G Plus Volume 3 Issue 52

Vehicle thefts in city plummet thanks to Crimatrix

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VOLUME 03 | ISSUE 52 OCT 22 - OCT 28, 2016

PRICE `10

Yatri Niwas to Hotel Contour?

Questions arising from a CCTV scam

Rahul Chanda

The management of The Contour kept misleading complainants by saying that a live CCTV camera was not working even as it recorded footage of women changing clothes.

Also, G Plus investigation reveals that the hotel is being run by a private party in a departure from its original function as a yatri niwas for the public. Government immediately orders an enquiry Continued on page 2

Dist Admin specifies points of sale of crackers for Diwali

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Karabi Sarma G PLUS APR 23 - APR 29, 2016 New CHIC on the block

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G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Lead Story NEC sanctioned Rs 11,24,47,000 to construct a yatri niwas cum parking lot ASTC completed the construction in 2011 CM inaugurated the building the same year Interestingly the keys were handed over to a private party to run it as a hotel According to sources, the then ASTC MD, owner of the hotel - Ghosh Brothers, and the then transport minister had a nexus Ghosh Brothers took the yatri niwas building on a lease of 10 years for a monthly rent of Rs 10,75,000 Sources said the rent was paid only for the first four months Ghosh Brothers is yet to pay pending dues of Rs 6,39,29,370 including service tax The government orders enquiry as to how a public utility construction turned into a private hotel CCTV recovered from a trial room in the hotel with footages of women changing their clothes during an exhibition Two arrested but the manager and the owner of the hotel still remain free

The Contour Hotel | Adib zamali/G Plus

Yatri Niwas to Hotel Contour?

Questions arising from a CCTV scam

Rahul Chanda

Continued from cover: In a recent murkily shocking incident, a CCTV camera was recovered from a temporary trial room of an exhibition organised at The Contour Hotel located in Paltan Bazar.

The incident raised uncomfortable questions regarding the intentions of the hotel’s management and the organisers of the exhibition. According to the police, two people were arrested in the case and investigation is on to find out if the trial room was deliberately made containing a CCTV inside it with ulterior, criminal motives or if it was truly negligence of duty of the hotel management and the organisers of the exhibition. The Contour, according to sources, is a hotel which was actually constructed to provide shelter to yatris (travellers) coming to Guwahati. But when and how it transformed into a private hotel is what G Plus tries to explore. G Plus also talked to all stake-holders to see what exactly the CCTV incident was all about and who were responsible for what turns out to be a huge breach of privacy.

The incident A city-based housewife, Amrita Kaur, talking to G Plus said that

on 18th October she, along with a friend, visited the Boutiques of India exhibition that was organised at the 2nd floor of The Contour Hotel at around 11.30 am. There were many stalls in the exhibition and her friend selected two-three dresses which she wanted to try out before making a purchase. A stall owner in the exhibition directed them to a room that was supposedly a trial room. Kaur’s friend went into the room and tried on the dresses. Thereafter, Amrita herself went into the socalled trial room as she wanted to make a trial. According to Kaur, she had just placed her purse on a table when she noticed a CCTV camera boring right down on her.

She immediately called the manager and questioned the existence of the same – especially in the trial room. The stall owner, the organisers and the hotel’s management, it seems, were quick to reply that the camera was not working. As a concerned citizen she was not convinced and she called her husband and her father as also the officer-in-charge of Paltan Bazar police station. According to Kaur, the hotel management and the organisers continued to mislead her and the others saying that the camera had not been working

since a long time. Kaur along with her husband, her father, the police and the hotel management went to the monitor room where there were four Digital Video Reorders (DVRs) but only three monitors.

The system in-charge continued to mislead the probing party saying there was no footage recorded from the ‘suspect’ camera of the trial room. Kaur’s husband was not convinced and called in a technician who, in presence of the police, assessed the technicalities and asked for a monitor where another DVR was connected. The connections where thoroughly checked and it was found that the ‘suspect’ camera in the temporary

trial room was indeed working and recording. To check what was recorded, the footage from the morning was pulled out and it was found that the camera had indeed recorded ladies inside the trail room. For privacy reasons further check of the footage was stopped.

Kaur immediately informed the Paltan Bazar OC and he ordered that the display room be sealed.

Amrita filed an FIR with the Paltan Bazar PS. The local police, talking to G Plus, said that a case has been registered with the police station (Case No. 868/16 under section 177/354c/201 of IPC read with 66E/67A IT Act). The police said that two people viz. Rajesh

the cctv camera above the trial room | Adib zamali/G Plus

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

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Lead Story Verma, the event manager of the exhibition and Simarsh Das, the system manager of the hotel, were arrested in the case. Enquiring if the manager of the hotel and the owners of the exhibition and hotel will also be booked or not, the police informed that the CCTV footage has been sent to the forensic department and further investigation is on to understand the motive behind the crime. So, should necessary evidence surface, the manager and the owners will also be arrested. Kaur said that when she uploaded the incident on her Facebook page the hotel owner’s son passed a very derogatory comment on the post. Kaur clarified that it wasn’t for cheap publicity that she complained about the incident but it was for all the women who went to that exhibition and had used the trial room.

The police said that if the trial room was constructed temporarily the systems manager should not have mislead the complainants and the police by saying that the camera was not working.

Meanwhile G Plus received in-

formation that The Contour Hotel was initially constructed by Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) with funds from North East Council (NEC) and was meant to be a shelter for travellers coming to Guwahati hence making it a yatri niwas basically. So how did it get transformed into a private hotel? G Plus explores.

The Contour or Yatri Niwas According to very highly placed sources in ASTC, NEC had sanctioned Rs 11,24,47,000 to construct a yatri niwas and a parking lot. The money was given to ASTC which completed the construction of the building on 24th January 2011. On 3rd February 2011, the then chief minister inaugurated the building and eventually the keys of the building were given to Ghosh Brothers. The source said that the then Managing Director (MD) of ASTC, KN Chetia, the owner of Ghosh

Brothers, Pratul Ghosh, and the then transport minister Chandan Brahma, had close relationships with each other.

Now, a tender was floated from Dispur seeking bidders to take the building on lease for converting it into a hotel. Ghosh Brothers were the highest bidders and took the building on a monthly rent of Rs 10,75,000 per month. The keys were given to Ghosh Brothers on the condition that the 3rd floor would be completely taken as a guest house for NEC. Interestingly, the source said that Ghosh Brothers managed to pay the rent on time for only the initial 4 months and presently, dues pending have amounted to Rs 6,39,29,370. The question that arises now is how a construction meant for use as a yatri niwas was given to a private party on a 10year lease? The commissioner and secretary of transport department Ashutosh Agnihotri, talking to G Plus said, “We are aware that it was supposed to be a yatri niwas and not a hotel. So we have ordered an enquiry as to how a

private party got the building on lease and made it a hotel. And if any irregularities are found, strict action will be taken accordingly.”

Be that as it may, The Contour is currently functioning as a hotel in a building which was supposed to be a yatri niwas with no benefits that were supposed to be meant for the weary travelling public. Also, the hotel authorities

have defaulted heavily in its rent payments. The hotel allows organisation of commercial events like Boutiques of India exhibition but the management is negligent enough to allow exhibition organisers to make temporary trial rooms for ladies with “peeping tom” CCTV cameras. rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

The 2nd floor where the exhibition was held at Contour Hotel | Adib zamali/G Plus

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G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

In Conversation IPS officer (2004 batch) Anand Prakash Tiwari was posted as the MD of ASTC recently by the state government. For the first time he is posted to an office which is traditionally handled by administrative officers. Tiwari exclusively talks to G Plus explaining the changes he hopes to bring in the organisation and how will he make ASTC a revenue generating body from a revenue deprived entity.

Date of birth – 18th November 1978 IPS Batch – 2004 Assam-Meghalaya cadre Date of marriage – 8th June 2006 Wife – Aparna Tiwari (Housewife) Children – One son and a daughter (Twins, 6-year-old)

“

| Adib zamali/G Plus

The fundamental duty of the public is to buy tickets and I request them to do so”

Rahul Chanda Please give us a detailed background of yourself, your education and your career so far.

