Guwahati: Assam has received the approval of the National Medical Commission (NMC) for the ninth medical college in the state. It has been set up in Dhubri.
As per a letter from the NMC, approval has been granted for starting the MBBS course with an intake of 100 students annually from the academic year 2022-23.
A top health official said that the infrastructure facilities of the new medical college, laboratories, library, hostels, hospital and availability of faculty were assessed by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) and following which the approval was given.
The Board has also reviewed the overall progress of other facilities at this medical college in a virtual hearing before giving its nod.
Executive Director at the Assam National Health Mission, Manoj Choudhury told IANS that many new medical colleges are in the pipeline.
The health department will seek approval for two medical colleges in Kokrajhar and Nalbari later this year. The construction of Nagaon medical college is almost complete and it may get NMC's nod early next year.
He also said the state government has also sanctioned medical colleges in Tinsukia and Bongaigaon districts. Guwahati is set to get a new medical college within the next two years.
The shortage of doctors was always an issue of concern in Assam.
"The situation is changing very fast. We now have 1,200 seats for medical admission including Dhubri," added Choudhury. —IANS

Assam has received the approval of the National Medical Commission (NMC) for the ninth medical college in the state. 

 Assam gets approval for ninth medical college in Dhubri

Assam

Guwahati:&nbsp;A Bangladeshi national has been arrested in Assam' Morigaon over suspicion of smuggling cattle from India to Bangladesh, said an official.The Superintendent of Police in Morigaon district, Aparna Natrajan told IANS that they detained the person on Saturday evening and later he was arrested.The man was identified as Nuruz Zaman. He was a resident of Banglabazar in the Sunamganj area of Bangladesh.The police officer informed that Zaman entered India with a valid tourist VISA through the Dawki border in Meghalaya on July 14. He then came to Assam and roamed in the Moirabari area of the Morigaon district.Though he was a tourist, Zaman was looking to buy cattle from the local market. He even bought some cattle and only then he came under the scanner of the local police informers.Natrajan said, "He was tracked by the police for the last several days. The man was planning to smuggle those cattle through the Dawki border to Bangladesh."Police have seized many objectionable documents from his possession. There were lots of photographs of the cattle markets, huge Indian currency notes, and Indian SIM cards.—IANS

A Bangladeshi national has been arrested in Assam' Morigaon over suspicion of smuggling cattle from India to Bangladesh, said an official.

 Bangladeshi cattle smuggler arrested in Assam

Guwahati:&nbsp;The West Bengal CID, which had sent a team to Assam last week, has summoned a Guwahati-based businessman to Kolkata on Monday in connection with the probe into the Jharkhand MLA cash seizure case, an Assam Police official said.The Assam Police official said that the West Bengal CID, a team of which visited various places in Guwahati last week, has pasted the summons notice at the premises of businessman Ashok Dhanuka's house here.According to media reports, Dhanuka and his son Ghanshyam Dhanuka are supposed to be close to a top political family of ruling BJP in Assam.According to the official, the Bengal CID team has asked Ashok Dhanuka to appear in Bengal CID headquarters Bhavani Bhavan at 10 a.m. on Monday.A source claimed that the CID team in Guwahati had gone to Dhanuka's house on Saturday to serve the notice but failed to meet the businessman as the house was guarded by the Assam Police.The Bengal CID team came to Guwahati to collect CCTV footage and other evidence regarding the arrest of three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand. They collected CCTV footages from the Gopinath Bordoloi International airport in Guwahati and a hotel.On July 30 evening, the three Congress MLAs of Jharkhand -- Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kacchap and Naman Bixal Kongari -- were nabbed by the police at Howrah's Panchla, with huge amount of cash in their vehicle.The MLAs told the police that the cash was meant for purchasing sarees from the wholesale market at Burrabazar in central Kolkata to distribute in their constituencies on the occasion of the World Tribal Day. The MLAs and two of their associates, arrested with them, including the driver, have been remanded to CID custody till August 10.The Congress suspended three MLAs accusing them of conspiracy to topple the state government even a the matter rocked politics in Bengal, Assam, and Jharkhand.—IANS

The West Bengal CID, which had sent a team to Assam last week, has summoned a Guwahati-based businessman to Kolkata on Monday in connection with the probe into the Jharkhand MLA cash seizure case, an Assam Police official said.

 Jharkhand MLAs cash scam: Bengal CID summons Guwahati trader

Guwahati:&nbsp;IIT-Guwahati has resumed its classes completely in physical mode, a statement said on Friday. More than 7,400 students are now attending classes in classrooms with the batch admitted during the pandemic attending full-semester classes in person for the first time, it said. IIT-Guwahati was the first among IITs to bring back all students to campus and start offline classes back in March 2022, and presently all academic activities will be held offline beginning with the July 2022-23 semester. IIT-Guwahati has all COVID-19 related precautions in place, and is currently hosting a massive vaccine drive to ensure the safety of its students, the statement said. "The campus is filled with zeal and enthusiasm again with the presence of students all across and the environment is full of life now. This will facilitate more intellectual interaction among the community and benefit everyone, including those who were dependent for their livelihoods on the IIT-G campus," director TG Sitharam said. The students are now exploring a plethora of opportunities that they lacked during online classes, he added.—PTI

IIT-Guwahati has resumed its classes completely in physical mode, a statement said on Friday

IIT-Guwahati switches to offline classes completely

Guwahati:&nbsp;A man allegedly made his two children drink poison before consuming it himself at his residence in Assam's Sivasagar town, an official said.The shocking incident happened on Wednesday and came to light on Thursday.The man, identified as Mridul Handique is a resident of the Bogidole area on the outskirts of Sivsagar town.As per reports, when neighbours came to know about the incident, Handique and his two children were rushed to the hospital. But his 6-year-old son Pintu Handique was declared brought dead by the doctors.Mridul also passed away in the hospital.Sivsagar district Superintendent of Police, Subhrajyoti Borah told IANS that Handique's other son aged 10 years was in a critical condition, and undergoing treatment at Assam Medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh."Doctors are hopeful that he will survive," said Borah.According to the preliminary investigation, police found that the man had some domestic issues with his wife.The wife and daughters were living separately for the last few months and police suspect that a family conflict may have lead to this unfortunate incident.Meanwhile, the bodies of both father and son were sent for post-mortem.—IANS

A man allegedly made his two children drink poison before consuming it himself at his residence in Assam's Sivasagar town, an official said.