 

passed in the Assembly and nothing 

can happen. We then decided to move 

to the apex court. The Supreme Court 

on 1st July 2014 asked the state government 

to make sure that no further prosecution 

takes place under the Assam 

Health (Prohibition of manufacturing, 

advertisement, trade, storage, distribution, 

sale and consumption of zarda, 

gutkha, pan masala, etc, containing 

tobacco and/or nicotine) Bill, 2013.” 

He further added that now, the paan 

shop owners can legally sell smokeless 

tobacco without being scared of getting 

prosecuted by the authorities, till further 

orders are given by the SC. 

The scam 

According to Sarkar, after the ban 

was implemented, the paan shop owners 

still used to sell the tobacco but like 

thieves. The authorities used to raid the 

wholesalers, even make some arrests 

but the wholesalers used to manage to 

get away by paying huge amounts. It 

was actually done for personal gain of 

some officials and politicians who used 

to get money out of the process. The 

“We have been 

continuing 

our agitation 

against the 

decision of 

banning 

smokeless 

tobacco since 

2013. It was 

the question 

of 20 lakh pan 

shop owners’ 

livelihood 

across Assam” 

government incurred a huge amount 

of loss but the process was on and everybody 

knew about it. The revenue 

was not getting generated but some 

people were gaining from the ban, as 

people were selling and buying but 

illegally. But where was the tobacco 

coming from? The wholesalers used to 

procure it but to distribute the product, 

they had to have some influence.The 

rates were increased and people used 

to pay extra. On second thoughts, the 

ban seemed like a big scam, which only 

helped few people get richer. 

He added that if they had to ban, 

then why not ban tobacco in all forms 

and why only smokeless tobacco. The 

Smokeless Tobacco Association Chairman 

Gopal Gupta said, “That around 

nine lakh people die in India because 

of tobacco every year, out of which 8.6 

lakh people die only because of cigarettes. 

Smokeless tobacco is banned 

only in Assam and Maharashtra and 

it will be removed soon. The new government 

has increased the tax on the 

sale of tobacco and alcohol, so, instead 

of banning smokeless tobacco; they 

can increase the tax on it. Cigarettes 

are made by foreign companies and 

smokeless tobacco is made by Indian 

companies, so, banning the smokeless 

ones will increase the sale of cigarettes 

which favours the MNCs. If there is a 

ban, then everything should be banned 

and not only smokeless tobaccos.” 

The paan shop owners and smokeless 

tobacco people might debate about 

banning everything, but the state government’s 

initiative of banning the 

smokeless tobacco was lauded by many. 

It is also a fact that in spite of banning 

tobacco, people used to easily get it by 

paying some extra bucks. The state 

health department secretary has written 

to all the concerned departments to 

stop the prosecution but what will be 

the next step? 

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

8 

The Week That Was 

City News 

Every business 

establishment 

has to place a 

dustbin: GMC 

In order to bring the usage 

of dustbin among 

the civic duties and to 

keep the city clean, the Guwahati 

Municipal Corporation 

(GMC) has ordered all 

the business establishments 

to place a dustbin in front of 

their workplaces. The new 

stricture went effective from 

July 8. The stricture, according 

to GMC sources, is applicable 

for all businessmen 

and traders, including pan 

shops and other vendors. 

And GMC authorities have 

also made it clear that any 

trader or businessman found 

violating this stricture will 

have to pay fines, besides 

cancellation of his/her trading 

license obtained from the 

civic body. In order to ensure 

that the stricture is being followed 

by every businessman 

a committee has been formed 

with a magistrate from Kamrup 

(Metro) district administration 

and an officer of the 

GMC. The committee will 

make surprise visit to city 

areas from July 7 to ascertain 

if the stricture is followed by 

traders. 

Girl raped 

by jawan 

A 

girl in the city was allegedly 

raped by an 

army jawan and two 

of his accomplices on July 5. 

But the incident came to the 

light on July 6. According to 

sources, Jibon Nath, an army 

jawan, had telephonic conversations 

with the girl for a long 

time. The jawan called the girl 

at Six Mile on July 5, took her 

to a room at Khanapara and 

allegedly raped her. Jibon was 

accompanied by two of his colleagues; 

sources added that the 

girl was left on the road on the 

night of July 5. The police, according 

to sources, held Jibon 

Nath on July 6. 

City to get centre of excellence in archery 

Guwahati is all set to get a centre 

of excellence in Archery 

curtsey to All India Police 

Sports Promotion Board (AIPSPB). 

A proposal in this regard was sent 

to the AIPSPB recently and it is accepted. 

The centre will start functioning 

very soon. Talking to the 

media person, the Vice President of 

the Assam Archery Association and 

the Commandant of Assam Police 

Rajen Singh said, “Archery had huge 

State police faces shortage 

of manpower 

The recent reports of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed 

the inside story of Assam State Police and its resources. According 

to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Report 2014, 11,109 

posts have been lying vacant in the State Police. The situation is such that each 

of the 51 police stations has been functioning with below 10 personnel and 

there is not a single police station in the state, especially in its inter–state border 

areas, with more than 50 personnel. It may be mentioned that the present 

manpower strength of the State Police is very low compared to the population 

of Assam. Not only the shortage of manpower is dogging the State Police, the 

support provided to police in the forms of equipment and transport is also 

minimal compared to other states of the country. At a time when incidents of 

violence and other crimes are increasing in Assam, shortage of police personnel 

is making it very difficult for the state government to maintain law and 

order properly. 

The citizens’ bodies, from different 

parts of the city demanded 

that the eviction 

drive launched by the Kamrup (metropolitan) 

district administration 

should be stopped. As the bodies alleged 

that the ongoing eviction drive 

was not impartial as the majority 

whose houses dismantled were poor 

people. At a citizens’ meet called 

by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti 

(KMSS) here on July 5, KMSS 

president Akhil Gogoi said eviction 

without putting a proper rehabilitation 

plan in place was unjustified and 

demanded proper compensation for 

the families who lost their houses in 

the drive. They also demanded that 

potential in our state and at the time 

of sending proposal we decided to go 

with this event. Our proposal is already 

accepted and we are waiting for 

release of fund. Once it comes we will 

start it in our Kahilipara complex.” 

Dengue cases 

reported in 

Kamrup 

With the beginning of 

monsoon in Guwahati, 

as a minimum 19 cases 

of Japanese Encephalitis and two 

cases of dengue since June has been 

recorded by the Kamrup (Metro) 

district. As the diseases peak during 

July-August, the threat of rapid 

spread of the diseases looms larger, 

unless steps are taken to curb them. 

“Open drainage and urbanization 

are the main causes of such infections. 

People should take necessary 

measures,” said Ganesh Saikia, 

Joint Director, Health Service, Kamrup 

(Metro). The district’s bus 

stands, open garages, narrow lanes 

and house yards are especially vulnerable, 

said experts, adding that 

dengue is spread mostly by manto-man 

transmission. Dengue has 

been confirmed in two patients, one 

of whom was also diagnosed with 

Japanese Encephalitis on last Friday. 

Last year, 3,800 dengue cases 

were reported in the district, while 

4,175 cases were reported in the 

state. 

Protest against eviction drive by local bodies 

the administration should ban use 

of polythene bags in the city as it is 

one of the prominent reasons of water 

clogs. The administration said it 

had arranged for temporary shelters 

for those who had lost their houses 

in the drive. However, the administration 

added that the shelters would 

be in place for seven days. 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

National 

Kickboxing 

in Guwahati 

20th National Kick Boxing 

Championship will start at 

the Sarusajai Stadium from 

August 18. The event will be organized 

by the Kick Boxing Association 

of Assam. Participants from 

20 states will take part in this four– 

day event which would be held in 

three different categories–junior, 

sub-junior and seniors. 

BBCI 

achieved 

another 

milestone 

Dr B Borooah Cancer 

Institute has achieved 

another important milestone 

with the inauguration of 

Bhabhatron-II Telecobalt Facility 

by Dr Ratan Kumar Sinha, 

Chairman, Atomic Energy 

Commission, Govt. of India on 

10 th July 2014. Bhabhatron-II 

is designed and developed by 

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre 

and one of the state-of-the-art 

machine currently available in 

the country. With the commissioning 

of new machine, Dr B 

Borooah Cancer Institute have 3 

Linear Accelerators, 2 Telecobalt 

machines and 1 High Dose Rate 

Brachy therapy machine. Earlier, 

about 300-325 patients were 

treated daily in these machines. 

It is hoped that the institute will 

be able to treat about 400 patients 

daily and the waiting period for 

radiotherapy will be reduced to 

a great extent. In his welcome 

address, Dr AC Kataki, Director, 

BBCI stated that as per National 

Cancer Registry Programme of 

ICMR, incidence of cancer in Assam 

is third highest in the country 

after Mizoram and Meghalaya. 

Cancer of the hypopharynx, 

tongue, mouth & ovary in female, 

cancer of the tonsil, prostrate & 

gall bladder in Assam is highest 

in the country. Dr. RK. Sinha in 

his inaugural speech expressed 

immense satisfaction at the facilities 

available in the institute.

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 9 

GMDA directed not to carry out any construction 

The Week That Was 

City News 

Polluted water causes health 

problems 

In view of unprecedented incidents 

of landslides, water logging 

in the ongoing monsoon 

season, and grave situations arising 

out hereof, effecting normal 

urban life of Guwahati with loss 

of human lives and properties, all 

developers, builders, private owners 

who have obtained building 

Song released on Deepor Beel 

Well using his song as a 

awareness tool towards 

the conservation of 

‘Deepor Beel” a city wetland, Ibsen 

lal Baruah, an artist has released 

his song “Deepor Beel ‘Or Paare 

Paare” at a function in Guwahati 

on 07 July 2014. The song he composed 

on the permanent freshwater 

lake with an area of 40 sq.km 

on the south bank of the river 

Brahmaputra. WWF-India, Wildlife 

Trust of India (WTI), Aranyak, 

Assam Elephant Foundation, Joi 

Barua and Estrada have come together 

to express solidarity on this 

endeavour, and will take forward 

as a tool of awareness and enlightenment 

of this issue. With Ibsen 

Lal Baruah, a new singer Jonkee, 

from Mumbai has also released her 

Assamese song “Gharoloi Aha...” 

at the same function. Although 

she has no knowledge of Assamese 

language, she loved the lyrics and 

tried to present it in her own voice. 

permissions from Guwahati Metropolitan 

Development Authority 

in the recent past, the GMDA has 

directed not to carry out any construction/development 

activities in 

the hilly terrain, water bodies and 

low lying areas involving earth cutting 

and earth filling till the current 

monsoon season is over. Further 

all concerned are also directed 

not to stack any building materials 

in government land/roads in order 

to eliminate silting and blockage 

of natural drains and water bodies. 

Failure to comply with the above 

directive shall invite penal action 

as per provisions of GMDA Act 

1985 (as amended). 

The residents of Anil Nagar 

were provided Chlorine tablets 

free of cost by the public 

health engineering department 

on July 7. The people of that area 

have been suffering from various 

health problems resulted from the 

contaminated water after the overflow 

of June 26. More and more 

cases of dysentery were being reported 

from the area. Other than 

stomach ailments, the residents 

also complained of fever and skin 

infections. The UNICEF supplied 

Amway Opportunity 

Foundation, the 

corporate social responsibility 

arm of Amway 

India has recently celebrated 

134th birth anniversary of 

Helen Keller by organizing 

a four day long carnival 

for the visually challenged 

students of Guwahati. This 

event is part of nationwide 

celebrations organized by 

Amway Opportunity Foundation. 

The foundation has 

been working for the betterment 

of visually challenged 

for the past 15 years in In- 

sodium dichloroisocyanurate water 

purification and disinfectant 

tablets, which were distributed 

by the councilor. The Anil Nagar 

Development Committee helped 

in the initiative. The tablets were 

also distributed in the Nabin Nagar 

and Tarun Nagar area. “Mostly, we 

handled cases of skin infection and 

dysentery. There is nothing to worry 

about. More such medical camps 

will be organized here if healthrelated 

complaints continue to 

pour in,” said HP Saikia of NRHM. 

Amway celebrates Helen Keller Day 

dia. Helen Keller overcame 

her visual and hearing impairment 

to become an accomplished 

author, political 

activist and a lecturer. Her 

birthday is celebrated as 

Helen Keller Day. This year 

the day is celebrated for two 

day long programme. The 

students enthusiastically participated 

in number of activities 

including Chess, Cricket, 

shot-put, Memory Test, 

Braille Reading and writing 

test, extempore speech 

contest and computer typing 

skill test. 