My birth place is Deoria, Uttar Pradesh. I did my schooling in Deoria and my graduation and post graduation from Allahabad University. I joined the IPS in 2004 - it was the 2003 UPSC Examination and so my service batch is 2004. I was allocated the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. I started my journey from Tinsukia as Probationer. Thereafter I served as SDPO Rangia, Additional SP Nalbari, SP of Udalguri, SP Sonitpur, SSP Guwahati, CO 4 APBn, SP Tinsukia, CO 9th APBn and SP Sivsagar. Now I am here as Managing Director of ASTC. You are basically a police officer. You are now posted in an office which is usually handled by administrative officers. Many administrative officers might be wondering about this decision of the government. What do you think is the reason for this decision? How are you adjusting to administrative work?

I cannot comment on the government’s decision. It is a very challenging assignment for me. It’s new, it’s quite interesting and I am

- Anand Prakash Tiwari MD, ASTC

finding it very good for a change. I am getting all support from ASTC employees as well as seniors in Dispur. I am quite hopeful that the decision will bring change and positivity in me as well as in the institution.

It’s been two months now.

What are major the problems you are facing at present in ASTC? Firstly, professionalism. I have to make our people professional.

Motivation is the key. For long, the system has been in the same grind. So people need to be motivated. There are a number of malpractices, leakages which needs to be stopped, checked. We have not adopted technology which is highly essential nowadays. People are waiting for their dues which they have not received and which need to be given by ASTC. Like post retirement dues, DA. Their provident funds have not been deposited on time from December 2014. The organisation has not given provident fund. Improvement of our services is the immediate requirement. Yesterday our minister, Shri Chandra Mohan Patowary along with other senior officials, was here and they were satisfied with at least the minimum

level of standard and everything.

But he suggested many immediate improvements. Everywhere there has to be change in professionalism, satisfaction, activeness, cleanliness, motivation, morals, skill, training, capacity building, financial clearing of old pending dues, welfare measures of our own employees. We have increased the daily allowances of drivers and conductors three fold. Similarly, I have given 40% of share to drivers and conductors on 75% occupancy of vehicles because they are very poorly paid. They were taken in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2015 by ASTC on contractual basis. Their pay is Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 which is just not appropriate according to the norms of the state and central governments. I spoke to the honourable Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. He was also convinced about the change required in the mechanism but this is not an easy task. It will take time. We are working for positive change and we are hopeful that things will be definitely corrected.

Please prioritise the immediate changes you want to drive in ASTC? First is to make them profes-

sional. They should be made to feel that this is their own organisation. Motivational work, strategy, team building. All buses that are off road have to be brought back.

Minimum standard of service has to be maintained. Cleanliness! Route designing: we have to streamline the routes immediately, tighten vigilance. Ensure that there are no leakages in any automobiles or any sector. These are the things which are immediately required in Phase I. In Phase II, we will have to adopt technology. We have to provide online ticket, location service, SMS based information, ensure automated announcements pre-recorded everywhere, camera and security to make people feel safe in buses - especially women.

There has to be human resource management, everything by app, run our own application. We have to increase the number of buses and adopt private partnership just as a number of other states. There, private operators maintain buses, have their own drivers. State transport corporations of different states have provided only infrastructure and very good connectivity in rural and urban areas. We have to adopt this model also and involve a number of people in our business so that the final outcome is good. We have to see that all the land at our disposal is useful. We have divided the land into two categories - poorly managed and already vacant and not utilised.

We should move for reconstruction and optimum utilisation of space. Vacant land must be allotted a business model making it commercially viable.

We heard that World Bank will be funding Rs 1,000 crores to ASTC. How and where will the funds be utilised?

Things are in process, yet to be finalized. My commissioner and secretary, Shri Ashutosh Agnihotri had invited World Bank offi-

cials and after initial discussions, they have agreed to develop river transport and inland water transport. We even sought assistance from World Bank to develop our infrastructure, human resource for capacity and skill building. The initial discussion was very positive. They have agreed to assist us on principle. The DPR work will hopefully start after another visit

by WB officials next month. We are hopeful of getting assistance from World Bank just as Kerala Transport did.

ASTC is planning to develop a lot of properties and infrastructure in PPP mode. Can you elaborate? What are the priorities?

Revenue is vital to run public transport. Traffic is more a social concern than a revenue generator.

We have to provide effective, cheap goods transport. Business models in areas which are non-traffic need to be adopted with a commercial approach keeping social concern in mind. The lands that we have in Guwahati have to be developed as commercial centres keeping social concerns like multi-levels and underground parking in mind.

Just as parking in Paltan Bazar is very important, we have to develop multi-level and underground parking with lift system wherever we have land and the requirement exists. This will give us revenue and also serve the social purpose.

Such projects will require the PPP model. According to location of our lands keeping in mind the locality, requirements and social concerns, we have to develop malls, restaurants, dhabas, etc.

We understand that ASTC is revenue deprived at present. How are you planning to solve this issue so that ASTC starts generating good revenue for the government?

As said earlier, we have to focus on non-traffic - meaning advertisements, for one. I am open to everything now; you just have to come with a good proposal. I am exploring the market to know what best we can adopt. Then, there is cargo service. Third is a product survey agency, then commercial utilisation of land and property. For example, in Sivsagar one yatri niwas was constructed in 2013-14 and another building was constructed in same year. Both are lying vacant. We have given tender notices in newspapers and people are coming forward. There were a number of such constructions and buildings which were not utilised. The first phase has been initiated. Now we will move to the second phase. Privately owned buses (POB) for example. People must do business with us as we have the infrastructure. It will be partnership - ASTC will get some revenue and people will operate their buses. Buses will not be haphazardly placed but at proper stations. Things will be streamlined - government will get revenue and operators will get infrastructure and profits.

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

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In Conversation Talking about ASTC people only think of big buses. What other vehicular options ASTC might operate? Like Meghalaya transport has taxis, Tata Sumos, travellers and many more running under them?

The point now is that ASTC essentially means ASTC and its undertakings. We have proposals where people have come forward from various places wanting to run their small vehicles under ASTC. We have to streamline and redesign it, which we will do and small vehicles like Tata Sumo, Travellers in rural areas and Wingers will also run under ASTC. We have engaged one agency also for capacity building, training of drivers, to ensure good behaviour and professionalism.

We have started the training from Dhubri. It will start from the 24th of this month. One NGO working with Government of India came forward and we told them to start

the first phase. If they work well, they will be assigned to continue the training in entire Assam.

In Guwahati private buses are a mess. Moreover, ASTC buses also do not have any timings at stoppages. Tickets are not mandatory and there is chaos. So how are you planning to systematise things in Guwahati?

I will speak later on private buses but for ASTC buses there was a system of fixed charges. In ASTC city buses, drivers were asked to deposit Rs 31 per kilometre, and for AC buses Rs 61 per kilometre. The drivers say that the fixed amount is more than required. According to them, sometimes they earn profit and sometimes there is loss. Our ASTC-owned buses became like private buses because of the fixed charges. So they do whatever they can to deposit this amount with ASTC. Yesterday I signed an or-

Festival of books for children ends successfully

Gplus News

a young book enthusiast at the book festival

Reading habit among the children is confined to their textbooks and to expose children to the wonderful world of books, Anwesha organised the 12th Festival of Books for Children which commenced on 14th October at Assam Engineering Institute Field, Chandmari.

The main objective of the festival was to spread education beyond the classroom. “Children should know the reality and the outside world for which reading books is very essential. On today’s date, children do not want to understand the outside world and stick only to their academic books. They can’t think beyond the syllabus which harms them in the future,” said Paresh Malakar, President of Anwesha, while speaking to G Plus.

Malakar added, “To acquaint children with the wider world and instil a sense of integrated understanding, a number of activities were also organised in the festival.

A number of activities were also undertaken so that they could be able to relate with such realities which they were not aware of.”

Malakar said that stories are like rivers and they travel across communities defying all manmade boundaries. Stories convey human cravings and urges. Stories are a great tool of education.

They can entertain and educate people and convey human values. Activities like story-telling competition, disaster awareness among children in collaboration with Assam State Disaster Management Authority, session on child rights, gender discrimination and problems of adolescence, an open talk session on floods of Guwahati, conversation with police and people were organised during the festival.

Malakar said, “The book stalls do not contain text books. Rather they have reference books and story books and books related to the various syllabi. We mainly emphasize on the sale of story books as these give more knowledge to the students.” He also said that they have also tried to create awareness of reading habits within all sections of children so that a particular section that is lagging behind can also compete with the rest of the children. The participation from the government schools were less which needs to be looked into. Teachers and parents should play an active role in bringing their children to such festivals as children cannot take such initiatives by themselves. For the record, more than 15,000 children participated in the festival.

der by which I will give 40% share only after 75% of occupancy of city buses. I will break the fixed Rs 31 and Rs 61 system this month itself. From next month this system will not be there. Vigilance will be tightened, drivers and conductors will be given share and everyone will travel with tickets. The fundamental duty of the public is to buy tickets and I request them to do so. And anyone not issuing tickets should be clicked or recorded and the shot should be uploaded on Facebook.

