SHILLONG: A joint investigation committee (JIC) comprising State Chief Conservator of Forest and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment, Regional Office has been constituted to relook into the alleged random exploitation of forest land by the cement industries in Jaintia Hills district.

The constitution of the JIC came even after the State constituted high level committee’s (HLC) findings submitted in November 2011 acknowledged that the cement industries have intruded into the forest land.

SHILLONG: After the successful implementation of the SPTS buses in the East Khasi Hills, the State Government has now decided to introduce ten buses, procured under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), in Jaintia Hills district.

Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh will formally flag off a fleet of swanky buses on February 18.

SHILLONG, Feb 2 – Assam’s world famous tea has propelled the State as the leader in terms of export from the Northeast during 2010-11. Assam exported goods worth Rs 476.59 crore during 2010-11. The State during the period imported goods worth Rs 34.55 crore. Assam was followed by Meghalaya with a total export worth Rs 383.95 crore. Meghalaya’s import stood at Rs 9.45 crore during 2010-11.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the country as a whole has come down from 50 to 47 per thousand but in case of Meghalaya, Assam and three other states the same remains well above the national average.

As per the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin released on Wednesday by the Registrar General of India (RGI), it is noted that the IMR has dropped by 3 points from 50 to 47 infant deaths per 1000 live births during 2010. But in case of Meghalaya the same remains at 55 well over the national average of 47, the report said.

Govt unable to acquire land for flyovers

Shillong: Hopes for Shillongites to see flyovers in the city is about to come crashing to the ground with the government expressing its inability to acquire land for construction of these flyovers.

SHILLONG: Pointing out that the State is blessed with the highest amount of rainfall, Principal Secretary of Soil and Water Conservation PBO Warjri rued the fact that the State has not been able to retain this blessing.

“The total amount of water which precipitates from Meghalaya either goes to Bangladesh or the Brahmaputra. We are able to retain very less water,” Warjri said after the release of the annual report of the State Soil and Water Conservation department on Tuesday.

Union Minister of State for Water Resources & Minority Affairs Vincent H Pala has said that pilot and demonstrative artificial recharge studies have encouraging results in recharging the run-off, sustenance of extraction structures through increased availability of ground water , increase in irrigation potential, improvement in environment )through increase in soil moisture and ecosystem conditions.

SHILLONG: The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded alarm bells after two reported outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in poultry farms in Odisha and one in a state run farm in East Garo Hills in Meghalaya.

The samples from the two states which were sent to the National High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal confirmed that fowls from the poultry farms tested positive for the scientific polymerase chain reaction test and virus isolation test.

GUWAHATI: To review and monitor the progress made under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), a central delegation from the Ministry of Rural Development recently visited the north-eastern States which included Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.