Skip to content Skip to navigation

Coronavirus scare: BTC polls postponed

Guwahati: The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) election, scheduled for 4 April next, has been postponed indefinitely. State Election Commissioner Alok Kumar on Friday informed that the polling for the council is being deferred in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Earlier, the Assam government had asked the State electoral authority to defer the BTC polls. The opposition parties too urged the authority to postpone the polling. The Congress along with some other parties sent memorandums for necessary action.

Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi on Friday appealed to the people to whole-heartedly support and adhere to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for voluntary observance of a self-imposed 'Janata curfew' on 22 March. He urged all countrymen to stay at home from 7 am to 9 pm and lend their efforts to save the country from the Covid-19 scourge. Commenting on the global coronavirus outbreak, Governor Mukhi said that the virus has had a cascading effect on humanity with various nations having advanced health science presently on toes trying to study the nature of the virus and come out with an antidote.

“In this challenging scenario, the global scientific fraternity has suggested that social distancing and avoidance of any kind of social gathering is the best and most effective means to keep the virus infection at bay,” said the Governor, adding that the pandemic is a global problem and large scale mass awareness is the only viable option for building a well-concerted peventive against it.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday called on Governor Mukhi at Raj Bhawan and apprised him about various initiatives taken by Assam government across the State to deal with the outbreak.

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Udalguri Youth Festival concludes

12 Feb 2013 - 5:08pm | Jayanta Kumar Das
The three day Udalguri Youth Festival organised by Red Horns Division concluded on February 9 with fanfare and gaiety. Finals of inter school quiz and debate were held on the occasion at DC parade...

Wild elephant found dead in Udalguri

23 Nov 2012 - 8:24pm | Jayanta Kumar Das
The recovery of a dead female wild elephant at Paneri in Udalguri district has caused serious concern among nature loving people. The 8 years old female wild elephant was seen in a tea garden drain...

Take Bodo language to global scene

27 Mar 2018 - 6:22pm | AT News
 Kokrajhar: Experts at a seminar in Kokrajhar on Tuesday strongly advocated measures to uplift the Bodo language and literature in the global scene. Participating at a two days international...

Fire service jawan injured

24 Feb 2017 - 10:13pm | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
A fire & emergency service jawan received injury on his hand due to stone pelted by bandh supporters while rushing to douse tyre burn at Bhawanipur along JD Road in Kokrajhar district on Friday...