Guwahati’s streets are narrow and yet ASTC is plying big buses given by JNnurm which raising traffic congestion. Why? The buses were designed in 2004. Government of India decided to purchase JNnurm buses for all the major cities in India.

Yes, we have a peculiar situation because our road conditions are different. At that time this fac-

tor should have been considered.

Anyway, this is the final lot of JNnurm and the project is over. In future the roads and local situation will be kept in mind.

Tell us about your hobbies and your family?

My wife is a housewife and I have a son and a daughter who are twins and are six years old. Talking about hobbies I like playing cricket, driving and reading.

Do you have any message for Guwahatians?

Please support ASTC. Each and every citizen should become a vigilance officer to keep vigil over ASTC, over me, over the system and they must share ideas and photos, videos which will help us a lot. We will be able to revive the organisation if we get assistance from people of Guwahati. rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

City youth dies in an accident

Gplus News

Harsh Vardhan Bagaria, a 29 year old youth from Guwahati lost his life on Friday night in a collision with a truck at Six Mile. Harsh was an alumnus of Faculty Higher Secondary School, Amingaon and pursued his graduation from Guwahati Commerce College.

According to sources, Harsh had left the premises of Underdoggs, a sports bar at Christian Basti and was on his way to Khanapara, enroute which, he met with the accident somewhere near Six Mile.

Oriflame launches Giordani Gold range for the festive season

Gplus News

The beauty conscious women of the city have good news as Oriflame has launched Giordani Gold ahead of the festive season of Diwali for the Indian girl.

Make-up and beauty trends have always been favourite subjects for girls and as they want different style for every occasion these beauty tips and trends from the beauty experts as well as from the companies who launch beauty products in the festive season are like a gift to them.

Oriflame India organized a Meet & Greet session with Aakriti Kochar, beauty & make-up expert, Oriflame India. Kochar demonstrated the trends and make-up looks with Oriflame’s much sought after Giordani Gold range. She talked about the easy make-up looks that is set to be a head turner and will be ideal for the upcoming festivities. The gorgeous products from the Giordani

Gold range with its new exquisite packaging add that glam factor to the ambiance.

The beauty & make-up expert spoke about the tips and trends to jazz up the look. She mentioned about the make-up dos & don’ts and shared trendy tips on party looks and hair trends which will be a hit this festive season. She also talked about how one can tackle the common beauty mistakes at the Meet & Greet.

Kochar said, “Since the festivities are round the corner, I strongly recommend Oriflame’s Giordani Gold range as it can give you that flawless look. The range works best for a quick make-up, giving a glamorous look to your face. Even for the working women who run out of time, they can easily apply the Giordani Gold Iconic Lipstick with a True Red shade and head out with those bold lips.”

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G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Governance

District Administration highlights the points of sale of fire crackers for Diwali Sale of Chinese goods will be prohibited during Diwali Temporary trade license to be issued for sale of crackers file photo of crackers on display

Dist Admin specifies points of sale of crackers for Diwali

Juthika Baruah

Authorized points of sale of crackers • Old Central Jail complex • Pandu College field • Dispur College field • Bonda Bihutoli • Under Ganeshguri, Bhangagarh and Sixmile flyovers • Geetanagar field • Beltola Bazaar Bihutoli • Borbari ME School • Udayan Kristi Sangha field • Lal Ganesh Temple field • Sonapur mini stadium • Khetri Gaon Panchayat field • Ulubari Girls’ High School field • Sonaram High School field • Paschim Boragaon LP School field • East Guwahati LP School field.

The Kamrup (M) district administration has instructed all circle officers to inspect the fire-cracker outlets to avoid any kind of nuisance during Diwali; Chinese goods to remain under scanner during the festival The Kamrup (M) District Administration has instructed all the circle officers to inspect the areas and points of sale of crackers for security of life and property and to avoid probable accidents which may occur from burning crackers.

The administration has also instructed that the Disaster Management Act, 2005 be followed for prevention of any kind of incidents and to conduct a safe Diwali. The administration will also visit the allocated areas of sale for crackers on 29th, 30th and 31st October. The authorized points of sale of crackers are Old Central Jail complex, Pandu College field, Dispur College field, Bonda Bihutoli, under Ganeshguri, Bhangagarh and Sixmile flyovers, Geetanagar field, Beltola Bazaar Bihutoli, Borbari ME School, Udayan Kristi Sangha field, Lal Ganesh temple field, Sonapur mini stadium, Khetri Gaon Panchayat field, Ulubari Girls’ High School field, Sonaram High School field, Paschim Boragaon LP School field and East Guwahati LP School field.

On the other hand, the administration is also keeping a close eye on the Chinese goods which is taking over the local market.

Smuggled electronic items and other consumer goods made in China are flooding the north-eastern market and Guwahati being the business hub, is witnessing the

maximum penetration of Chinese goods. Most of these items are cheap and look similar to some leading branded items. But when it comes to quality and longevity, these Chinese items score low.

Since, the target customer bracket of such goods is mostly the middle class and the lower middle class of the society, the quality quotient is ignored by the masses. These products are very popular with people who wish to buy fake versions of their favourite brands at low prices.

Chinese goods made its way to the markets of Guwahati several years ago with the introduction of trivial products but over the past two to three years significant changes have been witnessed with the flooding of all kinds of Chinese goods from electronic products like mobile handsets and DVD players to warm clothes; the Guwahati market is one of the hubs for cheap Chinese goods.

It goes without saying that Diwali is synonymous with crackers, and with the festival just around the corner, the city will gradually witness massive rush for crackers at stalls in the city. Notwithstanding the weather and price rise, the city wears a festive look from days before Diwali with shops, hotels and residential buildings glittering with decorative lights for the festival. Meanwhile, the wholesale

shops for crackers at Fancy Bazar and AT Road area are already set for Diwali and soon the city markets will be flooded with sparklers, crackers, anaar, chakri, phooljhari, rockets, earthen lamps, designer candles and floating diyas.

In Guwahati, there are several wholesale shops of firecrackers which carry out the business after attaining licences for such trade.

Apart from that, the district administration issues temporary licences to sell firecrackers during Diwali. The temporary trade licence is issued by Guwahati Municipal Commission after a NOC from district administration and District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is issued to the seller.

“These three documents are a must for one to sell crackers.

One will only be permitted to sell crackers after receipt of NOC from district administration, DDMA and a temporary trade licence from GMC. The temporary traders also need to attain permission from local police station to retail crackers. Strict action will be taken against those who are found selling crackers without valid documents. The administration is also working on measures to be taken to stop illegal sale of crackers,” said a highly placed official of the administration.

The cracker sellers claim that

Chinese products penetrating Guwahati markets with pocket-friendly rates mostly targeting the middle class and the lower middle class Most of the crackers that are sold in the outlets of the city are bought from Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu; however crackers and fireworks made in Barpeta and Nagaon Districts are also widely available in the city Licensee can sell the fire crackers from 27th Oct. to 31st Oct. till 8PM.

a lot of unlicensed sellers put up stalls during Diwali which sell the crackers at lesser prices. Moreover, since the past few years there has been a massive growth in the sale of Chinese-made crackers in the city, which come at cheaper prices and are proving detrimental to lawful business. Licensee can sell the fire crackers from 27th Oct. to 31st Oct. till 8PM. Although most crackers are based on the principle of light and sound and come in four to five categories only, there are large varieties offered within the restricted categories during the festival. Besides the regular crackers, different types of crackers are introduced each year in the market for the festival. Most of the crackers that are sold in the outlets of the city are brought from Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. However, crackers and fireworks made in Barpeta and Nagaon Districts are also widely available in the city. juthika.baruah@g-plus.in

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

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City

263 new cabs on Guwahati streets every year

Kalyan Deb

Motor Cab: With the capacity of six or less passengers Maxi cabs: Those with the capacity of more than six passengers Other Taxi: Those with the capacity of carrying ten passengers FILE PICTURE OF AN APP BASED CAB | Adib zamali/G Plus

In comparison to 16 taxis registered in the year 2012 the number jumped to 244 in 2013

Inter-regional taxi

257

Regional taxi

1056

Local taxi 292 Auto-rickshaws in Guwahati 4523 Trekkers 1008

The space between running vehicles on the streets of Guwahati is narrowing each day. The city with its development also demands the need for reliable commuting services. Thus it has given a spike in the supply and demand of public resources in public transport.