Brand New Day bags CNBC TV 18 award 

Brand New Day (BND), the 

leading provider of Investment 

and Portfolio Management 

services bagged the prestigious 

Financial Advisor Award 2013-14, 

for tier 2 cities under East Zone. This 

was announced during the awards 

ceremony organised by CNBC TV 

18 in Mumbai recently. The award 

was received by Mr. Pallav Bagaria 

and Mr. Mudit Bansal of Brand New 

Day. Brand New Day with its strong 

client focus and pro-active approach 

to investment advisory has added 

many laurels to its kitty since its inception 

in 2005. A strong team coupled 

with extensive market knowledge 

has helped it bag the award for 

the third time in a row, making it the 

most awarded investment advisory 

firm of the north-east. Expressing 

satisfaction on the win, Mr. Bagaria 

said “Winning the award third time 

in a row has reinforced the fact that 

we are building a much stronger 

customer focused franchise. The 

award has become a performance 

benchmark and the team including 

the management works and strives 

to achieve it every year.”

10 

Society 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

AMONG THE STARS 

The planetarium in the city is one of its star 

attractions and also serves as a significant place of 

recreation and education for the young and old alike. 

Shubhojit Roy 

The Guwahati planetarium 

Established on the 17th day of 

August 1994, the Guwahati 

planetarium is one of the key 

attractions in the city. The planetarium 

fulfills a wide spectrum of needs 

of contemporary society with simulation 

of the starry sky and the planets 

on the projection dome of the sky theatre 

along with other new dimensions 

to the wide spectrum of themes that 

the modern planetarium handles. 

The idea of forming a planetarium 

was initially conceived and mooted 

by the premier scientific academy of 

Assam, the Assam Science Society 

way back in the 1960’s. G Plus takes 

you behind the prospects of the starry 

roof of the city planetarium. 

ment Council has been long in terms 

with the city planetarium,” adds the 

Curator. Currently, there are 5 shows 

held every day that last for 35 mins; 

however the shows may increase as 

per the public demand. The house is 

usually full packed during the school 

summer vacation and winter vacation 

as the young children are very 

much fantasized with the place. 

The Technology 

and the show 

After its re-establishment, the 

planetarium received GOTO’s GXprojection 

system, Japan’s Hybrid 

Planetarium system, comprising of 

Chronos-II opto-mechanical star 

field projector which not only creates 

a realistic sky, but also millions 

of realistic stars. Colourful, dynamic 

images of the dome are generated 

through two powerful Digital Video 

Systems and synchronization is done 

under single innovative control system 

at the core of the GOTO Hybrid 

system. 

Interestingly, the Hybrid Planetarium 

show is also India’s first show 

and it starts with beautiful full-dome 

video images of the Guwahati city, 

including the important places like 

the Kamakhya temple, the Cotton 

College and the mighty Brahmaputra 

river. The Hybrid show further showcases 

the details about the prominent 

stars and constellations visible from 

Guwahati, during the present season. 

It further explains the scientific facts, 

namely the origin of the Universe, the 

Big Bang theory, formation of galaxies 

and our solar system by the simultaneous 

use of Chronos-II optomechanical 

projector and powerful 

digital system. 

The cosmic collision is another 

attraction of the Guwahati planetarium 

that takes one on a thrilling trip 

through space and time; well beyond 

the calm face of the Guwahati night 

sky, to explore cosmic collisions, hypersonic 

impacts that drive the dynamic 

and continuing evolution of 

the universe. 

Finance matter 

Most of the earning made by the 

Guwahati planetarium is through 

entry fees, and some amount is being 

generated by renting the conference 

hall inside the premise. Babul Bora, 

informs, “We charge `30 for entry 

and concessional charge of `15 for 

the students. However, the telescope 

viewing is presently free for the general 

public, but only on demand.” It 

was found out that the planetarium 

generates an average amount of `30- 

`35 lakhs per year which completely 

goes to the government treasury as 

it is a purely government establishment. 

There is no second thought that 

Re-establishment 

After its set up in 1994, the Guwahati 

Planetarium underwent the 

inauguration of an upgraded planetarium 

on 17th February 2011 by 

CM Tarun Gogoi alongside other 

guests of honour under the Science 

and Technology Department, Government 

of Assam. The event also 

saw the laying of the ceremonial 

foundation stone for Planetariumcum-Science 

Centres at Kokrajhar, 

Nalbari and Lakhimpur. The event 

further initiated the distribution of 

solar lanterns to meritorious school 

students of Assam. 

The Motto 

The Guwahati Planetarium was 

established with the idea that it shall 

impart knowledge on the enormous 

universe that surrounds the planet 

Earth among the common mass. The 

founders of the planetarium also believed 

that such an establishment will 

help in eradicating the common superstition 

and the myths of the universe. 

Facilities 

While speaking to Babul Bora, 

Curator at the Guwahati Planetarium, 

it was found out that the planetarium 

currently runs three different 

shows. “We provide three different 

shows, namely, the Cosmic Collision 

which is usually demand based, then 

we have ‘Journey to Stars’ and lastly 

‘Are we alone? Search for life’. We 

have a seating capacity of 140 heads at 

present with central air conditioning 

facility,” says Bora. The planetarium 

also has a conference hall and a night 

sky viewing facility through a telescope 

on clear days that usually starts 

after 6.30 pm in the evening. The 

planetarium has also been arranging 

astronomical awareness activities 

and workshops from time to time. 

“The Pragjyotish Amateur Astronomer’s 

Association under Assam 

Science, Technology and Environ- 

“The cosmic collision is another attraction of the Guwahati 

planetarium that takes one on a thrilling trip through space 

and time; well beyond the calm face of the Guwahati night 

sky, to explore cosmic collisions, hypersonic impacts that 

drive the dynamic and continuing evolution of the universe” 

the Guwahati planetarium will never 

fail to impress the 1st timers with its 

amazing show, but will also continue 

to attract people who have visited the 

place more than once. Moreover, the 

city planetarium is planning to introduce 

sophisticated telescope for better 

night sky watching and establish 

one astronomical gallery in the near 

future. 

shubhojit.roy@g-plus.in

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 11 

RUPNAGAR 

SHUBHOJIT ROY 

WARD 

NO 

18 

ROAD YET BE COMPLETED 

Ward Watch 

Sub-Division 18A/ 18B/ 18C Concentrated Area Rupnagar Major Issues Incomplete roads 

Stretching from the Gauhati 

Medical College and Hospital 

up to the area behind the B 

Barooah Cancer Institute, lies Rupnagar. 

The area doesn’t have any major 

problem, but the road construction 

that began a couple of years back 

is still incomplete. The area doesn’t 

face any water logging problems like 

many other areas of the city, but the 

human carelessness is evident. It was 

seen that people throw garbage in the 

drains and this results in the blockage. 

G Plus finds out more on the scenario 

of Rupnagar. 

Delayed road work 

It was found out that the construction 

of the road adjacent to the 

Fishfed Assam was initiated 3 years 

back, but the work is still half done. 

“The PWD took up the responsibility 

three years back and to my knowledge, 

`1 Crore was released for the 

work. But I guess the money got wasted 

somewhere in between and the 

work has remained incomplete,” said 

Nitul Lahkar, a retired ASEB employee 

who has been living in the locality 

for the past 40 years. On asking about 

whether the area faces any water logging 

problem, he further added, “The 

area is not in a very vulnerable condition 

on the context of water logging, 

but yes, the road becomes muddy and 

filled with slush during the rainy season.” 

Human carelessness 

Ramen Talukdar of the locality 

reveals a shocking truth about how 

the residents of the locality act illogically 

and play a part in ruining 

the area. “I go for morning walks 

everyday; and one of the regular depressing 

sights is that some people 

come out in the morning, usually 

on their bikes or scooters and throw 

the daily garbage somewhere on the 

drain or on the streets. I find it difficult 

to understand why some people 

lack such common sense. Is it so hard 

for them to understand that throwing 

the garbage in the drain will only result 

in drain blockage? I don’t blame 

the authorities, but the people. They 

will construct house but wont leave 

a single inch for the construction of 

the drain,” expresses Talukdar in disbelief. 

Pipeline obstruction 

“Every time the road gets fixed, 

there will be some company or the 

other digging it up again and again 

and destroy the road repeatedly. 

Sometimes they install drinking water 

pipelines, after which the road 

will be fixed. After a few days, some 

other company like BSNL will come 

The PWD took up the responsibility three 

years back and to my knowledge, `1 Crore was 

released for the work. But I guess the money got 

wasted somewhere in between and the work has 

remained incomplete 

Nitul Lahkar, Retired ASEB employee 

and dig up the road once again. And 

then finally, the PWD won’t have 

enough funds left to reconstruct the 

road. That is what has been going on 

for so long now,” says Jyotima Bharali, 

a housewife residing at Rupnagar. 

She further states about the lack of 

street lights in the area and how load 

shedding affects the everyday life, especially 

during summer afternoons. 

Finding NGO 

Over 1 week after the NGO’s took 

the responsibility of cleaning the garbage 

in the city, the residents of Rupnagar 

are not very much aware about 

the activities in the locality. “I know 

that some NGO has been given the 

task of clearing up the garbage, but 

so far I haven’t witnessed any. I don’t 

know if they are active yet or not,” 

says Santanu Nath, a local businessman 

I the area. 

Even though in the area doesn’t 

suffer much of the major problems 

like water logging etc; but the ignorance 

by the people in blocking the 

drains and laziness by the authorities 

in restoring the road was quite 

evident in Rupnagar. It has to be understood 

well that in order to make a 

place better, both the authorities and 

the people of the locality has to come 

together in joining hands, only then 

will the developmental sector of society 

be effective. 


12 

Lead Story 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

Near Nursery at RGB Road 

GOVT TO PUS 

ANTI-ENCROAC 

Mrinmoyee Hazarika 

With the drive entering its eleventh day, the a 

ment activity to clear up all th 

Evicted people at Sarabbhatti 

Even after strong protests from 

some sections of the people, 

the local administration has 

stood firm on its feet in its anti-encroachment 

drive going on against 

the illegal settlers in the wetlands 

and other natural channels. Yesterday 

was the twelve consecutive day 

that the drive has continued until 

now. 

So far, during the drive carried 

out by the Kamrup (Metropolitan) 

district administration in association 

with Guwahati Municipal 

Corporation (GMC) and Guwahati 

Metropolitan Development Authorities 

(GMDA), a huge number of unauthorised 

constructions have been 

brought down and the drive has 

freed up large areas of land from the 

Silsako beel, Bharalu, Basisitha, Bahini 

and Mora Bharalu river. 

During the massive exercise 

started from the 30 th of June, 2014, 

a total number of 99 pucca houses, 

237 kaccha houses and 167 boundary 

walls have been demolished altogether 

from the Silsako beel. Besides, 

88 bighas of land has been freed from 

encroachment from the same beel. 

The authority has cleared up 147 

numbers of pucca houses and freed 

17 bighas and 10 kathas of land from 

the Bharalu during the exercise. 

Altogether, 27 numbers of families 

have been evicted from the Bharalu. 

Similarly, in its anti-encroach- 

ment drive carried out in the Mora 

Bharalu river, the authorities have 

brought down 11 semi pucca houses, 

50 pucca houses and 47 kaccha 

houses. Altogether, 45 walls have 

been demolished, 69 families have 

been evicted and an area of 22 bighas 

and 8 kathas have been freed 

from encroachment in the Mora Bharalu 

river. Moreover, 59 number of 

business establishments have been 

cleared through this encroachment 

drive from the same river. 

In the meantime, the authority 

has cleared 110 numbers of pucca 

houses, 451 kaccha houses from Basistha 

river. Besides, 28 numbers of 

walls and 31 bighas and 6 kathas and 

lachas of land have been cleared from 

the same. 

The picture of encroachment in 

Bahini river is not less pathetic than 

the other water bodies of the city. 

During its anti-encroachment exercise, 

the authority has brought down 

145 pucca houses, 45 kaccha houses, 

85 numbers of walls in Bahini river. 

An area of 32 bighas, 12 kathas and 

10 lecha has been freed from encroachment 

in the Bahini river. The 

authority has also evicted 17 business 

establishments and 26 families 

from the land of the Bahini river. 

Although the authority has received 

cooperation from a large 

number of the people during the 

ongoing anti-eviction drive, some 

The authorities have opened 

a 24x7 grievance redressal 

cell in the flood control room, 

the number of which is 0361- 

2733052. The public can log 

their complaints and suggestions 

via ddmakamrupm@ 

gmail.com 

dckamrupm@gmail.com. 

Beltola Bazaar eviction 

Eviction at Mukesh Hundai

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 13 

Lead Story 

Status of anti encroachment drive in Silsako beel 

No of pucca houses cleared 99 

No of kaccha houses cleared 237 

No of boundary walls evicted 167 

Area of land cleared 88 bighas 

Status of anti encroachment drive in Bharalu 

No of pucca and kaccha houses cleared 147 

No of families evicted 27 

Area of land cleared 17 bighas and 10 kathas 

Eviction at Silsako Beel 

H ON WITH 

HMENT DRIVE 

uthorities are continuing the anti-encroache 

water channels of the city. 

sections of people have opposed it in 

some of the areas. 