Other Contents by Author

The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will hear cases 562/2012, 876/2014, 311/2015, and 68/2016, brought by the Asom Samyukta Mahasangh of Assam, represented by Motiur Rahman and 102 Khilonjiya tribal organizations, against the Government of India, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Election Commission, the Registrar General of India, the Government of Assam, and the All Assam Students' Union. The cases were previously heard by two-judge benches of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and Ranjan Gogoi in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, but were referred to a five-judge Constitution bench for final trial because the defendants were unable to provide sufficient...
Dibrugarh: Prof. Chandan Kumar Sharma from Tezpur University hosted the Northeast release of Yale University Press' award-winning Genetically Modified Democracy at Dibrugarh University on Friday. The book release was part of a three-day workshop called Sustainable Futures: Agriculture, Ecology and Conservation in Northeast India. It took place on December 14-16 in Guwahati and Dibrugarh University. Dr. Aniket Aga is an associate professor of environmental studies at Ashoka University. His research interests are in science and technology studies, democratic politics, and agrarian studies. He works on questions of environmental justice, food democracy, and sustainable agriculture. The...
At the Sanctuary Wildlife Awards ceremony in Mumbai last night, environmentalist Rituraj Phukan was honoured with a Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award. The Nagaon based Climate Reality Leader is a renowned environmental writer, adventurer and conservationist who has represented the region and country in numerous global climate change events.  The loudest applause of the night was for 23 year old Munmuni Payeng, who won the Young Naturalist Award for her work with grassroots communities. It must be mentioned that she is the daughter of Padma Shree Jadav Payeng, famous as the Forest Man of India. Eminent conservation scientist Dr. Vibhu Prakash, whose is known for his pioneering work...
Arvind Ojha was an experimentalist choosing to dedicate his life to social changemaking through education, working with children, making institutions and keeping people and organisations together. Someone very forthcoming to dialogue and collaborate with youth. Perhaps something that kept him innovating with community for over 40 years in social sector. He was an artist, storyteller and a social changemaker. In his early years he wrote extensively. Prose and poetry were his forms of storytelling. He used camera to capture his times and stories, principally focusing on desert. Later years, he committed to working with communities of Thar desert in the remote places and contexts. His...
Guwahati: The main petitioner in the Supreme Court of India with the demand to update the 1951 National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam has lodged a police complaint against information technology firm Wipro alleging the misappropriation of a huge amount of public money in process.  Assam Public Works (APW), which continues raising voices against the ethnic militant outfits along with religious terrorists and Illegal migrants in the region, filed a first information report at Paltanbazar PS, Guwahati- 781024 on Friday, where the influential civil rights group has made the NRC Directorate also a party. The non-government organisation, which has also been working for the...
Guwahati: A Career Awareness Workshop was organized by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Assam Don Bosco University School of Technology on 3rd September,2022 at Dharapur Higher Secondary School, Dharapur. The welcome speech of the workshop was given by Utpal Sarma, Principal of Dharapur Higher Secondary School. The resource persons for the workshop were Dr. Buljit Buragohain, a prominent career counsellor of the state and Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering of Assam Don Bosco University School of Technology and Pranjal Sarma, Assistant Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Apart from clearing the...
Dibrugarh/Dhemaji: Historical, mythological conclusions and anthropological studies have proven Gorkhas to be not just indigenous but also aborigines of the Himalayan mountain range and we are progenies of an aboriginal community so the Government of Assam should soon declare Gorkhas as an indigenous community of Assam through gazette notification and create Gorkha Autonomous Council (GAC) for overall constitutional security and prosperity. This was stated by GACDC chairperson Harka Bahadur Chetry while interacting with media persons on Sunday at Dibrugarh airport on his arrival from New Delhi after receiving the prestigious ‘Pillar of Society’ international award conferred by an INGO...
On 16th August the Department of Sociology, Cotton University in collaboration with Anamaya-tribal health collaborative organised a dialogue on Tribal Health and Culture Interlinkages. The key speakers at the event were Dr. Forhad Akhtar Zaman, Additional Professor and Head, Department of Community & Family Medicine, AIIMS-Guwahati; Dr. Anil Kumar Boro, Head of Department, Department of Folklore Research, Gauhati University and Dr.Mitra Das, Deputy Director, Assam Institute of Research For Tribals And Scheduled Castes, Government of Assam. The event ended with a moving mime performance on sustainable use of forests and conserving medicinal plants by artist Mina. Such...
The unprecedented early floods in the state of Assam have affected more than 5 million people. Following a Rapid Need Assessment (RNA) in the district of Nagaon, NEADS has activated its humanitarian response among the hardest-hit communities in the crisis ravaged areas. With Start Fund funding, NEADS has initiated humanitarian assistance among vulnerable people where the local organisation is reaching out with essential dry rations, non-food items, dignity and WASH support targeting a total of 1100 worst ravaged families in the Kathiyatoli development block in the district. Along with emergency relief aid, NEADS is trying to promote community level awareness and sensitization of Public...
As part of the international webinar series on Different facets of Sankaradeva Studies, organized by Society for Srimanta Sankaradeva, the sixth webinar was held in association with Naamghar Association of America, USA (NAAM) and Delphic Council of North East India on 29th May, 2022. Dr Ratul Chandra Bora, former Registrar of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva Viswavidyalaya was the resource person. He delivered lecture on “Srimanta Sankaradeva and Guru Nanak”. The webinar was moderated by Dr Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti, author and scholar of Sankari culture, who is also President of Society for Srimanta Sankaradeva. Dr Ratul Chandra Bora said that both Srimanta...