Meanwhile, the growth of smartphone use and mobile internet has enhanced cyber access among city dwellers and with the same it has been a boon to cab services in the city. Such services have not only increased the number of commercial vehicles plying on the streets, they have also opened doors of employment to many. In comparison to merely 16 taxis registered in the year 201213 the number jumped to 244 registrations in 2013-14. The same also resulted in most auto-rickshaw drivers switching to cab services. It need not be mentioned that most such cabs are app based services.

In the case of e-tailers, it is

the consumers whose appetite for discounts leads them to flame venture capital money. In the case of on-demand taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola cabs, it is the drivers. Taxi aggregators typically don’t own any cabs or employ drivers; they connect customers with drivers through a tech platform, the front-end for the customer being an app. Cab services inflated in Guwahati from the year 2014 but the numbers started increasing with both Ola and Uber making a head start in the aggregation market in 2015. Most people bought cars and employed drivers but with passing time the scenario has drastically changed.

Now, most of the cars are owned by the drivers themselves who register themselves with the cab services.

The chokehold All major roads of Guwahati have choke points and with the

Taxis registered in the past six years (2010-16) Year

Motor Cabs

Maxi Cabs

Other Taxi

2010-11

52

14

4

2011-12

9

18

9

2012-13

2

2

12

2013-14

96

1

147

2014-15

109

1

259

2015-16

40

0

138

increase in the number of cabs, such points have increased.

The rise of private vehicles has also added to the challenges of urbanization, including increased traffic and parking problems in the city. Not only the major roads such as GS Road, RG Baruah Road and GNB Road but also the arterial lanes of the city are facing the challenges of urbanisation due to traffic congestion. Wrong and inadequate parking space, increasing number of vehicles and narrow, poor quality roads add to the sufferings. With the increasing number of vehicles in the city streets most of which belong to the cab services, the city today stands at its breaking point.

The unfolding battle Along with the growing number of vehicles a wrangle has also sprung on the city streets. Much like ants, there are black caps that run on the city’s map; these are the auto-rickshaws. Prior to the introduction of cab services Guwahatians were dependent only on auto-rickshaws for a “pleasant” commute down the city’s streets.

However, with cab services coming into play and taking over the market, the auto-rickshaw owners’ aggregation is picking up pace. The taxis park in the short slipway marked as a drop-off area while the auto-rickshaws wait for clients. kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

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City

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Kalyan Deb

Guwahati sees crucial alterations in traffic management

Traffic cones have been placed in the Super Market area in Dispur, ASTC parking in Paltan Bazar, several bus stoppage and other areas in order to redirect vehicles Gaps between dividers have been blocked on several roads in order to restrict vehicles from taking turns that create traffic congestion U-turn from Ulubari flyover has been blocked Crossing at Maligaon point has been blocked for smooth flow of traffic on AT Road Parallel parking brought into effect on GS Road and RP Road to allow more road space for plying vehicles Controlling the traffic congestion in the city of Guwahati is of prime concern. One of the main causes of congestion is the increasing volume of traffic. Moreover, the rise in the construction of malls and buildings in the city have added to the congestion. Traffic is one of the most important problems prevailing in the urban cities. The development of a city or town leads to the growth of traffic which is directly linked with increased number of accidents, fatalities and congestion. Spending hours in a traffic jam has become part and parcel of metropolitan lifestyle leading to health and environmental hazards. In urban areas congestion mostly occurs at the junctions. When the flow

TRAFFIC CONES IN PLACE AT PALTAN BAZAR | Adib zamali/G Plus

“Every job comes with a challenge and I intend to come up to the expectations.

Traffic in Guwahati is a big challenge and we are constantly working towards facing it,” Amanjeet Kaur, DCP (Traffic) of vehicles increases at the junctions, it causes traffic jams and the stream of vehicles incur longer waiting time. When there is a crossing at a junction, a stream of vehicles has to wait for others.

Design of an uninterrupted traffic flow system at the traffic junctions without having to wait for others is the only possible option to minimize severe traffic congestion.

New traffic arrangements were put in place on experimental basis earlier this month. With the post of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) being filled after a long gap by Amanjeet Kaur, the senior police official experimented by making several important and busy routes inaccessible with ‘one-way’ signboards. The move was made to ensure smooth movement of vehicles. Four major thoroughfares in the city viz. B Baruah Road, AT Road, MLN Road and SRCB Road were turned into one-way streets. However, the experiment did not provide the expected results. Meanwhile, several minor but crucial alterations have been put in place for smooth flow of traffic.

Temporary diversions and blockades

In order to mitigate traffic

congestion and divert vehicles for traffic flow, several diversions have been put in place on some of the busiest roads of the city. Areas such as Super Market in Dispur, ASTC parking in Paltan Bazar including several bus stands now have traffic cones in place in order to redirect vehicles. “In some of these areas there are several intersections such as the Super Market area where there are six and the breadth of the road is not adequate enough to take so much pressure causing congestion.

There are gaps in dividers every 50 to 100 metres and people tend to take U-turn through those gaps which halt traffic from both ways.

A similar thing has been seen near the Ulubari flyover which was a major U-turn point; however it is not safe. Vehicles coming down the flyover towards Paltanbazar are at a higher speed and taking a turn through that area is very dangerous. Any turn right at the end of a fly over is neither safe for the drivers nor the pedestrians,” the DCP (traffic) during a conversation with G Plus.

Maligaon crossing

The Maligaon terminal is one of the busiest areas of the city.

With a market, a railway station and several residences around the

region the area witnesses a large footfall. The problem arises at the crossing which remains crowded with all kinds of vehicles as well as pedestrians waiting to cross the road. Although there is a foot over-bridge in place, due to its design very few opt to use the bridge.

“Due to its connectivity to Adabari Bus Terminus and the airport the road witnesses a large number of vehicles and with the road crossing in place it becomes a major cause of traffic congestion.

Since we have a foot-over bridge in the area, we have decided to block the crossing and since then it has been a major help in smooth flow of traffic,” the DCP added.

Parallel parking

Parking has been one of the major issues faced in Guwahati city. The roads are narrower and are below standard norms and the problem of on-street parking causes severe traffic congestions in many areas within the city. GS Road, RP Road and Paltan Bazaar to name a few, are examples of areas that suffer from serious traffic congestion because of the issue.

However, a concept has been put into place in recent times. The pattern of parallel parking has been applied on GS Road and RP Road recently. This is however a

more space consuming practice besides restricting the number of vehicles parked in the area. On the same, Kaur stated that the main purpose of roads is for travelling and not parking and with parallel parking in place it will help in reducing the space consumed by the parked vehicles and provide more space for travelling. “With parallel parking there will be specific gaps between vehicles through which any car can move in or out unlike the earlier process of where the vehicle had to be backed out before being directed towards its route,” Kaur added.

The DCP (Traffic) also stated that traffic in Guwahati comes with its own challenges and steps are being taken to work towards it. Adding further Kaur said, “We cannot fix everything in a day; thus through these minor changes we are trying to mitigate the problems.” There could be two approaches to solve these problems.

The first, most common solution is to come up with infrastructure involving wider roads, flyovers, bypasses, expressways etc. The second approach is to manage the traffic with existing safe infrastructure and with the use of technology. kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

9

City

Vehicle thefts in city plummet thanks to Crimatrix

Kalyan Deb

The busting of vehicle theft racket and arresting its mastermind Anil Chauhan (a proclaimed offender in 76 car-lifting cases) in April 2015 was a major breakthrough for the city police. The feat was followed by the arrest of Ramesh Yadav earlier this year, who happened to be a close associate of Chauhan. Vehicle theft is a persisting concern for Guwahatians and most people feel insecure in leaving their vehicles in the open.

Moreover it has also been learnt that a considerable number of Chauhan’s associates are still at large. However, certain technological upgradations have been put in place that has brought down the number of vehicle thefts in the past three years.

In the process of upgrading itself technologically, Assam police was reinforced with a piece of software called “Crimatrix” which is a real-time crime monitoring platform. It worked out to be a major tool in curbing the rising menace

of vehicle thefts in the city. Crimatrix is a joint initiative by Assam Police and Glomindz to build safer cities with real-time police and public collaboration. Introduced to the department in 2012 it has helped in tracking down vehicles and bringing drastic reduction in the number of vehicle theft cases reported in the city.