“We have not faced bigger challenges 

in the current ongoing drive 

from the public except in some areas 

like Silsako beel in the Borbari area. 

But, the overall response of the people 

of Guwahati is appreciative and 

suggestive of the fact that this will 

be continued till we clear the natural 

water bodies and channels for free 

flow of water during monsoon. We 

have even received more than 100 

calls regarding flood and landslides 

in our control room. The people have 

sent e-mails to us on the same issue,” 

an official source at DC office, Kamrup 

(M) told G Plus. 

Regarding the authorities’ stand 

on providing permission inside the 

wetlands and other water bodies 

and government lands, the source at 

the DC Office, Kamrup (M) said, “It 

was found during the exercise that 

permission was given for constructions 

in the rivers and wetlands of 

the city and proper documents have 

been sought from the both the permitting 

authorities, the GMC and 

the GMDA. The authority will take 

action if any unlawful activity comes 

to the light during investigation” 

Furthermore, in order to establish 

synergy among different government 

organisations, a district 

level coordination committee has 

been formed under the chairman- 

ship of DC, Kamrup (M) along with 

other officials of the DC office, GMC, 

GMDA and traffic police. 

“The authority has issued notices 

to all the business establishments 

and those who do not keep dustbins 

have been punished. On the very first 

day, which was on the 9th of July, the 

authority has inspected 130 business 

establishments in Fancy bazaar area 

and an amount of `20,000 fine has 

been realised from 20 shops from 

the same area, which did not have 

any dustbins. Next day, the authorities 

made a visit to 160 shops in the 

Ganeshguri area and out of them 41 

shops have been fined for not keeping 

dustbins in their shops,” the District 

administration source said. 

On the other hand, the government 

has imposed a ban on using 

polythene under 40 microns inside 

the city and seized a plastic godown 

at Fancy bazaar. Moreover, GMDA 

has barred on all kinds of construction/development 

activities in the 

hilly terrain, water bodies and lowlying 

areas involving earth cutting 

and earth filling until the current 

monsoon season is over. Further, it 

was also directed that any building 

materials in govt. land/roads should 

not be stacked in order to eliminate 

silting and blockage of natural 

drains and water bodies. 

mrinmoyee.hazarika@g-plus.in 

Near State Zoo 

On Saturday, the 

administration 

will carry out 

eviction drive 

near the NH 37 at 

Khanapara. 

Status of anti encroachment drive in Mora Bharalu 

No of pucca houses cleared 50 (including 2 club houses, a godown, 

15 temples and 6 latrine bathrooms) 



Area of land cleared 22 bighas 8 kathas 

No of semi pucca houses cleared 11 

No of business establishments cleared 59 

No of tin houses cleared 4 


Status of anti encroachment drive in Basistha 

No of pucca houses cleared 110 (including 5 temples, 8 latrines, 

21 temporary shanties) 

No of kaccha houses cleared 451 (including 12 latrines) 


Area of land cleared 31 bighas 6 kathas and 10 lecha 

No of shops cleared 6 

Status of anti encroachment drive in Bahini 

No of pucca houses cleared 145 (including 2 temples, 2 latrines, 

1 bridge) 



Area of land cleared 32 bighas 12 kathas and 10 lecha 


No of business establishments cleared 17 

Bharalu eviction

14 

Vox-Pop 

BUDGET BITES 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

What is your opinion on budget 2014? 

What impact do you think it will have on Assam and NE? 

Pankaj Rajkhowa 

Sr. Engineer 

Victor Saha 

Chartered Accountant 

Tanushree Sarkar 

Marketing Professional 

The Finance Minister seems to be a little 

defensive, which should be expected in 

the first year of the Government. The 

FDI in defense and changes in income tax 

bracket are welcome changes, although overall, 

the common men expected them to take more 

risks. But what I think, for the north eastern 

states, allocation was a negligible percentage of 

total budget for the region. Besides the rail connectivity 

plans, more emphasis was expected 

towards education, jobs, faster developments. 

The amount which has been allotted could have 

been planned better. Hope the north eastern 

states could also get to see ‘achhe din’. 

If government forms SEZ (Special Economic 

Zone), then only Assam’s economy and 

problems will be solved. There are three 

major ingredients for the development of the 

State - infrastructure, human resource and income 

source. Setting up of more industries in 

Assam should have been discussed in the session. 

The government should invite more companies 

to the region and charge very minimal 

tax for the initial period. TCS came here but 

after 5 years, the government charged a lot of 

money that compelled the company to move 

back as it was not generating any profit. 

Nilim Sarma 

Bank Employee 

I 

am just hopeful that 40% of the rail budget 

will be concentrated for the cleanliness and 

renovation of the platforms. The idea of introducing 

wi-fi is good for the office goers but 

introduction of bullet trains is somewhat cynical. 

We will have to wait and see how this budget 

affects the northeastern states and it is too 

early to reach a conclusion. 

I 

think it’s a very sensible and a practical 

budget focused on boosting investments 

at MSME and SME level; both from industrial 

and agricultural point of view, but it 

leaves opacity over how to cap this big fiscal 

deficit! Increase in income tax slabs and deductions 

will trigger more savings. As far as NE is 

concerned, I think it’s a great endeavor aiming 

to improve sports, railway connectivity and 

spreading the regional culture across a humble 

leap to connect Northeast with rest of India. 

Overall it’s a budget of sectorial reforms aimed 

at reviving growth. 

Urmi Bhattacharjee 

Journalist 

Tulika Thakuria 

MBA Student 

Shubhadeep Sengupta 

Self Employed 

Arindam Dey 

Finance Manager 

The budget 2014 talks total sanitation by 

2019! Well, that will be some challenge 

for states like Bihar, Assam and Uttar 

Pradesh. A huge amount of `2.29 lakh crores 

has also been allocated for the defense budget 

and I am not sure what the future holds. At 

this point, I am not sure even if the cigarette 

price that has been hiked is a good decision or 

not. It’s hard to tell and understand what plans 

Modi has for the country and our region. 

The budget has shown some good signs 

from the infrastructure point of view 

but it will be worth noticing how Modi 

tackles other factors of Assam and the Northeast. 

The problem in northeast is that people 

get the money, but projects get indefinitely 

delayed. The important project of the Bogibeel 

bridge, which is supposed to be the country’s 

longest rail-cum-road bridge was not given 

any importance in the budget. Besides that, 

agriculture should have received more focus 

and importance. Speaking of the rail budget, I 

think the fare hike was not handled well in the 

first place and was not passenger friendly. 

Tax exemption I felt is good news for 

small, marginal and senior tax payers. I 

am more curious to know how the government’s 

aim of achieving 7 to 8 percent economic 

growth rate in next 3-4 years bears fruit. 

About Assam and other northeastern states, 

I didn’t see much attention being paid in the 

Union budget 2014 session. Even though `1000 

crore has been sanctioned for rail connectivity 

in the northeastern region, many other major 

issues of Assam were not dealt with at all, 

which I found to be disappointing. It was as if 

the Congress ruled states were not given much 

focus. 

With an agenda to reform, ‘Jaitley 

Sarkar’ has put across a progressive 

budget this year, which looks convincing 

on paper and hopefully will be equally 

significant in practice. The budget is designed 

to benefit the rural and middle class section. 

As far NE India is concerned, plans like promoting 

organic farming, better connectivity 

by investing more on railways and roads, 

sports university and a separate plan allocation 

budget for NE, sounds compelling already. No 

doubt the budget looks plausible on paper, but 

how far it will be bringing the ‘achhe din’, only 

time will tell.

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 15 

Business 

WHAT NE GETS 

shambhavi 

A lowdown on the what the 

Union Budget 2014 means. 

For BJP’s thumping win in Northeast 

India in the recent Lok Sabha 

polls, Union Finance Minister 

Arun Jaitley announced allocation of 

over `53,000 Crores for the region out 

of the 10 per cent mandatory budgetary 

allocation for the region. 

Narendra Modi government’s 

budget is providing a sports university 

in Manipur, a special 24x7 TV channel 

exclusively for the northeast, besides a 

special focus on organic farming and a 

number of budgetary allocations have 

been earmarked for critical sectors in 

the region. 

Local and national industry bodies 

have welcomed the budget. Jaitley 

said, “From the current Budget, we 

have introduced a statement, which 

will separately show allocation made 

for the North Eastern States. In the financial 

year 2014-2015, an allocation 

of `53,706 crore has been made for the 

Northeastern region,” he announced. 

The Government of India will establish 

two more institutions of excellence 

of a similar pattern in Assam and 

Jharkhand with an initial sum of `100 

Crores in the current financial year. 

The NE region has tremendous 

potential for development of organic 

farming. With a growing global demand 

for organic food, people living 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BUDGET 

The Budget for 2014-15 doled out sops to 

income tax payers by raising the threshold 

exemption limit from `2 lakh to `2.5 lakh 

and investments under 80C by `50,000 to 

`1.5 lakh 

Budget raised the deduction limit on interest 

on housing loan for self-occupied property 

from `1.5 lakh to `2 lakh and raised the 

exemption limit in the case of senior citizens 

from `2.5 lakh to `3 lakh. 

The Budget makes cigarettes, tobacco, pan 

masala, gutka and cold drinks costlier by 

raising excise duties, while CRT TVs used by 

the poor, LCD and LED TV panels of less than 

19 inches will be cheaper through cuts in 

customs duties. 

in the North Eastern States can reap 

a rich harvest from development of 

commercial organic farming. “To facilitate 

this, I propose to provide a sum 

of `100 Crore for this purpose in the 

current financial year,” Jaitley said. 

“The North Eastern region has 

suffered from underdevelopment and 

a sense of isolation due to the lack of 

proper connectivity. Development 

of rail system is urgently required to 

bridge this gap. I intend to expedite 

the development of rail connectivity 

in the region and for this purpose 

I propose to set aside an additional 

sum of `1,000 Crore over and above 

the amount provided for in the interim 

Budget,” he further said. 

Railways had earmarked an 

amount of `5,116 Crore for the completion 

of rail projects in the Northeast. 

“TV is a very powerful tool for 

expression of cultural identities and 

for extending greater awareness of the 

richness of the diversity of our country. 

To provide a strong platform to 

the rich cultural and linguistic identity 

of the Northeast, a new 24x7 channel 

called Arun Prabha, will be launched,” 

Jaitley announced. 

The Finance minister added, 

“Unique sports traditions have developed 

in the Himalayan region in the 

countries and the states that are a part 

of it. India will start an annual event to 

promote these games and would invite 

countries such as Nepal and Bhutan 

also to participate, in addition to the 

Indian states like Jammu and Kashmir, 

Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim 

and the North Eastern States.” 

Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi 

termed the Union Budget 2014-15 

as very disappointing. There is no indication 

of good days (achche din) for 

the common man. 

FINER stated that the budget has 

the “Stamp of Change” on one hand 

and has maintained the sanctity of 

continuity on the other. The Finance 

minister’s initiatives in the matter of 

the Northeast are special focus on 

national and state highways, venture 

capital for start-ups, increased outlays 

for skill development, sports university 

in Manipur, boost to organic farming 

etc. 

CII welcomed the emphasis given 

by the Finance Minister towards Connectivity 

of the North East in the Budget. 

Sandipan Chakravortty, Chairman, 

CII North East Council & MD, 

Tata Steel Processing and Distribution 

Ltd said that, “Lack of proper connectivity 

and infrastructure is one of 

the primary reasons for under development 

of the North East. Both the 

Railways and Highways have received 

substantial budgetary outlay in the 

Union Budget 2014-15”. This is in addition 

to the 54% hike provided for in 

the Railway projects in North East in 

the Rail Budget. CII expects the Railways 

to utilise this substantial fund to 

complete the 23 ongoing projects – in 

particular the Bogibeel Rail cum Road 

Bridge and the Lumding – Badarpur - 

Silchar gauge conversion project. 

He added that this is a high impact 

announcement and is expected to 

promote tourism, supply chain, logistics 

sector and create greater jobs opportunities. 

However, some provisions 

should have been kept for improving 

connectivity with neighbouring countries. 

Abhijit Barooah, Co Chairman, 

CII North East Council & MD, Premier 

Cryogenics Ltd added that the 

emphasis attributed to Agriculture 

will also benefit the North East. Several 

initiatives have been announced 

in the areas of Rural Infra Corpus, 

Agri Infrastructure Fund, enhancing 

Warehouse capacity, increasing NAB- 

ARD RIDF fund. Specific initiatives of 

`100 Crore outlay for organic farming 

and Agriculture research centre for the 

North East will benefit the Agriculture 

sector, which is the main economic 

activity in the region. The promotion 

of commercial organic farming will 

also help in creating a brand for NER 

and in turn spurs growth in exports, 

promote additional avenues of entrepreneurship 

and creates growth in the 

non-farm sector.