With the system in place, anyone can inform the police department about vehicle theft in their vicinity by just sending an SMS. Immediately, the server will access all technical details of the vehicle like the vehicle chassis number, its registration number and other details like colour, etc. from the transport authority database along with thelocation of the vehicle. Within a minute, the server immediately locates the last position of the vehicle and alerts all police stations, on road police patrols and the traffic department about the vehicle theft, along with the relevant information.

“The idea behind the implementation of the software is to minimise the gap between the incident of a theft and the reaction time of the police. In the past it used to take considerable time from the theft taking place to police initiating their modus operandi. Moreover, by the time one realises about the theft, ample time already passes which provides the car lifter a sizeable lead to escape from the spot,” said Anshuman Das, co-founder of Glomindz, who has initiated the idea of Crimatrix.

“Once the lifter manages to escape the borders of city it becomes almost impossible to trace and retrieve the vehicle. There are several places which are considered as hubs for stolen vehicles and once the vehicles reach those places they are transformed beyond identification,” Das added.

Moreover, from the time when the vehicle owner realizes that his vehicle has been stolen till an FIR is lodged and the information is

transmitted, the stolen vehicle is already out of the city limits or perhaps the state border. According to officials, there is a huge demand of high-powered vehicles like SUVs and heavy duty bikes like dirt bikes and mountain bikes.

It is also a flourishing trade in the neighbouring states of Nagaland and Manipur and bordering countries like Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Once these stolen vehicles reach the border, they are again sold to dealers from that particular place. It has also been reported that these vehicles are then sold to militants groups.

Crimatrix has helped in bringing down the number of vehicle thefts from an average of 3 each day in 2012 to less than 1 on this date.

Moreover, the software has also helped in identifying the most preferred spots and vehicles of the vehicle lifters.

“The moment we receive an SMS reporting a theft the location is identified by Google maps.

Through the same procedure it has even helped in identifying the preferred time and type of vehicles,” Das informed adding that introduction of the software has drastically brought down the number of theft reports. kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

Modus operandi of vehicle theft According to reports, there are various tactics of operating the vehicle theft nexus across the country. In Guwahati itself there are several groups operating who lift vehicles and deliver them to places away from the vicinity of the city. Vehicles picked from Assam, Meghalaya and other north-eastern states are taken to Dimapur, Imphal and Aizawl where there is a big market for stolen vehicles. At times the vehicle lifters use intoxicants to manipulate drivers through drinks or food, and then steal the vehicles. The next move involves tampering of the engine number of the picked vehicles. Thereafter, forged purchase documents are prepared and the vehicles are mostly taken to Dimapur. From Dimapur, Imphal and Aizawl, vehicles are smuggled to countries like Myanmar and Bangladesh where there are other operatives to receive the vehicles. The car lifters are pretty techno-savvy and are trained about new security features in modern vehicles.

Send SMS to +91-70860-60606 To Report, type VT [Model], [RC Number],[Colour of the Vehicle],[Location],[Last Seen Time] Eg: VT Pulsar, AS01****, Blue, Ganeshguri, 6:00PM To Cancel Report (for police only)

To Report Recovery (for police only)

VT CANCEL [RC Number]

VT FOUND [RC Number]

Eg: VT CANCEL AS01****

Eg: VT FOUND AS01****

Crimatrix has helped in bringing down the number of vehicle thefts from an average of 3 each day in 2012 to less than 1 Mahindra Boleros and Bajaj Pulsars are the most preferred vehicles of lifters Ulubari and Beltola are the spots from where most cases are reported In Shillong only one vehicle theft is reported every year

10

Buzz

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

NH7 chief terms Shillong Art Competition the best destination in India by Hastakshar at the Assam State Museum

Gplus News

The happiest music festival kicked off its 2016 journey in Shillong​ on Friday at the RBDSA Sports Complex, Madan Kurkalang in Bhoirymbong. The country’s most beloved musical weekend, the two-day festival promises an unforgettable experience for music lovers of the region every year.

Speaking about the second edition of Bacardi NH7 Weekender in Shillong, Vijay Nair, COO, Only Much Louder said, “Following the overwhelming response we got last year, we decided to start the festival from Shillong again this year. It was one of the best Bacardi NH7 Weekender editions we have ever had. The support we received during the weekend from everyone - the local and state authorities, our fantastic local production and security crews, our brand partners, and most importantly, the fans - was amazing. So here we are again.”

Nair, talking to G Plus said, “The main idea was to unite and combine all kinds of music.” He said that in the last edition Shillong witnessed the highest footfall in the entire country and for next the few years Shillong will remain a destination. He said that as people from Guwahati like to go out

Gplus News

VIJAY NAIR, COO, NH-7 | Adib zamali/G Plus

during weekends the festival sees almost half of the crowd coming from Guwahati. The destination was accordingly decided so that it is at equal distance from both Guwahati and Shillong. Talking about the business approach Nair said, “It takes about couple of years to plan the event. Basically 60% of the cost comes from tickets sale and 40% from sponsorship.”

As Bacardi NH7 Weekender aims to be a festival accessible to everyone, including those with

special needs, arrangements have been made for viewing platforms next to sound consoles with ramps for persons using wheelchairs, scooters, crutches, walkers or other mobility aids. Special parking facilities are available at the closest possible entrance of the festival arena. Wheel-chair friendly toilets are marked in the area for people with special needs.

For medical emergencies, trained staff and ambulance service are also available.

An art competition is being organized by Hastakshar Art & Craft (P) Ltd. on 23rd October 2016 at the Assam State Museum. The contest will be open to children in the age group of 5 to 16 years and will begin from 10:30 am preceded by a short inaugural ceremony.

There would be two group’s viz. Group A for children aged 5 10 years and Group B for children aged 11 - 16 years. Hastakshar aims to promote art and make it an integral part of people’s lives.

As a part of this approach, it has taken up this step to promote the young artists through an art competition.

Hastakshar has already made its mark through its art gallery at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi airport and Vivanta by Taj, Guwahati. The organization looks forward to provide a cursory approach to the colossal sector and believes that art practiced from a very nascent stage of life leaves

an immense impact in developing the thinking skills, feeling skills, relating skills and coordinating skills of children. “There is plenty of time for more disciplined approaches as your children develop their talent. Children can be encouraged to participate in competitions so that we are able to expose the young minds towards the non-traditional career options,” said Mr Sunit Jain, Director of Hastakshar Art & Craft (P) Ltd. Supporting the initiative of Hastakshar, an official from Indian Oil Corporation said, “Hastakshar has provided a platform for the young minds to showcase their talent and strives to encourage connection between the children and the creative section of the society which is in line with the vision of the organization to lead with passion to excel.” Interested participants may call +91 8011181502 to register for the event.

Book on Assam history to be released by Assam Sahitya Sabha

Gplus News

The Assam Sahitya Sabha is all set to release ‘Assam’s Ethnic History’, a book on the history of Assam during its centenary celebrations in this year.

The book is one of the major projects of Assam Sahitya Sabha this year, and involves the work of more than 50 scholars.

According to Dhrubajyoti Bora, President, Assam Sahitya Sabha, the compilation will feature the details of each and every tribe and community of the state.

Sabha secretary Paramananda Rajbonshi said, “Assam is a land of many tribes and communities who have been living here for ages. They have become a symbol of peace and harmony for the state. The Sabha had taken up the project of publishing a comprehensive history of all these tribes very seriously.”

Weather report for the week Guwahati

SUN 23 Oct

MON 24 Oct

TUE 25 Oct

WED 26 Oct

THU 27 Oct

FRI 28 Oct

Sunny

Sunny

Sunny

Mostly Sunny

Sunny

Mostly Sunny

32 / 20 °C

33 / 20 °C

33 / 19 °C

29 / 24 °C

32 / 18 °C

35 / 24 °C

SATURDAY

22 October

Isolated T-Storms

32 / 20 °C

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

11

In The News

West Guwahati water supply to be commissioned from April, 2017

Juthika Baruah

The water supply project to be completed by December will be handed over to Guwahati Jal Board for operation from April next; 50,000 households will be benefitted controlled through Water Infrastructure Management System (WIMS),” informed Sarma.

To counter the problems of Guwahati’s water supply, Guwahati Jal Board will use surface water of the region from Brahmaputra River basin rather than ground water, by proper planning and management. The treated surface water to be provided by Jal Board is much safer in terms of arsenic and other trace elements like sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, total hardness, iron and manganese.

The process: WATER PIPELINES KEPT DUMPED AT A GHY LOCALITY | Surajit Sharma

• Brand new infrastructure • 100% coverage of the entire city • 24x7 supply of potable drinking water • Adequate water pressure • Computerised central monitoring system through SCADA • Volumetric Metering System • Tariff structurewater regulatory authority • Immediate operation & maintenance

The West Guwahati water supply project of Gammon India will be commissioned from April, 2017 as the work to be completed by December will be handed over to Guwahati Jal Board which will control the entire project thereafter.

The western part of West Guwahati starting from Bharalumukh to Fatasil Ambari, Ganeshpara, Gorchuk, Rani, Pamohi, Mirzapur, Borjhar, Lankeshwar, Garigaon, Pandu, Sadilapur, Santipur, Kamakhya gate, etc. will be benefitted from the project. “The project has been designed based on the population growth till 2040 and the capacity of the water is 107 MLD per day. There is an intake well at Pandu from where the water will come to the treatment plant,” said Munin Sarma, Project Manager, Gammon India while speaking to G Plus.

Sarma said that there is a main reservoir at Kamakhya from where the water will be distributed to seven zones and accordingly, reservoirs have been set up at Fatasil Ambari, Durga Sarobar, Ganeshpara, Maligaon, Maligaon Goshala, Assam Engineering College and Kamakhya hill top. “The capacity of water in each reservoir is approximately 2 lakh litres and the entire project will be digitally

The raw water will come from Brahmaputra to the collecting wells after which it will go to Aerator which will remove the odour of the water. After the water becomes odour-free it will go to Flocculator which will purify the water after which it will process to Rapid Gravity filter for filtration.

After it gets filtered it will go to clear water reservoir on to pump house and finally it will reach clear water gravity main to the main reservoir at Kamakhya.

Sarma further informed that the water supply project was initiated in 2009. However, it was since 2012 that the work gathered momentum as prior to that there were many issues of land, etc. It took time to get the permissions from the railway authority and

also from Kamakhya Debutter Board as the pipeline was to be set up under the railway track. “The pipe for cleaning the water has already been set up as the drinking water needs to be supplied totally pure,” said Sarma. He further informed that areas like Santipur and Kamakhya hill top face severe water crisis and through the project people of such areas will be relieved. The water supply will function on meter system and the bill has to be paid to Jal Board.

Central Guwahati project: The Central Guwahati project will be completed by the end of 2017 but as there is water crisis in Kharghuli at present the residents of the area will be provided with the water from the West Guwahati water supply project. The controlling system of Central Guwahati will be more improvised as it will be controlled by Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). The water supply project is like a ray of hope for the people. “The project will be fully commissioned from April, 2017 and 50,000 people will be benefitted from the project. The citizens are suffering from inadequate water supply and these projects will solve the problem of the people.

The project will be commissioned once the government releases funds of Rs. 12 crores. The entire

4 intake

points on River Brahmaputra

4 water

treatment plants

24 water reservoirs

Overhead tanks and

booster pumping stations for raising pressure

About 200 kms of pipeline

network

project cost is Rs. 655 crores and the project is for West Guwahati. There are also other projects which have been initiated by Asian Development Bank (ADB) which will be commissioned in 2017. The ADB-funded project is to cover an area of 71 sq. km.,” said Dhiren Baruah, Chairman of Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA). juthika.baruah@g-plus.in

WATER PIPELINES KEPT DUMPED AT ANOTHER GHY LOCALITY | Surajit Sharma

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G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Special Feature

Tackling the seismic challenge: the 10 tallest buildings of Guwahati kalyan deb

T

imes change and with time the face of each city changes.

A view from atop Nilachal Hill or the Narakasur Hill gives us a perfect view of the skyline of Guwahati. It is undeniable that the sight is noticeably different every few months. Massive construction works, incredible architecture and engineering across the various locations of the city mark its rapid urbanisation and growth. Twenty years ago there were just handful of buildings that were noticeable from one of the several hilltops of the city; the picture today is vastly different. Although Guwahati, as a developing city, has seismic constraints is allowing sky-scraping constructions, there are numerous buildings that stand tall and as stark examples of the rapid development of the city. Of the lot, G Plus has found the 10 tallest buildings in the city. While we thank Guwahati Municipal Corporation for providing the information, we invite our readers to enjoy the pictures and learn about the impressive details of each building.

M/S Upasana Builders Ghoramara, Borsajai Residential Apartment 39.0 metres (Basement + Ground Floor + 12 Floors)

39 metres

39 metres

s e r t e 36 m

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G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Special Feature

Saroj Parkland Saroj Realtors & Developers Pvt. Ltd. Residential Apartment 39.0 metres (Ground Floor + 12 Floors)

Under Construction Nouranglal More ABC, G.S. Road Commercial 34.05 metres (Basement + Ground Floor + 10 Floors)

City Heights M/S Maa Kamakhya Saraighat Real Estate Maligaon Residential + Commercial 36.00 metres (Ground Floor + 11 Floors)

Under Construction M/S L.M. Realtors Satmile, Jalukbari Residential Apartment 33.00 metres (Ground Floor + 10 Floors)

Under ConstructionMrinmoy Baruah Chenikuthi Residential Apartment 33.00 metres (Ground Floor + 9 Floors)

40 mtrs

Under Construction M/S Yeast Developers Pvt. Ltd. Sati Joymati Road, Athgaon Commercial 34.70 metres (Basement + Ground Floor + 9 Floors)

Eureka Aashiyana M/S Aashiyana Infracon Pvt. Ltd. Bishnu Rabha Path, Beltola Residential Apartment 33.00 metres (Ground Floor + 10 Floors)

Under Construction Manashi Project Pvt. Ltd. Rukminigaon, G.S. Road Residential Apartment 33.00 metres (Ground Floor + 10 Floors)

Under Construction Kusum Bala Barman Sarumotoria, Dispur Residential + Commercial 33.00 metres (Ground Floor + 9 Floors)

34.70 met

res

tres

e 34.05 m

33 metres

33 m

etres

tres

33 me

s

33 metre

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33 metre

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G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Snippets

With Diwali round the corner the city’s jewellery retail outlet are ready with new trends and designs and PC Jewellers has also offered a “Diwali dhamaka” from 1st October to 6th November with 20% off being offered on purchase of diamond jewellery and on crafting charges of gold, silver jewellery and articles.

PC Jewellers has also offered memberships on their Jewels for Less Scheme with 4 options. Option A offers payment in 6 monthly instalments and other benefits in the form of discount equivalent of 20% of the 1st month instalment. Option B offers payments in 10 monthly instalments and with benefit in the form of discount equivalent to 55% of 1st month’s instalment. Option C offers payment in 14 monthly instalments with benefits equivalent to the 1st instalment and option D offers 20 monthly instalments with benefits equivalent to 2 monthly instalments.

PC Jewellers festive dhamaka also offers 66 cars to be won - 1

Photo Courtesy PC jewllers

Nissan car per showroom.

Since its inception, the company has been a pioneer in designs as every product is crafted to a standard of perfection. Whether it is elaborate wedding jewellery or the affordable and regularly

wearable, PC Jewellers has fashioned exceptional designs with unmatched quality. Over time, timeless treasures from PC Jewellers have helped intimate moments become lifetime memories.

The company’s business model

consists of setting up large format, stand alone showrooms at high street locations. Its stores stock a wide range of jewellery across all price points with an increasing focus on diamond jewellery. The company sells only hallmarked jewellery and certified diamond jewellery. This assurance on quality and purity along with transparent and customer friendly policies have enabled PCJ to become an established and trusted brand name in a short span of time.

From sourcing of raw materials to the sale of the finished product, all their processes are integrated and aligned. They map out customer preferences and manufacture products in a way that leaves customers spoilt for choice while making their purchases.

Throughout the entire process, stringent quality measures are taken to ensure the purity, value and finish of the product. Their expertise extends to the possibilities of customized and personalized designs to help the customer find and design her or his perfect piece of jewellery.

What the

Tweet!?

TMC Supporters pelt stones at #BabulSupriyo – something that never happened in his singing career Supriyo had reportedly gone there to join a BJP demonstration against Malay Ghatak, under whose patronage illegal slaughter houses were reportedly operating.

IRONY MAN™ @ ‫ ‏‬Pun_Starr Stones thrown at #BabulSupriyo ? Come on!