16 

Bazaar 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

GUWAHATI 

Shubhojit Roy 

The summer however is at its peak 

and is harsh, so if there is any reason 

that you are cheerful in spite 

of the scorching heat, we are assuming 

that you have already been eyeing the 

season end sales. It’s undoubtedly a busy 

time for the cashiers at the mall and also 

for the sales guys and girls as more and 

more consumers are flocking in to fill 

their wardrobe with high street fashion 

merchandise at low costs. 

Consumers have also now become 

used to postponing their buys to avail 

the discounts. Take the case of Ruchika 

Agarwal, a 20-year-old college student 

who says she has not bought anything for 

the last two or three months as she has 

been waiting for the end-of-season sales. 

Ruchika was at the Reliance Trends’ season 

end sale in Lachit Nagar where she 

picked up five items for `4,000. 

It is this time of the year when stocks 

are being cleared as the new stock for 

fall/winter will arrive soon. Big Bazaar, 

the premier hypermarket chain in the 

country is currently offering exciting 

discounts on various merchandises. 

“We are providing discounts from 20% 

upto 60% on selected merchandise at 

Big Bazaar this year. The season end sale 

started from 4th of July and will last till 

the end of the month,” informs Shyam 

Kumar Singh, Store Manager, Big Bazaar 

at Bhangagarh. On asking about the 

sales in comparison to last year, Singh 

replies, “Season end sale is such a thing 

that it only gets better every year. Every 

year more and more people come in to 

grab the best available stock at cheap 

rates during the end of season sale.” 

Metro, the premium shoe outlet is 

however one of the few outlets that does 

not run a month long sale. Sadly, the 

season-end sale for Metro only lasted 

a week and got over on 6th July. One 

of the giants of the retailing market in 

Guwahati, the Pantaloons has been one 

of the busiest outlets this summer. “The 

incoming crowd is enormous and we 

are having a very difficult time in handling 

all the customers. We are not able 

The incoming 

crowd is enormous 

and we are having a very 

difficult time in handling 

all the customers. We 

are not able to provide 

proper attention to 

every customer as our 

manpower seems to be 

very less at the moment” 

to provide proper attention to every customer 

as our manpower seems to be very less at the 

moment,” says a salesman at Pantaloons. The 

mall at present is providing discount on almost 

all items and is seeing a huge rush. “It 

is my birthday next month; and so this is the 

right time for me to shop as all the good stuff 

will be sold soon. I have chosen a pair of jeans, 

a couple of tops and I am not yet satisfied at 

all,” says a giggling Neha Sharma, a teen shopper. 

Moreover, Pantaloons is soon opening 

its new outlet in Bhangagarh next to the Big 

Bazaar in order to attract more and more customers. 

Other outlets such as Woodland and 

Puma is providing a flat 40% discount on selected 

merchandise whereas another retailing 

giant Reliance trends which is comparatively 

new in the city is offering sale discount up to 

50%. 

Sohum Emporia at ABC has gone a step 

further in offering discount and is currently 

offering a mouthwatering rebate up to 70% 

whereas Blackberrys, retailer for men’s garment 

is offering a 40% discount on purchase 

of five garments, 30% on purchase of four garments 

and 20% discount on purchase of two 

garments. 

Another major outlet, Westside is also 

seeing a good response in its season end sale. 

Westside came up with the unique tagline 

“Bring your own army”, asking its consumers 

to bring in their friends and family to the 

store. The outlet is offering a discount up to 

60% on various selected items and is also offering 

an additional 5% discount to customers 

possessing Axis bank credit card or debit card, 

but only on purchase of `4500 and above. 

Nike, the world’s largest supplier of sports 

shoes and apparel, in its outlet in the Christian 

Basti area of Guwahati is offering a 50% 

discount on selected merchandise. Similarly, 

Levi’s store is also trying to attract it’s consumers 

with discounts of up to 50%. Wills 

Lifestlye and Allen Solly are meanwhile grabbing 

the attention of its customers with discount 

up to 40%. 

Louis Philippe, one of the premier suiting 

brands, which is also a new entrant in the 

city at Bhangagarh, is currently posing with 30 

to 40% discount and with an offer of buy two 

and get one free. The season-end sale for Louis 

Philippe started from 2nd of July and will last 

till the end of this month. Another outlet, 

Peter England is also offering similar sort of 

discount with buy 2 and get 1 free option. The 

Peter England outlet near Bora service which 

opened last year in July saw good sales till the 

December as told by the Store Manager. The 

season end sale which started on 4th of July 

will last till 27th of July. 

There is no denial that these season end 

sales bring in whopping business in the retail 

industry along with unseen competition 

and rivalry among the retailer giants to lure 

in more customers than their counterpart as 

the city is in full fervor of this sale season. 

And with festivities like Eid and Durga Puja 

up ahead, many people are trying to get over 

with their shopping spree well before time and 

well before the price gets high again. 


G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 17 

BRAZIL 

Sports 

ONE FOR THE AGES 

Abhijit Bharali 

The battles and the war. Maracanazo 

turned Mineirazo, the 

sands of Copacabana turned 

into a river of tears in Belo Horizonte, 

as the open arms of Christ the Redeemer 

awaits to crown the new World 

Champion on Sunday. The thirty-day 

feast of goals, glory and grief culminates 

in the mythical Maracana, with 

designs of a new world order. 

The portents were true. In football’s 

spiritual home, things getting 

borderline bizarre is no big deal. 

Right from the Brazil-Croatia opening 

match where a Marcelo own goal 

set the scores ticking to the two most 

contrasting semi-finals ever witnessed, 

Brazil 2014 has been a journey for the 

free-spirited, for the wild rollercoasterloving 

and not for the faint at heart. 

Something entirely expected when you 

have someone like Pitbull contributing 

verses and Pharell Williams featuring 

on match day playlists. 

The brains, the brawn, the barmy 

- this World Cup has had everything 

right from the very off. While Brazil 

rode through the crest waves of their 

home support to breeze past mediocre 

opponents until they hit the German 

brick wall, the likes of Costa Rica and 

Netherlands’ deep progression into the 

tournament stemmed entirely out of 

sheer genius. From the eye-popping 

results in the group stages to the drama 

of the knockout rounds, Brazil 2014 

has been nothing short of frenetic. 

Tactical nuances were vivid, and 

the smaller details were as important 

as the headline-grabbing misfortunes. 

The likes of Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica 

and Algeria defied odds and produced 

tactical master classes, but fell to the 

blue-chip nations in the knockout 

rounds. All four teams bore the brunt 

of a similar shortcoming: a lack of individual 

quality in the final third. 

While the famous British spirit 

was nowhere to be seen in the immediate 

vicinity of the England national 

team, it was unsurprisingly found in 

the next most-likely precincts of the 

USMNT. The United States baffled 

beliefs as they snuck in through a supposed 

Group of Death comprising 

of their World Cup nemesis Ghana, 

eventual finalists Germany and Cristiano 

Ronaldo’s Portugal. But they had 

their sell-by date, and those flickering 

lights went out without much fuss. 

The paints on the canvas were 

expressive, impressionistic and brilliant. 

A thing of beauty that was 

Spain’s 1-5 defeat to Netherlands, 

the unadulterated delight that was 

France’s 5-2 win over Switzerland, 

the innocence of the unfancied from 

Australia who went home without being 

disgraced, or the African teams’ 

dedication to the spirit of the game 

and their fixations of attack over containment. 

The fact that all of those teams 

remain no longer in the tournament 

smells of a lesson in cynicism and 

pragmatism, but Brazil 2014 has been 

anything but. This has been a World 

Cup of goals; 168 goals in 62 matches 

at a whopping rate of 2.7 goals per 

game betters the tallies of previous 

World Cups and is just three shy of 

the all-time record of France’98. Goals 

rained; goals that statistically and summarily 

uphold the notion of entertainment. 

The moments of individual brilliance, 

those howitzers, the showstoppers; 

nothing has been in short 

supply this summer. Like beholding 

a performer at a carnival, the likes of 

Neymar, Messi, Robben and James Rodriguez, 

and their sidekicks and support 

acts; Brazil turned into a melting 

pot of the beautiful. 

Few of the individual displays 

were as eye-catching as Luis Suarez’s 

stunning brace to blow England away, 

or Guillermo Ochoa’s man-wall impersonation 

to leave Brazil frustrated, or 

even James Rodriguez’s cultured brilliance 

against Uruguay 

and Tim 

H o w a r d ’s 

valiant 

s a v e s 

It’s a shame that 

the great tactical 

minds of a Jorge 

Sampaoli or a 

Louis van Gaal or 

a Miguel Hererra 

or even a Vahid 

Halilhodzic 

will not kiss 

the World Cup 

anytime soon. 

against Belgium. And like the two 

sides of a coin, brilliance always comes 

with its own flip of artlessness and unimaginativeness. 

Fernando Santos might want to 

call himself a wand waver, but his 

Greek side were so lacking in invention 

that they needed penalties to 

‘lose’ against 10-men Costa Rica in the 

Round of 16. Same thoughts go out for 

Fabio Capello’s Russia, but they at least 

did us all a favour by failing to go past 

their group. Honduras, meanwhile, became 

a part of World Cup folklore with 

their involvement in the first ever goalline 

technology-aided decision, but 

had little else to offer other than their 

reckless and dirty play. And to top it all 

off, Cameroon were the newsmakers’ 

delight with their all-round attempts 

at infamy. They wore the worst kits, 

played the worst football, and Alex 

Song’s clothesline on Croatia’s Mandzukic 

from behind will go down as one 

of the stupidest red cards ever in World 

Cup history. 

It’s a shame that the great tactical 

minds of a Jorge Sampaoli or a Louis 

van Gaal or a Miguel Hererra or even 

a Vahid Halilhodzic will not kiss the 

World Cup anytime soon. It is always 

as if the World Cups are reserved for 

those fabled nations with a storied 

past littered with tales of glory. Chile’s 

Sampaoli outwitted his counterparts 

in all the matches; he effortlessly 

played with tactics right 

from the opening 

match against Australia, 

and was 

the radius of 

the crossbar 

away from 

knocking 

Brazil out. 

Hererra and 

Halilhodzic 

came unstuck 

and unlucky 

against the immovable 

objects 

of Netherlands and Germany, while 

Van Gaal showed his nous with gamechanging 

switches all throughout the 

tournament. 

Saddening images of disconsolate 

Brazilian fans after the semi-final 

humiliation against Germany will 

grace the World Cup front pages for 

long. The epoch-making, era-defining 

moment when the once-great Brazilians 

were ruthlessly floored in their 

own backyard; that’s quite a story for 

the ages. Luis Suarez’s infamous bite 

meant that he will retain the gong of 

the World Cup’s most talked-about 

player (after the Ghana handball in 

South Africa 2010). Such acts of disrepute, 

although brings something other 

than the normal for the fans to ponder 

upon, can either be attributed to the 

passion play that goes on in events of 

such magnitude or be wryly dismissed 

as nonsensical acts that are often unforced 

and instinctive. 

Brazil 2014 might have been the 

best World Cup ever witnessed by 

today’s frenzied youth. A bite of the 

old cherry in football’s second home 

was all that was needed in this age 

of rumour-mongering, doomsdaypreaching 

and crazy moneyed game 

of football. Even the final between 

Germany and Argentina have historical 

undertones. Brazil 2014 has been a 

throwback to the olden days, but one 

where Brazil aren’t the good old greats 

anymore. 

Talks about this World Cup being 

the ‘individual’s’ World Cup and the 

counter talks have finally found even 

ground. While Germany remain the 

ultimate team of players, Argentina are 

a player’s team at large, or more precisely 

Leo Messi’s team. Sunday’s final 

in Rio will be the perfect setting for 

the perfect riposte; it will be a big end 

to the small quarrel, the never-ending 

argument, even if it is for a short time. 

And whatever happens on Sunday, 

Brazil 2014 will go down as one of the 

finest World Cups of all time.

18 

Reviews 

To paraphrase Harold Melvin 

& the Blue Notes, if we don’t 

know Morrissey by now, we 

will never, ever, ever know Morrissey. 

Last year, the famously self-absorbed 

former Smiths frontman released 

the memoir “Autobiography,” his 

457-page attempt to let fans into the 

weird little world he calls home. Like 

his best songs, the book raises way 

more questions than it answers, and 

its very existence may help explain 

“World Peace Is None of Your Business,” 

Moz’s tenth studio album and 

first in five years. 

If “World Peace” isn’t Morrissey’s 

least autobiographical LP, it’s 

certainly one of his most scattershot. 