Those were just his fans telling him- “Babul Da! You ROCK.” Gouri Shankar @ ‫ ‏‬Gracious_ Gouri Bengal under Islamic influence It’s full of communal terror #BabulSupriyo attacked by TMC No law & order anywhere #Asansol Indian Cyborg @ IndianCyborg9 This is Legacy of the Rogue Communists, who taught it to TMC.If a Union ministr is not safe den wat about commn ppl #BabulSupriyo #Asansol Graphic Jam @ ‫‏‬ manojnath4u That piece of stone hurled at #BabulSupriyo was from khoya khoya chaand up there.

Janasanyog/438/16

Gplus News

PC Jewellers offer festive dhamaka this Diwali

@KaptaanSahib Stones thrown at #BabulSupriyo? Must be Kumar Shanu’s fans..

Aseem Kumar Mohanty @ ‫‏‬ mohanty_asim #BabulSupriyo you are doing a great job exposing the jihadist TMC. Entire country is with you keep up the good work Dr Jwala Gurunath @ ‫‏‬ DrJwalaG Who on earth is safe in WB .sad to see Hindus suffering everyday nothing done to protect them .Didi n goons target innocents #BabulSupriyo Vivek Srivastava@VK_ SHREEVASTAVA The attack on Union Minister #BabulSupriyo is unfortunate.

We had expected better semblance of law & order from CM Mamata Banerjee Ji.

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Councillor sheds ray of hope for dilapidated Kachari Basti WARD NO

18

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Ward Watch

Kalyan Deb

Concentrated Area: Kachari Basti, Ulubari Ward Number: 18 Sub-division: 18 (a) Councillor: Abir Patra Phone no. 9435148503 Problems: Lack of water supply, sub-standard lanes, illegal sale of country liquor Councillor’s Say

|Adib zamali/G Plus

A crucial detour from Ulubari that connects GS Road to Dr. BK Kakati Road, inhabitation in the area dates back to several decades.

As the name suggests, the dominant population of the locality is the Kachari community and the locality was named accordingly.

However, the area also has a diverse population of indigenous Assamese. A major landmark of the locality is the Ulubari Boxing Club which has a glorious existence of over half a century and has groomed several prominent boxers of the city. Despite the legacy of the area, it remains in sub-standard condition with several disruptive activities often taking place.

Poor road condition At the entrance through Dr BK Kakati Road, the area is basically a crowded marketplace. Walking through the area basically means stumbling along the uneven footpaths which remain perennially blocked by vendors. Further inwards, the area contains a road that is in shambles. The lanes are in sub-standard state and parts of the road are worn off. While situated adjacent to GS Road, the lane has remained in a devastated state for years. Adding to the grief of the residents, the installation of a pipeline of the GMDA assisted

water supply project has worsened the condition. Derisively, the area is located near the residence of the former MLA of the constituency Capt. Robin Bordoloi who had been notified several times by the local mahila samiti but no concrete step was ever taken during his term.

Problem of drinking water Poor road condition is one issue that people can cope with until it hampers one’s daily life.

However, a greater concern for the residents of Kachari Basti is the scarcity of drinking water. It is one of the long-standing issues that remain unaddressed till date. The area has been provided with water supply. However, the delivery is not at all adequate.

“One can survive if the roads are in poor condition but it is not possible for one to survive without the adequate water. Water supply is a major problem for the entire area and almost each household has to buy its share of drinking water. Underground water has dried up in the area and the problem cannot be solved until the people are provided with water supply.

Although GMDA pipelines have been installed in the area, it has already been two years and how

much longer the process of providing water supply gets stretched remains to be seen,” asserted Eumee Boro, a local resident. Thankfully, there are several households with bore-wells that somewhat facilitate some amount of drinking water to the locals.

Sale of country liquor Sale and consumption of country liquor has marked a tremendous rise in the city since some time. While several measures are being taken in order to control such sales the business seems to be flourishing in the area.

Conversely, it has been asserted by some locals that such sales have lessened drastically over the past few years.

“For many the sale of country liquor has been a way of earning their livelihood. Many locals brewed the liquor in their households and consumed it during social functions. It gradually became a way of earning money. Since this is a part of their tradition and culture, the same has been passed down from generations. However, since the last few years, as a result of awareness regarding health matters and social subjugation, the sale has been brought down enormously,” a local mentioned.

Meanwhile, to the utter relief of the residents, it has been informed that the tendering process for the construction of the road has been initiated. Talking to G Plus, Abir Patra, councillor of Ward No. 18 said, “The process had already been initiated once earlier. However, the contractors did not place any tender for reasons unknown. The process has again been initiated and it is expected that the road will be constructed within a short period of time.

“Meanwhile, the problem of drinking water will soon be addressed after the completion of the water supply project. Until then no temporary measures can be taken as the expected date of completion of the project is early 2017,” the former mayor added.

Patra also discussed about the sale of country liquor in the Kachari Basti area. However, he dismissed the involvement of locals in the same. “It is assumed by the people that locals are involved in the sale of country liquor which is not entirely true. There is a particular section which does not have any alternative way of earning their livelihood and neither do they have enough capital to start something of their own. Such people are dependent on selling country liquor to earn their bread and butter.

Moreover, the sale has been scaled down drastically since the past few years,” Patra asserted.

Although the sale of country liquor is banned, locals dismissed any kind of objectionable occurrences due to the same. It needs mention that a good number of persons have also died in the state after consuming spurious liquor.

Ulubari Boxing Club Apart from the sub-standard state of the area, the same is known as the home of one of the prominent boxing clubs of the city. Founded in 1950, the club has groomed and produced several renowned boxers of the region. It was with the initiative of Lt. Biren

Boro, who along with a few enthusiasts of the sport, that the club was conceived. The club was started with around 40 members but now has over 100 members and trains several students. Over the years it has produced players like Shiva Thapa who have brought glory to the state. The club also provides a platform to budding talents by organising the All Assam Inter District Boxing Championship. However, due to fund constraints, the championship is organised biennially. kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

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G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

G Talk

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Missing the bus again?

Shyness is a bad vice to have, more so at the governmental level. With the Assam government though, it is understandable. From Raha to Changsari, its attempted boldness at allotting land had it burning its fingers badly with ministers and the masses jumping into the fracas of a debate that resulted subsequently. There is no point going into details; that matter has died down for the moment without a decision being taken or given. The fact remains that AIIMS remains a pipe-dream for the people of Assam and heaven help us should we hear that the newest proposed location is Byrnihat in Meghalaya!

And so the government’s shyness in allotting land once again for another prestigious proposed institution should be treated with utter sympathy. How else do you treat mediocrity? Confused? Well dear readers, catch our digital timeline on Facebook and you will not miss a piece of news that we carried which states, “The Indian Federation of United Nations Associations has approached and written to the state government seeking allocation of property to set up a United Nations University. The United Nations University (UNU) is a global think tank and postgraduate teaching organization headquartered in Japan. The establishment of the university will make this only the second UN Institute in the world after the first in Tokyo and will be a major landmark.”

According to the Secretary General of UN Association, Assam, Mr. Aswini Sarma, the University will be set up either in Guwahati or Shillong but “the Assam government is yet to respond to the proposal.”

The fact of the matter is as follows: The UN authorities had written to the Assam government way back in 2014 and again in August this year asking for a 20-acre parcel of land for a world-class university that will offer courses in arts, social science, management, science and UN studies at the graduation, postgraduation and research level. Apparently feelers were sent to both the Assam and Meghalaya governments and Meghalaya, it is learnt, is proactively trying to locate a suitable plot. The Assam government though, is sitting on the file without a single response in the last two years!

So what can we surmise from this? The United Nations, of all things, has zeroed in on either Guwahati or Shillong outside of Tokyo. The benefits that will accrue to the state thereof are beyond imagination and need not be extolled.

The expected year of the university being declared open is 2018 and the northeast will be promoted like never before as a regional hub helping its economy, business and tourism. Given the immense opportunity, what prevents the government from at least replying to the UN’s proposal, leave alone locating a suitable plot? If it is still smarting from its bitter experience of AIIMS, then it is a really sad case of Assam missing the bus of development for the umpteenth time. And if it is a case of a suitable 20-acre not being available, I have nothing to say!

Swapnil Bharali Editor

NH-37 dreams on Shillong, the rock capital of the country, is rightly playing host to one of the biggest music festivals in the country once more with Assam falling by the wayside once again. We may boast of being a bigger and better managed state but we already seem to be very aware as to who the better positioned state is.