Transformers 

Rise of the dark spark 

For PC 

Artist: Morrissey 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

‘World Peace Is None of Your Business’ 

Recorded in France with producer 

Joe Chiccarelli, the disc is filled with 

broad political statements and odd 

character sketches. Musically, Moz 

lets his sidemen go wild with electronic 

beats, accordions, Spanish 

and Middle Eastern flourishes, and 

synths galore. It’s essential listening 

not so much for its quality—uneven, 

if generally high—but for the strange 

place it occupies in Morrissey’s discography. 

Not since 1991’s “Kill Uncle” 

has he given us anything quite so 

puzzling. 

GAME 

REVIEW 

You 

SHOULD 

LISTEN 

You 

SHOULD 

read 

Director: Matt Reeves 

Cast: Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Jason 

Clarke, Keri Russell 

Dawn of the Planet of the 

Apes” is awe-inspiring. 

Just when it seemed like 

blockbusters could never evolve, 

in rides this extraordinary epic — 

a towering fable of humanity and 

brutality that takes a great movie 

myth and launches it forward. 

Director Matt Reeves’ story 

picks up 10 years after “Rise of 

the Planet of the Apes.” As that 

2011 film ended, the hero chimp 

Caesar — genetically enhanced 

and raised among people before 

experiencing animal-lab cruelty 

— led other mutated apes into the 

Northern California woods. 

Now, the human race has been 

decimated by a man-made virus, 

global war and civil unrest. Yet 

Caesar (again portrayed by Andy 

Serkis) and his advanced tribe live 

harmoniously in the forest. 

A group of human survivors, 

seeking to restore a hydroelectric 

dam to power a portion of destroyed 

San Francisco, encounter 

the apes. Caesar is wary, knowing 

that mankind makes a wasteland 

of everything. He worries 

for his family, including his nextin-line 

son, Blue Eyes. Yet when 

the peaceable Malcolm and Ellie 

(Jason Clarke and Keri Russell) 

plead with him, Caesar reluctantly 

agrees, with one rule: No guns. 

But the mix is uneasy. Warmongering 

humans led by Dreyfus 

(Gary Oldman) blame apes for 

the flu that ravaged civilization. 

And Caesar’s chimp confidant 

Koba (Toby Kebbell), scarred by 

years of animal testing before 

Caesar freed him, has an anger 

much like the humans — and, like 

them, he ignores its consequences. 

Screenwriter Mark Bomback’s 

story has several beautifully nuanced 

elements, including how 

the power- and revenge-mad Koba 

is more like a descendant of Richard 

III than of anything in the 

1968-73 great “Apes” franchise. In 

that five-film cycle, the metaphor 

of primates running a post-atomic 

earth was rich with meaning. This 

reimagining is on an entirely different 

dramatic level. 

The technical triumph is just 

as dazzling. Using flawless motion-capture 

technology, Serkis 

(aka Gollum in the “Lord of the 

Rings” films) lets us see Caesar’s 

soul and psyche, his depth and 

complexity. Consider the gauntlet 

officially thrown down: Serkis deserves 

a Best Actor Oscar nomination 

for this work, which is nothing 

short of spectacular. 

Reeves’ masterful, grown-up 

guidance is aided by stellar cinematography 

by Michael Seresin 

and inventive production design 

by James Chinlund (skyscraper 

scaffolding used as monkey bars is 

one witty touch). This action-filled 

film’s primary theme — how does 

any species balance its instinct for 

violence with a desire for peace? 

— respects our minds as we grip 

our seats. 

“Dawn,” one of the best films 

so far this year, is a blockbuster 

born to conquer. 

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battle to secure the Dark Spark. 

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A 

coming of age story set in 

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age of 14 shames herself so badly 

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reinvent herself as Dolly Wilde, a 

fast-talking, hard-drinking Gothic 

hero. Moran will support the publication 

with a nationwide 10 date 

Evening With Caitlin theatre tour. 

her lehanga and Kavya gifts him his 

dream car in return. They both embark 

on a journey to help their friend Gurpreet 

and fall in love amidst their mission. 

But Kavya is engaged to an NRI 

and is set to get married soon. Where 

the first half has been a fun affair, lets 

see how the second half fairs with Siddharth 

Shukla coming in. The chemistry 

Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt share 

on screen is convincing and refreshing. 

The big question is, will Humpty get his 

Kavya after all?” 

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G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 19 

Brazil World 

Cup slaughter 

most tweeted 

about sporting 

event ever 

There were a LOT of records 

broken in last night’s 7-1 

decimation of Brazil by 

Germany in the ongoing FIFA 

World Cup and Twitter has revealed 

that one such record was 

achieved outside the Estádio Mineirão 

stadium. A total of 35.6 million 

tweets were fired off about the 

match which makes it the most 

tweeted about sporting event in 

history. 

LG unveils an 18-inch flexible OLED display prototype 

Electronics giant LG has developed 

an 18-inch Flexible OLED 

panel that can be rolled into a 

tube of a mere 3cm across. The prototype 

has 1200 x 810 pixels resolution 

and has a new polyamide film on the 

back panel which makes it very thin 

and extremely flexible. 

LG has also developed a new 

transparent OLED panel which 

makes images less hazy by increasing 

the light transmittance to 30 percent, 

compared to 10 percent common 

among current transparent LCD displays. 

The company also promises to 

deliver 60-inch flexible screens by 

2017. According to LG Display’s SVP 

and Head of R&D, In-Byung Kang, 

he’s confident that “by 2017, we will 

successfully develop an Ultra HD 

flexible and transparent OLED panel 

of more than 60 inches.” He added 

that the 2017 panel will have a transmittance 

of over 40% and a curvature 

radius of 100R. 

LG Display has been investing 

heavily in OLED, and has announced 

plans to spend $655 million on manufacturing 

infrastructure for a factory 

in South Korea. LGD stated in a 

release that the market for large flexible 

displays will reach $6 billion by 

2018, and to over $77 billion by 2025. 

The company added, that by 2023, the 

transparent flexible display market 

Maha Police to take action against those who ‘like’ 

objectionable content online 

You may land in trouble for 

‘liking’ objectionable content 

on the social networking 

websites. Maharashtra Police have 

said those who like the controversial 

posts online will be booked under 

the Information Technology Act and 

under the Code of Criminal Procedure. 

According to a TOI report, a 

person could be imprisoned three to 

five years if convicted under Section 

66 (a) of the IT Act (punishment for 

Govt allocates 

`500 crore 

for internet 

connectivity in 

villages 

The government said it will 

allocate `500 crore for its 

Digital India initiative to 

set up broadband network in villages 

and promote local manufacturing 

of hardware and Indian 

software products. 

“Under the Digital India initiative, 

National Rural Internet 

and Technology Mission, the government 

will focus on setting up 

broadband in villages, promote 

local manufacturing of hardware 

and Indian software products,” 

finance minister Arun Jaitley said 

while presenting the Budget for 

2014-15. 

“A special focus will be on 

supporting software products 

startups. A National Rural Internet 

and Technology Mission 

service in villages and training in 

IT...I have provided a sum of Rs 

500 crore for this purpose,” he informed 

Parliament. 

sending offensive messages through 

communication service, etc). 

Police say the move is to contain 

protests over objectionable content 

on a social networking site about 

Chhatrapati Shivaji, Dr Babasaheb 

Ambedkar and the late Shiv Sena 

chief Bal Thackeray. Police, however, 

haven’t yet tracked down the Internet 

Protocol address of the person 

(yet unidentified) who posted the 

content online. There are chances it 

was done through a proxy server. 

Google Maps now tells you exact 

distances between multiple points 

Google has rolled out a new 

update for Maps that allows 

users measure the 

distance between multiple points 

on the map. The feature was available 

earlier under the experimental 

Google Labs options, but has now 

been rolled out as a part of the main 

service. 

To use this option, users can 

right-click on a starting point on 

the map and select “Measure distance,” 

and then choose a destination 

to see the distance between the 

two points. What’s more, you can 

click anywhere on the map to add 

additional locations and measuring 

points to your trip. 

Google had rolled out a new 

version of Google Maps in February 

after working in pre-view 

mode for nearly a year. The new 

interface gives improved integration 

of search results, smart route 

navigation and easier access to 

picture galleries. New features like 

search results embedded right into 

the maps and navigation system 

with real-time traffic reports and 

previews of the destination using 

Street View graphics are also added. 

Google May update to its Maps 

brought back terrain view feature 

which shows the elevation of geographic 

features and is popular 

with trekkers. 

volume will be larger than the ‘generic 

display market” and will reach 

$131 billion in revenues. 

LG had announced 105 Ultra HD 

TVs at the International Consumer 

Electronics Show (CES) 2014. The LG 

105UB9 HD TV has 11 million pixel 

(5120 x 2160) screen resolution and 

is 3D capable with 240Hz motionsmoothing 

technology. 

Google launches 

a $50 million 

initiative to inspire 

girls to code 

Google announced a new initiative 

called ‘Made with 

Code’ to encourage more girls 

to learn how to code and close the 

gender gap witnessed in tech-industry 

currently. The company unveiled 

the initiative at the recent Google I/O 

2014 conference. 

In a post on Google’s official blog, 

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said 

there are “far too few women and far 

too few young girls” in the technology 

field, and that less than one percent of 

high school girls express interest in 

majoring in computer science. 

The initiative will have its own 

website offering resources and projects 

to the girls that will help them 

learn how to code and will also provide 

information about regional 

events. The community members will 

also be able to discuss different lessons 

and projects among themselves, 

and with mentors through the website. 

It will also provide information 

about regional events. 

Google launched ‘ Help Getting 

Women Online’ initiative in India 

last year which aims to help 50 million 

women to get online by 2014 

year-end. India has over 200 million 

internet users, but only one third are 

women. The initiative has set up a 

website as well as a toll free number 

that will help women get answers to 

any queries they have about the Internet. 

Web Watch 

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20 

G-Talk 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

Should the authorities continue 

the anti-encroachment drive? 

Pranab Kumar Sharma 

President, AREIDA 

Madan S Rajan 

Academician 

POINT 

We welcome the current 

eviction drive going on 

against the illegal settlers 

settling in and around the wetlands 

and natural water channels. Since 

the government has started the 

drive, though belatedly, they must 

finish it. 

The law enforcing agencies who 

have the power and authority to deal 

with the situation through numerous 

laws passed from time to time 

must act without fear and act for 

the favour of saving Guwahati from 

being destroyed by hordes of organised 

illegal encroachers. These encroachers 

who have grabbed natural 

drainage channels, the wetlands, 

the forest, and the hills leaving the 

helpless law abiding citizens at their 

complete mercy. 

These lands are not anyone’s 

private property and the government 

has to send the right signal 

to establish the rule of law. In the 

meantime, it is also true that severe 

negligence or lackadaisical attitude 

shown on part of the government 

towards encroachment in the past is 

fully responsible for what is happening 

today in Guwahati during monsoon. 

Because responsibilities are 

attached to the government officials 

and by ignoring those responsibilities, 

they have already commited a 

grave offence. 

Government has been spending 

Crores of taxpayers’ money just 

to carry out various studies on the 

drainage system and recommendation 

of experts is duly documented. 

We had the Calcutta Metropolitan 

Planning Organization in 1971, revision 

of drainage master plan in 

1991, then a DPR prepared by the 

Town and Country Planning Department 

in 1998-99. Finally, the 

Tahal Consulting Engineers, an Israel 

based company was inducted 

in 2007. Studies have documented 

unabated encroachment and choking 

of the natural drainage channels 

and wetlands and recommended 

strict action to free these eco sensitive 

zones as a top priority in controlling 

flash floods, and water logging. 

Besides, the government notified 

a comprehensive master plan 

2025 in July 2009, spending Crores 

of Rupees and after nine years of 

field studies engaging an international 

consultant, the said document 

declared a Goal number one 

of conserving Guwahati’s sensitive 

natural environment. It notified the 

Assam Hill Land and Ecological 

Sites (Protection and Management) 

Act, 2006 Complete Act and The 

Guwahati Water Bodies (Preservation, 

Conservation and Protection) 

Act, 2008, four wetlands – Deepor 

Beel, Sarusola Beel, Barsola Beel and 

Silsako Beel – were notified as protected 

ones in 2008 and Bondajan 

was added in 2010. Through these 

legislations, the authorities were 

fully empowered to use force to protect 

the hills, water bodies, forest 

and natural drainage channels in 

their pristine glory. 

Therefore, the government must 

continue the anti-encroachment 

drive with full letter and spirit. 

Some sections of people have opposed 

it, but we request them not to 

digress and dilute the issues. Poverty 

is a totally different subject and 

it does not have any relation with 

encroachment. The government has 

various housing schemes through 

Nine persons have died because 

of electrocution, 

landslides and drowning 

when torrential rains lashed the 

city recently and inundated many 

parts of it. According to the district 

administration, construction 

of illegal houses by encroachers 

along the major water channels 

passing through the city affect the 

smooth flow of water resulting in 

flash floods. So, the administration 

decided to evict the people 

settled down alongside the city rivers. 

The floods occurred after a 

few hours of rain a but the state 

government is putting the entire 

blame upon the poor people living 

in the hills, water bodies, and 

those living along the Bharalu. 

Will there be no rain if people do 

not live in the hills? Should the hill 

dwellers be blamed for the rain? 

What about areas, which are legally 

occupied by people? Were 

there are no floods in those areas? 

The areas like Rajgarh, Zoo Road, 

Ulubari and Chandmari were also 

flooded and the GS Road was also 

submerged. Moreover, the biggest 

shame was that VIP places like the 

MLA hostel and the secretariat was 

also submerged by that little shower. 

It is true that if the water bodies 

and low-lying areas are encroached 

then it does affect the environmental 

discipline, but where were the 

authorities all these days? 

According to some bodies, only 

the poor have been targeted by the 

‘discriminatory’ and ‘inhuman’ 

eviction drive whereas the rich 

with their multi-storied buildings 

have not been affected by it. The 

COUNTERPOINT 

eviction drive should be stopped.I 

am of the view that even if the eviction 

drive is continued, the people 

who are displaced should be provided 

compensation or a substitute 

shelter. There are some houses demolished 

in the lands which were 

once registered by the government 

and people were paying taxes for it. 

The houses were not constructed 

in patta land, but still were registered 

by the government itself. Just 

blaming the people encroaching 

the lands near the water bodies is 

not enough by the authorities as 

the city lacks a proper drainage 

system. 

The government has started 

cleaning the water bodies only after 

they realised that urban floods 

this year scared the entire city and 

people came out united criticising 

the authorities. The poor people 

anyway keep paying bribes among 

other things to survive there, so, it 

is easier for theauthorities to evict 

them. They will not raise their 

voices against the move. But, the 

authorities should have thought 

that the people evicted do require 

some other place to leave or a compensation 

to resettle. 

There will always be rain no 

matter whether people live on the 

hills or not and the rainwater, 

naturally, will always come down 

from the hills to the city. But it 

is the government who is to be 

blamed for the floods. Because the 

government has failed to construct 

drains scientifically to prevent 

waste materials and mud from entering 

into them to decrease their 

carrying capacity. 

PUBLIC TRANSPORT MENACE 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR 

I am a regular reader of G Plus and have come across different articles on problems related to the city. I travel by bus and I have noticed rash driving by the buses. The drivers 

try to over-take other buses and over-load them with so many passengers, making it quite difficult to even stand inside it. A few days back, I boarded a bus from Fancy Bazaar to 

Sixth Mile, the conductor came and took the fare like always. Shockingly, after crossing few stoppages he came and asked for the fare once again. This had happened because I was 

not endowed with a ticket on giving the fare. Another problem the passengers have to face is that the drivers keep halting the bus in some stoppages for a long period. 

I just want to ask the authorities that something should be done to solve these problems as we regular commuters have to face these on an everyday basis. There must be a system 

to limit the passengers boarding a bus for the convenience of the city residents. Strict norms should be implemented and all the passengers should be provided with a valid ticket 

on giving the fare. Moreover, there should be a time limit for a bus to halt in a particular stoppage. We all are aware of what had happened during the Delhi gangrape case in Delhi. 

However, the culprits were nabbed not long after the incident. But in Guwahati, there is no system by which a driver or conductor can be tracked in case of any sort of mischief. 

There is hardly any database on the drivers and the conductors of the city, any random person with any sort of background can become a driver as many were found without proper 

driving license in the past. 

Send us your letters and feedback at editor@g-plus.in 

Amrita Saikia 

Maligaon

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 21 

BRING A CHANGE IN YOUR THOUGHTS 

AND CHANGE YOUR WORLD 

ritu gupta 

gritu21@yahoo.com 

However we act and react is the result 

of how we think. Thoughts 

play a very important role and it 

totally depends on us as to how we want 

our thoughts to be and likewise, our 

mind works. If we keep thinking that 

‘No, I cannot swim,’ no matter how much 

you try, it will not help, but the moment 

you tune into your mind that ‘No, matter 

what, I will learn to swim,’ immediately 

you will get the strength to overcome the 

fears. 

Basically what we see here is if we 

kind of program our mind for a positive 

approach it works accordingly and if not 

then it always gives us a lot of stress. So, 

a positive or a negative thought is all in 

our mind. We need to make up our mind 

where we want to lay the emphasis on. 

On an average, there are 50,000 to 60,000 

thoughts that keeps our mind busy. Nobody 

can control these thoughts until and 

unless you let them. Try to focus more on 

the positive thoughts and let go off all the 

negative ones. Once you start doing it, 

you will master it. 

Stop being a negative thinker. You 

will be invaded by a lot of thoughts. Pick 

Ice, which covers 10 percent of the Earth’s surface, 

is disappearing rapidly. 400 billion tons 

is the approximate figure for total glacier 

loss per year since 1994. Greenland has been 

losing approximately 100-250 billion tons of 

ice per year. If melted completely, the Greenland 

ice sheet contains enough water to raise 

the sea level by 5-7 meters. 

According to studies, ice shelves are thinning 

at a faster rate because of warmer ocean 

water. This is approximately 60-150 billions 

of ice loss per year. All these tremendous 

changes have increased the average global 

temperature significantly since a study in 1884. 

Temperature rises can appear small, but small 

increases translate into big changes for the 

world’s climate and natural environment. 

It’s affecting food prices through extended 

droughts and flooding basements in 

extreme rainfall events – the types of dry and 

wet extremes that scientists have been telling 

us for years would be part of a changing world. 

Now we can see these things with our own eyes, 

out of our own windows! 

Of the eight north-eastern states, Assam 

seems to have suffered the most from the 

deficit rainfall and high temperatures that prevailed 

in 2006. Assam has become far warmer 

than three decades ago. Between 1991 and 

2000, only four years saw normal or abovenormal 

rainfall in the region. The perennial 

floods make it almost next to impossible for 

agriculture to thrive. 

A study by (CESPR) and (RGVN), in collaboration 

with Indian Network on Ethics and 

Climate Change (INECC) in the rural areas of 

up only the positive ones. Look for the 

good in the worst situation. This will help 

you become more positive. You will come 

across a number of procrastinators who 

always feel that since it will not happen 

then why try. Try to keep yourself away 

from such people because all they will do 

is make you feel more anxious. Rather 

than just sitting back and only believing 

that it will not happen, it would be a good 

idea to think about the best possibilities 

available and make it happen. 

Seeing the shades of gray in any 

situation will help you see that it’s almost 

never the end of the world when you feel 

like your back is pushed up against the 

wall. As put very beautifully by Dalai 

Lama, ‘See the positive side, potential and 

make an effort.’ Negative thought drains 

you out of energy and keep you away 

from the present moment, which might 

be worth enjoying. One positive thought 

can change your world making it look 

prettier but one negative thought might 

just make things look uglier. 

Here is one particular example, 

which might make it easy for us to understand 

how thoughts can make our experiences 

ugly. There was this girl who was 

living all by herself in a small apartment. 

She was happy with the kind of little adjustments 

she had to make with her life. 

Eventually she came to know that her 

very best friend would be coming to stay 

An Inconvenient Truth? 

the districts of Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, 

Sonitpur, Morigaon and Baksa, state that 

women have been forced to take up alternate 

means of livelihood. Other than agriculture, 

they are taking up fishing, weaving, working 

as domestic-helps and daily-wage labours and 

are very often lured by con-men who push 

them into prostitution. 

These marginalised women, who were 

once home-makers are the ones highly impacted 

by climate change, as the sole breadearners 

of their families, their husbands are 

facing the brunt in agriculture due to a debilitating 

fall in their income, either due to floods 

or drought-like condition. This in turn is affecting 

the education of the girl-child as now the 

responsibility of the house rests on her, with 

her mother away at work. 

All these factors are in a way connected 

to the fact that these people have been forced 

to be uprooted from their place of origin for 

better opportunities elsewhere. And that is how 

the capital city of Guwahati is bursting at the 

seams with people, looking for livelihood opportunities 

in the city, making homes in whatever 

small space they can afford on the banks 

of the river, its tributaries and the hills. 

Guwahati is going through its own transition 

as far as the climate change is concerned. 

This season, with floods unimaginably devastating 

homes of people in the city, probably 

the worst after 25 years, the government has 

taken stringent measures to evict people who 

had built homes illegally along the banks of 

the river and its tributaries. Whether we like 

it or not, this exercise had to be done sooner 

with her for few days. She shared a beautiful 

relationship with her, but the moment 

she came to know that she would be coming, 

all kinds of thoughts started invading 

her mind. The thought that she will have 

an extra roommate, her living routine 

will change and she saw herself getting 

angry about her cooking and all the little 

things she would have to do. When the 

day arrived, it was a miserable weekend 

for the two of them. They did not enjoy 

each other’s company. What could have 

been a fabulous weekend turned out to be 

a nightmare for both of them. 

When we start to have negative 

thoughts, it’s hard to stop them and it’s 

much easier said than done to shift your 

focus to positive thoughts. But it’s the 

only way, especially if you want to avoid 

going down a path that is painful and unnecessary. 

Ways to help you make 

your thoughts positive 

Yoga and meditation. 

• A big smile. 

• Surround yourself with positive 

people. 

• Change your thought from a 

negative to a positive one. 

• Don’t let others rule your life. 

• Always remember that no 

man is perfect and we will 

make mistakes. 

than later. 

With more than 10 days into this rigorous 

process, we are hopeful that some plans will 

be made for afforestation in the hills, to stop 

the erosion process. Trees have to be planted 

and looked after because it’s the trees which 

will hold the rain-water and help in the trickle 

down process. Some stringent procedures have 

to be followed to stop the water rushing down 

the hills and flooding the plains and silting the 

drains and it has to be done now. 

Having said this, how many of us know 

that to pave the road from Chandmari to Guwahati 

Club, 60 trees had been felled? For the 

KMSS leader, it was merely a ‘small heartless 

decision’ to cut down a more than 100 year old 

tree near his home in Guwahati to accommodate 

a guest-house, much to the chagrin and 

disdain of people in that area who have seen 

this tree every growing day of their lives. If per 

chance, a huge stone, which was well protected 

by the now-felled-tree, rolls down during a 

bout of heavy rains, then only destiny can save 

some 30-40 people who will bear this terrible 

impact! 

Climate change is real – and it’s starting 

to cause disruptions in all of the various ways 

that climate scientists have said it would. It is 

time we wake up to this harsh reality before it’s 

too late. Individual consciousness is far more 

effective, more so because it rubs into other 

people who needs to be 

woken up from their reverie! 

tinat ATIFA MASOOD 

Life 

Face Life With Courage 

Question: If all the pain I am going through 

in this life is because of the karmas of my previous 

life, then that makes me feel more sad. 

How do I face it? 

Don’t keep your head turned backwards. 

Look ahead and move on. You are trying to 

walk forward with your head turned backward. 

This is why you feel miserable. Just let go! 

What good will you get by analyzing the past? 

It is all nothing. In life, everyone goes through 

pleasant and unpleasant times. Just walk ahead 

with courage. 

There is so much knowledge and joy 

on the path. Despite all this, if you are feeling 

sad and miserable then what is the use of this 

knowledge? Just have this deep faith that only 

the best will happen for you. So what if right 

now there are some difficult times to face? Face 

them with courage and a smile. Just keep yourself 

busy with something or the other. 

Do you know, the owners and heads of 

the large companies that we see today were 

once upon a time in great difficulty? They had a 

tough time getting a job. Many were not able to 

even get a government job, but they did not lose 

heart. They started their enterprise with a small 

shop and slowly built it into a business empire. 

You will find many such exemplary 

role models in history. 

So don’t just sit idly and keep worrying over 

things all the time, or think that one fine day 

God will suddenly send many blessings your 

way and everything will be alright. Do not 

waste even a single day this way. 

What do we usually do? We get up in 

the morning and start reading the newspaper. 

This way, we end up spending an hour and a 

half of precious time. Then we spend two to 

three hours at home just watching television. 

If by chance you pick up a magazine, you 

just go on flipping through its pages even if 

the information is not worth reading. Nowadays 

we also spend a lot of time surfing on 

the internet. If guests come to our home, we 

spend time chatting and gossiping with them. 

Some of our time goes into eating and drinking, 

and finally we get tired and go to sleep 

at night. This is not a wise way to spend 

your day. Get up in the morning, and do 

your sadhana and meditation. After that, 

just get busy with your daily activities. 

Make notes of what you have to do each day, 

where you have to go, etc., and what you have 

to buy. Plan your day and write down names 

of all the people you have to meet that day. 

Once you have made your notes, just get on 

with your day and your work. Go on ticking 

items off your list once you have finished them. 

When you have finally done whatever you had 

planned for the day, just sit and relax for some 

time in the evening, or listen to nice music, or 

go for a nature walk in the evening. Every evening, 

spend some time with yourself. Meditate 

for 15-20 minutes in the evening again. You 

will find so much happiness in life. Then you 

will feel strong and energetic, and not lazy and 

dull. 

Usually we waste so much of our 

precious time in useless activities, and 

then we get tired and have to sit and relax 

for a while. You should not do this. 

So when you get up in the morning, make a list 

of all the things you have to do till the evening. 

What usually happens? Our secretary or assistant 

hands out a list to us of all the activities 

that need to be done in the day. I usually get my 

to-do list for tomorrow today itself! (Laughter) 

The list mentions all the people I have to 

meet, all the activities I need to look into 

throughout the day. Thankfully they spare 

an hour in the afternoon for me to rest for 

some time. But after that, I get back to work 

and my activities go on till 12 at night. This 

is how my schedule is when I am in India. 

When I travel, then also my schedule is 

quite packed with many things to do. No 

matter which state in India I go to, the 

Apex Body members of that state ensures 

to keep a busy schedule for me. And 

I too want to stay busy through the day. 

I want that every second of my day is productive 

and useful for everyone. 

I usually do not get the time to read or listen 

to any news because of having such a busy 

schedule through the day. So sometimes, in 

the flight, or when I am traveling by car, I read 

newspapers then. Some of the people who 

work with me, send me text messages regarding 

the latest news and happenings through 

chat and SMS, so I get to read the news when 

I get time. 

You all send so many letters to me with 

so much love, and I go through them all. 

Many people write their letters with such a 

small font that it is almost difficult to make out 

what they have written (laughter). I wonder 

why they are being so miserly in using paper. 

Some people fold their letters up several times 

before handing it over to me, in the hope that 

they will be able to touch my hand while handing 

it over. I did not know this, someone else 

told me this recently. They said that some 

people think that if they hand over a letter 

written on a regular size paper, they will 

not be able to touch Gurudev’s hand closely. 

But if they fold up the letter several times 

over into a small page, then they will be able 

to touch my hand when they give it to me. 

It is so difficult to open and read a letter that 

has been folded so many times! Thankfully 

till now I do not need reading glasses, but if I 

continue to get such folded letters, I just might 

have to use them too! (Laughter) 

So you all should manage your time well in life. 

Every day in the morning, make a plan of all 

the things that you need to finish by evening. 

Some people come to me and say, ‘Oh Gurudev, 

my business is not running well’, and 

they become miserable. I tell you, if your 

business is not doing well, start another one. 

There is so much to be done for the society 

today. Register your name for service 

activities with the Ashram HR over here. 

I have heard many people here saying that 

they have nothing to do. I would suggest to 

them to register their names with the Ashram 

HR. There is a lot of work to be done. 

Just keep yourself busy with work. 

So there are a lot of avenues and service 

activities here for one who sincerely wishes to 

serve. If you are interested in doing business, 

there are many business opportunities here. 

We have such a huge Art of Living family here. 

You do not have to worry about anything at all 

here. 

Some people come to me and complain 

that their son’s or daughter’s marriage is 

not getting fixed. To solve that we have 

formed the Art of Living Matrimony department 

here which has its own website. 

There are some minor problems with the website 

which the volunteers will fix it in a week’s 

time. Then it will become easier for you all to 

register and find a partner of your choice. 

So, all these worldly activities and duties 

will keep happening from time to time. 

But do not think or try finding perfection 

in them. There will always be some flaw in 

worldly activities. When we go deeper on the 

spiritual path, and in meditation; only then 

will we be able to overcome and rise above 

these minor problems and events in life. Only 

then will we be able to experience true bliss. 

This is why we changed the name of our Part- 

1 course from Basic Course to The Happiness 

Program. We want people to come and attend 

the course and experience that bliss for themselves. 

All their problems and miseries get resolved 

when they attend the course. They are 

able to rise above their problems and sorrows 

with the help of knowledge. 

I recently met a saint in Rishikesh who 

had come to attend our Satsang there. He told 

me, ‘Usually in schools, student pass one class 

after clearing exams and move on to the next. 

But this school (referring to the path of knowledge) 

is unique. One who comes here does not 

pass. Once they come (on the path), they stay 

here, because here they find the true joy of life. 

The path of knowledge is very juicy and 

full of joy. It brings you on the path of 

righteous action. It gives you the experience 

of love that is so total and eternal, 

and you find peace that is so everlasting. 

Having this, you can move ahead in life with 

confidence. That is why it is said: ‘Charaiveti! 

Charaiveti! Charaiveti! ‘ (From the Upanishads, 

meaning: ‘Move on! Move on! Move on!’) 

Our Vedas proclaim the same thing, just 

keep moving on in life, do not get entangled 

in anything. One who moves on in life, being 

firmly established in self-knowledge, attains 

the ultimate goal of life. 

But one who runs 

here and there feverishly 

behind cravings 

and desires, loses sigh 

of the very purpose 

of life. 

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji

22 

Fun 

Your weekly dose of TIMEPASS 

HOROSCOPE 

ARIES 

You have a goal in mind big 

time on Monday. Be careful about 

trampling on others to get there — it’s 

bad for your karma! Around Tuesday 

and Wednesday, you’re more of an 

idea person rather than an action gogetter. 

Get in cahoots with someone 

who thinks like you do for double the 

brainpower (and double the fun, too). 

Then after all that conscious thought, 

your subconscious has a message for 

you at the end of the workweek. Write 

down those dreams and tune into those 

visions. This weekend, toss the schedule 

aside and see what allures you from 

moment to moment. 

TAURUS 

If you’ve been thinking about 

getting out of town, go ahead and 

firm up those plans on Monday 

when the stars smile on future journeys. 

Tuesday and Wednesday 

bring some unusual energy your 

way, perhaps in the form of a work 

or a personal challenge. This could 

be a bend-or-break situation — 

which will you do? After this, fun with 

friends (or a romantic interest) is in 

order at the end of the workweek. 

Those who know and love you best 

energize you, and vice versa. And 

this weekend you just might be impetuous, 

spontaneous and ready to 

dive into something new. 

GEMINI 

If you’re confused or indecisive, 

don’t expect a sudden flash of 

insight on Monday. Around Tuesday 

and Wednesday, however, if you apply 

yourself, you’re likely to experience 

the dawning of a useful point of 

view. To prompt it, consider the most 

outlandish of options and seek out 

advice from an odd source. An email, 

a text or other communique could 

be misunderstood at the end of the 

workweek; beware of assumptions 

now. When the weekend comes, your 

feelings will come across beautifully. 

CANCER 

Playing hooky or working from 

home might not be a bad idea on 

Monday because your regular routine 

may present some irregular issues now. 

Around Tuesday and Wednesday be 

sure to direct negative feelings appropriately. 

You don’t want to end up 

tangling with your boss when your relationship’s 

the source of your frustration 

— or vice versa. But spread the 

good stuff around. By the end of the 

workweek, the stars are sending plenty 

of mojo your way. You’ll click with others 

now in a most satisfying way. This 

weekend, do what it takes to truly unwind. 

LEO 

Wanna make a good impression 

on Monday? It’s easy — make it 

all about them. They’ll think you’re the 

cat’s pajamas (accurately, of course). 

Around Tuesday and Wednesday, 

somebody’s quirks may make you 

crazy, but even you can admit you’ve 

got a few of your own. Try to loosen up 

or laugh it off. Your work or personal 

priorities require attention at the end 

of the workweek. The most appealing 

possibilities may not ultimately satisfy 

you. This weekend, almost anything’s 

fun, so why not try something entirely 

different? 

VIRGO 

On Monday, fit in some fun — 

a little flirtation, a quick coffee with 

a friend, whatever it takes to kick the 

week off right. Around Tuesday and 

Wednesday, you have the tenacity to 

apply yourself to a task or situation, 

but then again, if you think more freely 

first, an entirely new and improved 

approach may present itself. Don’t 

overlook esoteric ideas. Try saying ‘I 

hear what you’re saying’ at the end of 

the workweek even if you’re thinking 

’You’re a total wingnut.’ You just might 

change your mind. Watch your wallet 

and any intertwined finances this 

weekend. 

George went over to his fiancee’s house and sadly told his 

girlfriend the wedding was off. He was going to marry another 

woman. 

His girlfriend was distraught. She asked, “How can you choose 

another woman over me? Is she a better cook?” 

“Not on her best days, she can’t match your everyday cooking.” 

“Does she buy you gifts like I do, the electronic toys that please 

men so much.?” 

JUST FOR LAUGHs 

LIBRA 

If you find yourself dragging a bit 

on Monday, consider why you’re feeling 

this way. You’ll want to have your 

emotional state sorted out by Tuesday 

and Wednesday. Expect some pretty 

spectacular energy from the stars, 

including a possible romantic interlude. 

Your knack for ‘getting’ others is 

hot now. Don’t expect big results. You 

might be disappointed at the end of 

the workweek, but smaller plans will go 

rather nicely. As for the weekend, find 

opportunities to cooperate and compete. 

Have some fun — create something 

or play a game, one-on-one or 

in a group. 

SCORPIO 

You’re a people person and super 

aware of opportunities on Monday, so 

seize this day big time! Around Tuesday 

and Wednesday, family and/or household 

matters should be a priority. A little 

maintenance of your relationships and 

surroundings now prevents issues later. 

Then it’s time to leave mundane stuff 

(mostly) behind and stretch that imagination 

at the end of the workweek. 

Think big, think bold, think beautiful — 

and think romance! This weekend, look 

for common ground rather than conflict. 

Being the one to make the first overture 

feels fantastic. 

SAGITTARIUS 

A penny saved is a penny you can 

spend on something bigger and better 

later on Monday. Around Tuesday and 

Wednesday, you have a bright, shiny 

quality that attracts others; your genuine 

interest in them keeps ‘em around. 

Don’t forget to share your latest odd 

fascination. At the end of the workweek, 

it’s a good thing your head is 

securely attached. You’re prone to lose 

most everything else, including track of 

time at a crucial moment if you’re not 

careful. A great date or an outing with 

friends this weekend might involve a 

game — wanna watch or play? 

CAPRICORN 

Hop out of bed early on Monday, 

and make the most of the limitless possibilities 

the stars are sending your way. By 

Tuesday and Wednesday, you’re busy 

refining a scheme or looking for an alternative 

approach to a certain situation — 

good ideas both. The imaginative oomph 

you need, however, might not arrive until 

the end of the workweek. You’re able to 

come up with all sorts of things now, especially 

in cahoots with someone super. 

Balance work or projects and play this 

weekend — too much of one throws you 

off big time now. 

AQUARIUS 

If being ‘on’ on Monday is essential, 

consider hitting the gym to get your 

blood pumping, stopping for more coffee 

or both. If possible, delay bigger, better 

agenda items until Tuesday and Wednesday 

when the stars serve you some electric, 

inspiring stuff, and (bonus) give you 

natural allure and extra shine. What do 

you want now? Go for it! At the end of the 

workweek, it may seem like a hassle, but 

confirm plans, do the math and so forth; 

otherwise things are liable to go awry. As 

for the weekend? It looks great for selfdiscovery 

and possibly some revelations 

about others, too. 

PISCES 

Why be a martyr on Monday 

when a friend or coworker’s happy to 

help? If you feel funny asking, arrange 

for a mutually beneficial trade. Around 

Tuesday and Wednesday, fuse your 

imagination and your intellectual side for 

amazing results. Some free-form thought 

might give rise to surprising next steps for 

your relationship, career or life at large. 

Be glad you’re you on Thursday and Friday, 

and be ready for additional appreciation 

from those around you, too. You’re 

just extra great (and extra hot) now. This 

weekend, get to the bottom of a puzzling 

situation. 

“She can’t buy me anything. She has no job and no money.” 

“Then she must be beautiful and hotter! Is she that much better 

than me?” 

“No, you are fantastic.” 

“Then what can this woman possibly do better than me that you 

want to marry her?” 

“She can sue me for child support.” 

SUDOKU 

Solutions (Last Issue) 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014

G PLUS JUL 12 - JUL 18, 2014 23 

Diagnostic Centres 

G Plus will keep on publishing such relevant and useful 

information in this page in the coming issues. 

Apex Diagnostic 

G M C H Road, Bhangagarh, G S Road, Ghy– 5 

Ph- 9864046416 , 9864014212 

Adlab 

H B Road, Fancy Bazar, Ghy- 1 

Ph- 0361-2600314 

Ayursundra 

Lachit Nagar, G S Road, Ghy-7 

Ph- 0361- 2451080 

Digi Lab 

11, Behind U C O Bank, Maligaon, Ghy – 11 

Ph- 9864041672 , 03612670693 

Diagno Laboratory 

A T Road, Maligaon, Ghy –11 

Ph- 9864891115 

Dlarc 

G M C Road Bhangagarh, Ghy – 5 

Ph- 0361-2527078 

Dr Pauls Chamber 

Ground Floor, Nr Ganesh Marriage Hall, Tiyali 

Pukhan Road, Rehabari, Ghy – 8 

Ph- 9954727209 

Ekopath Centre 

Sikaria Building, Opp Orion Super Market, G S 

Road, Ghy – 5 Ph- 0361-2342595 

Friends Diagnostic Centre 

LAL Ganesh, Odalbakra, Ghy – 34 

Ph- 9864133581 

Friends Diagnostics Centre 

88 Lalganesh, Nr Ganesan Puram, Lakhtokia, 

Ghy– 1 Ph- 9854010860 

Hayat Hospital 

Kahilipara Road, Odalbakra, Ghy- 34 

Ph- 8811017357 , 8011003100 

Inst Of Dermatlgy 

& Cosmetlgy 

Rajgarh Road, Bhangagarh, Ghy – 5 

Ph- 0361-2528343 

Insight 

123 Rajgarh Road, Nr State Bank, Rani, 

Ghy – 781131 Ph- 9864055079 

Life Line Lab 

Jatia, R G Baruah Road, Ghy- 6 

Ph- 0361-2220976 

Lunar Health care & Diagnostics 

Ganeshguri Chariali, Dispur, Ghy- 6 

Ph- 0361-2232714, 9435927005 

Life Laborotary 

Six Mile, G S Road, Panjabari Road, 

Khanapara, Ghy - 22 Ph- 9817216169 

Luit Diagnostic Centre Pvt. Ltd. 

C K Road, Panbazar, Ghy– 1 

Ph- 9706463938 

Micro Diagnostic 

408 Rajgarh Road, Nr Bakery, Bhangagarh, 

Ghy- 18 Ph- 9435602316 

Compiled by Mautapa Dhar 

MAA Ambika Traders 

S C Goswami Road, Pan Bazar, Ghy – 1 

Ph- 9435101213 

Megatesh Diagnostic Centre 

Rajgarh Road, Lachit Nagar, Ghy - 7 

Ph- 0361-2529272 

Matrix 

Bye Lane No 1, Nr Rajiv Bhawan, Tarun Nagar, 

G S Road, Ghy – 5 Ph- 9864067578 

Micro Diagnostics 

Nath Commercial Complex, Big Bazar, Rajgarh 

Road, Bhangagarh, Ghy- 18 Ph- 9957191505 

Narayana Superspeciality 

Hospital 

Nr Tularam Bafna Civil Hospital, Amingaon, 

Ghy – 31 Ph- 8811098884 , 8876420001 

Pulse Diagnostic 

Super Commercial Complex, Bhangagarh, G M 

C H Road, Ghy – 18 Ph- 9435314344 

Piramal Diagonostics 

Nr Bust Stop, G S Road, Ulubari, Ghy -7 

Ph- 0361-2520117 , 03612462740 

Primus Diagnostic 

G S Road, Ghy – 5 Ph- 0361-2458093 

Swagat Hospital Pvt Ltd 

Nr Santipur Petrol Pump, A T Road, 

Bharalumukh, Ghy – 9 Ph- 9864023338 , 

9401726890 

SRL Panacea 

Probir Market, 1st Floor, Opp Astc, Paltan 

Bazar, Ghy - 8 Ph- 9864154343 

SRL Pulse Diagnostics 

Nr Satsangh Vihar, G S Road, Banghagarh, 

Ghy – 5 Ph-9954100900 

SRL Diagnostics 

Six Mile, Police Point, Panjabari Road, 


Shristhi Diagnostic 

Opp Jonali Path, R G Baruah Road, Zoo Road, 

Ghy- 24 Ph- 9864028058 , 9864049698 

Ultra Care 

Six Mile, VIP Road, Panjabari Road, 


EMERGENCY NUMBERS 

AMBULANCE 

Ambulance 102 

Arya Hospital, Ulubari 2606888, 2606665 

Downtown Hospital 9864101111, 9435012669 

GLP Social Circle 2737373 

GGUMTA (Mirza) 03623-227109 

Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251 

HOSPITALS 

Arya Hospital, Ulubari 

(2606888, 2606665) 

B Baruah Cancer Institute 

(2472364/66) 

Brahmaputra Hospital Ltd 

(2451634/678) 

Chatribari Christian 

Hospital 

0361-2600051, 92070- 

44374 

Downtown Hospital 

2331003, 9864079366, 

9435012669 

Guwahati Medical College 

(2529457, 2529561) 

Guwahati Medical College 

Emergency (2263444) 

BLOOD BANK 

Arya Hospital, Ulubari 2606888, 2606665 

Ganga Blood Bank 2454742, 2455029 

Lion’s Club of Ghy Central 2546611 

Marwari Yuva Manch 2546470, 2547251 

Saharia’s Path Lab (24 hours) 2458594 

24-HOUR PHARMACIES 

Arya Hospital, Ulubari (2606888, 2606665) 

DEAD BODY CARRYING VAN 

GLP Social Circle 2737373, 9435047046 

Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251 

GGUMTA 98640-16740 

ELECTRICITY 

SUPPLY 

Call Centre – 

9678005171 

OTHERS 

Fire Emergency 101 

State Zoo 2201363 

GMC Carcass Pickup 9435190720, 

9864047222 

LPG Emergency/Leakage 2385209, 

2541118 

Cinema Hall 

Anuradha Cineplex – 0361-2656968, 99545-44738 

Fun Cinema (HUB)- 98648-00100, 98648-00200 

Gold Cinema (Paltan Bazaar) – 98540-66166 

Gold Cinema (Salasar) – 0361-2735367, 98540-77177 

Gold Cinema (Narengi) – 88110-01898 

SP, Kamrup District: Ph- 2540278 

DGP Control Room: Ph- 2540242 

SB Control Room: Ph-2261511 

Police Control Room: Ph-2540138, 

2540113 

Azara PS: Ph2840287 

Basista PS: Ph-2302158 

Bharalumukh PS: Ph- 2540137, 

2731199 

Borjhar PS: Ph-2840351 

Chandmari PS: Ph- 2660204 

Chandrapur PS: Ph-2788237, 

2785237 

Dispur PS: Ph-2261510 

Fancybazar PS: Ph- 2540285 

International Hospital 

0361-7135005 

Mahendra Mohan Choudhury 

Hospital 

(2541477, 2543998) 

Marwari Hospital & Research 

Centre 

0361-2602738/39 

Marwari Maternity Hospital 

0361-2541202/01 

Nemcare Hospital 

0361-2528587, 2455906, 

2457344 

police station 

Citypedia 

Pratiksha Hospital 

0361-2337260, 

2337183/84 

Basistha Military Hospital 

(2304617/0351) 

Railway Central Hospital 

Casuality (2671025) 

Redcross Hospital 

(2665114) 

Sri Sankardeva Netralaya 

0361-2233444, 2228879, 

2228921 

TB Hospital 

(2540193) 

Wintrobe Hospital 

0361-2519860, 

98647-77986 

GNRC Hospital 0361 

2227702 

GNRC Life First Ambulance 

9401194011 

RADIO TAXI SERVICES 

Prime Cabs 

0361- 2222233 

Green Cabs 

0361-7151515 

My Taxi 

0361-2228888 

Cherry Cabs 

8876222288 

Fatasil Ambari PS: Ph-2471412 

Geetanagar PS: Ph-2417323 

Hatigaon: Ph-2562383 

Jalukbari PS: Ph-2570587 

Jalukbari Out Post: Ph-2570522 

Jorabat: Ph-2896853 

Khanapara: Ph- 2281501 

Khetri PS: Ph-2787699, 2787220 

Latasil PS: Ph-2540136 

Noonmati PS: Ph- 2550281 

North Guwahati PS: Ph-2690255 

Paltanbazar PS: Ph-2540126 

Panbazar PS: Ph-2540106 

Pragjyotishpur Ps: Ph-2785237 

Women PS Panbazar: Ph-2524627

24 

Catching Up 

SOS jeans, GPS bra: Rape fears spawn strange safety gears 

Pepper spray isn’t enough in India. Anti-rape jeans, footwear and 

innerwear are the new security devices women are coming up with to 

counter India’s growing problem of crime against women. Two such 

designs - sandals that deliver electric shocks and jeans that have an 

inbuilt SOS button - were unveiled by college girls in Uttar Pradesh, a 

state in the news almost every day for incidents of rape and murder. 

Rijul Pandey and Shalini Yadav, two computer science students at a 

private engineering college in Varanasi, have designed sandals that 

would give an electric shock to any molester and send an instant SOS 

message to those specified from the wearer’s list of mobile contacts. 

Nargis Fakhri 

WHO’S SHE 

She has appeared on America’s Next 

Top Model and made her Bollywood 

debut with 2011 film Rockstar. Her 

performance in the film garnered 

critical appreciation and earned her 

a nomination for Filmfare Award 

for Best Female Debut. Fakhri was 

widely praised for her role of a war 

correspondent in a 2013 political 

thriller film Madras Cafe. 

SO WHAT 

She achieved further success for 

her leading role in a 2014 romantic 

comedy film Main Tera Hero. 

Besides that, Fakhri is also the brand 

ambassador of Pakistan’s network 

service Mobilink. 

Now what 

After matching steps with Salman 

Khan in a special song from the 

upcoming film `Kick`, Nargis Fakhri 

says she was bowled over by the 

superstar`s personality and energy. 

G PLUS JUN 12 - JUL 18, 2014 

Headlining acts! 

Legendary actress Zohra 

Sehgal passes away at 102 

Legendary actress Zohra Sehgal, who 

played character roles with aplomb 

in a career spanning both theatre and 

cinema, died in New Delhi on 10th 

July 2014 at the age of 102. “She died 

of a cardiac arrest and was unwell for 

last three-four days,” daughter Kiran 

said. Often called the grand old lady of 

bollywood, she last appeared in Sanjay 

Leela Bhansali’s “Saawariya” in 2007. A 

Padma Shri awardee, she also received 

the Padma Vibhushan in 2010. 

A valet 

at a five-star hotel in the 

Indian capital caused $335,000 worth 

of damage to a Lamborghini Gallardo after 

crashing it into a concrete wall in front of horrified 

guests. A photograph of the aftermath at LE MERIDIEN 

hotel, showed the severely crumpled front end of the sleek 

white supercar with its hood forced up. “We get all kind of luxury 

cars, important guests and hold outstanding events and this was 

something completely inadvertent,” a hotel spokeswoman told. She 

said the valet had been working for 10 years and appeared to have lost 

control of the Italian speedster on the slippery forecourt after an early 

afternoon rain shower. CCTV footage shows the valet bring the car from 

the parking area to the porch of the multi-storey hotel, which hosts 

several glitzy restaurants and 

a bar, and then briefly 

get out. 

India hotel valet crashes Lamborghini Gallardo 

Vidyut Jamwal 

pic of the week 

This ditch at Chatribari road was dug 

up before the world cup and now with 

the final around the corner, nothing has 

been done and it is still wide open. 

What did I just hear? 

Star rapper, Yo Yo 

Honey Singh is the 

latest celebrity after 

actor Akshay Kumar 

to buy a team 

in the World Kabbadi 

League which is 

scheduled to be held 

in five different countries from August to December 

this year. “I wanted to be associated with a sport 

on which I really believe in and so I bought a team 

in World Kabbadi League and Toronto will host my 

team. I have named it on my name, ‘Yo Yo Tigers’ 

and I am really excited to see it on screen when it is 

covered in Sony Six,” said Honey Singh. 

WHO’S HE 

Vidyut Jamwal is an Indian 

film actor, model and martial 

artist. Popularly known as a 

contemporary action hero, he has 

worked in Bollywood, Kollywood 

and Tollywood films. He is also a 

practitioner of kalaripayattu. 

SO WHAT 

In 2012, Jamwal made his debut in 

Tamil cinema with Billa II, as the 

antagonist opposite Ajith Kumar. 

For his role, he received critical 

appreciation. He recently worked 

on another Tamil film Thuppakki, 

opposite actor Vijay which became a 

blockbuster. 

Now what 

Vidyut’s first teaser appearance 

in Anjaan that is expected to be 

released later this year is already out. 

By doing the stunts without a body 

double or cables, he fits into the 

definition of India’s Next Gen action 

hero without a hitch and is expected 

to mesmerize his audience. 

Printed & Published by Sunit Jain on behalf of Insight Brandcom Pvt. Ltd. and Printed at Arkashish Publications (P) Ltd., Katahbari, Garchuk, Guwahati and Published at H/No. 34, K. C. Choudhury Road, Chatribari, Guwahati - 781008, Editor: Koushik Hazarika. 

Phone: 0361 2737737, Email: info@g-plus.in, RNI No: ASSENG/2013/52641

G Plus Volume 1 Issue 41

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