The success of the last season of NH7 was not a mere fluke or a coincidence nor a small feat and the stars haven’t aligned to bring one of the biggest music festivals back to Meghalaya. In a festival like the NH-7, there is no room for error or a “laid back” (lahe lahe) attitude – something that has truly defined “our people” for ages.

The government of Meghalaya has once again gone all out to make sure that this is a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience.

However, Assam’s chances of success have been marred by its own people, on several occasions.

Amidst issues like allocating land for an AIIMS or Universities or even properly harnessing the potential that Assam tourism has to offer, we have lost out on several opportunities which reflect poorly on us as an administrative unit. Our people are still calling for bandhs and protests with the

demand for an ST status which makes our stand clear that we are still regressive in our outlook.

Meghalaya has positioned itself as the “Rock Capital” and thereby this festival brings in people participation and better results. And if Assam boasts tourism, what is it that we have done that will not only position our state as a tourism hub but will also get people to participate because we are the actual torch bearers of our state. It is our responsibility to make it as inviting as possible and I wonder if Assam knows what it is selling to the world.

Coming to the core issue, Guwahati was not an option for the organizers despite knowing that the heart of northeast lies in Guwahati. Their contention is simple: there was just not enough cooperation starting from obtaining permissions to arranging land among other challenges. Last year, Vijay Nair tweeted that NH7 Shillong was the only event where he did not pay a single rupee as bribe; imagine the pride Meghalaya must have felt.

We need to stop our tyre burning fiascos; NH-37 can well be a reality just as NH-7.

SIDHARTH BEDI VARMA

Opinion

AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS - IV

Arnav Mahant

Unbeknownst to most of the world, the American presidential election process has already begun. The official election day is Tuesday, November 8 but every state in the Union allows “early voting” in order to reduce the crowds that form on the official election day. Here in the heartland of the country, as long as you are a citizen, casting your ballot is an easy process even if you are not in the electoral rolls. You make your way to the local municipal office and bring some form of ID establishing who you are, such as a driver’s license. You may also have to furnish some proof of residency within the community, such as an electric bill or a cable television bill. The municipal clerk asks you to complete a simple voter registration form and within minutes, you can fill in your ballot. The ballot will be kept in the custody of the municipal clerk and released into the official count on the actual day of the election. Of course, if your name is already in the electoral rolls, the election process is completed within minutes since all you have to furnish is an ID and then fill in the ballot.

A tremendous degree of mutual trust is built into this early voting process. As a voting citizen, I am relying upon the utter honesty of the voting officials to keep my secret ballot under lock and key without compromising the integrity of my vote. I am also relying on my vote being released into the official count without being conveniently “misplaced.” On the other hand, the voting officials are relying on my written declaration that I am an eligible citizen who can vote. Picture IDs and utility bills do not provide absolute proof of citizenship; they merely establish residency within the voting precinct. This is especially true when a voter registers to vote on the actual day of the elec-

tion, which is permissible under the laws of many states, including Wisconsin. The verification mechanism even in a technology-driven society such as the United States is not that sophisticated to provide instantaneous verification of citizenship.

Despite the so-called “freeness” of this democratic country, millions of its citizens are denied the right to cast their ballots if they have some kind of criminal record.

This disenfranchisement depends on one’s state of residency. For example, the state of Maine allows people within its prisons to vote whereas Florida permanently denies a person the right to cast a ballot if they were ever convicted of a felony. This denial of a basic democratic right arose out of old racial prejudices when the majority white citizenry of this country continued to find legal ways to disenfranchise its black population after they were freed from slavery.

Some of these old prejudices and hatreds that have lain dormant through the last few decades have been leaking out of the genie’s bottle as Donald Trump’s candidacy became official. I fear that a Trump presidency will bring the bigots and haters of this multi-ethnic society out to the front and embolden them to act out their dark and nasty thoughts. A similar scenario was played out in India when the BJP started gaining political power and the rascals who claimed deep allegiance to the Hindu religion destroyed the Babri Masjid and spread death and destruction across Gujarat. The human mob psychology is the same everywhere and a society that allows the darker side of the human psyche to surface creates a path towards self-destruction. I fear that if by some remote chance this demagogue gains power, his very presence will undo years of

creating a more just and tolerant United States.

What happens in this country ripples through the world. An intolerant United States that starts shutting its borders to new immigrants or enacts repressive policies against its own citizens will embolden dictators and demagogues the world over to act with growing impunity, leading the way to a chaotic world. I am not saying that a Hillary presidency will be perfect or that she is a perfect candidate – she has a lot of her own baggage but at least she has a level head on her shoulder and is willing to listen to others unlike this fellow who is enamored by himself and tolerates no criticism. A man who has always been obeyed by the sycophants that surround him will have no clue about how to handle the democratic process, which is a lot about listening and compromising.

As you sit in Guwahati watching the circus of the American presidential elections from afar, do not be lulled into a sense of complacency that what happens halfway around the world has no impact on you. Your economic future, your security, your ability to travel and your own domestic policies will be directly impacted by who gains power out here. Do go to the local “nam-ghor” and offer a prayer that sanity will ultimately triumph in this nation.

Arnav Mahant is an NRI based in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He is a teacher of Mathematics in high school and an astute political observer and analyst

Letter to Editor A dilemma or a much needed initiative Has the Assam government, in its vision to get official things done in a modern way, created a huge dilemma for the people? Or is it slowly taking some pivotal steps in order to increase the work efficiency among its employees? This crossed many people’s mind when the government, out of nowhere, came up with a radical step for teachers of lower primary schools creating a hue and cry among the teaching fraternity.

Around 20-25 days ago the education minister informed that the teachers of lower primary schools, by April next year, must give their attendance via their own gadgets or smartphones with the help of internet and the attendance record would be maintained in the respective higher offices. The step was taken so that the movements of the teacher could be kept track of during working hours. The government clearly indicated that they wanted the teachers to offer full dedication to their work and thus impart quality education to the students.

This issue has two sides to it. If the government can be bold and practical enough to implement this, it will see teachers being more efficient in their work; the old system of giving attendance and thereafter not doing their duties can be reduced. Most importantly the government can keep track on its teaching staff.

The other side is that it is quite palpable that not all teachers would be familiar with smartphones. The government cannot directly assume that all teachers can use this new system. In fact some of the teachers are financially too poor to afford smartphones with internet. Network problems still remain a big hindrance in most areas and “no network” should not necessarily mean non-attendance. As for providing smartphones (which the government proposes to do) to such teachers by the multitude, actions will speak louder than words.

While the step taken by the government is definitely encouraging and can slowly be implemented in colleges as well, forceful implementation might create its own troubles. However at present, this raw idea has definitely touched the raw nerves of teachers and the education fraternity of the state.

Bishaldeep Kakati

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

17

In Focus

A United Nations University is on the cards for Northeast.

But will this remain another story on paper or will it change the dynamics of education for the region?.

Meet

Santanu Choudhury Entrepreneur

MANISH PARASHAR

Hope the proposed university will have more courses on the northeast, scoping its various vicissitudes, so that the region is better understood and analyzed.

chandrika das

Let’s list the claims of best places. It starts with Shillong, Digboi, Dhubri, Latrimbai, Kailashahar, Ziro, Bomdila, Dhekiajuli, Gossaigaon, Kangkokpi, Ukhrul, Tuenchung, Churachandpur, Passighat, Baithalangshu ... it will never end. Total anticipated destruction will stand close to Rs. 2000 crores only considering the present status of (non)development of the places. There will be a dozen of high powered dispute resolution bodies, 500 meetings over a period of 10 years, governments changing twice or thrice in each state and the proposal shelved for good, all living happily ever after until the next proposal.

Yarthing Raikhan Hope the proposed university will have more courses on the northeast, scoping its various vicissitudes, so that the region is better understood and analyzed.

Anil Kumar Boruah

Now we have a new issue to start a tug of war as to its location and set a few public properties on fire besides blocking highways, calling bandhs, even losing a couple of lives.

Amit Chakraborty

There will be people who will ignore this news and vomit in other places that NE is always ignored. I hope it shuts them up.

Aabhishek Bedi Varma

It is actually a great initiative; Shillong, or Guwahati, it won’t matter because this will bring all round development of the region. The entire region will reap the benefits of the same. A university under the aegis of United Nations is incredible and should make room for higher and quality education so that people do not have to travel abroad for pursuing higher education.

RS Srinivas

We hope there is no tug of war in this amazing plan proposed for the region. After all, this will be the second UN University in the entire world and northeast India is privileged to be even considered for this. Here’s hoping there is no ridiculous issues of reservations and land allocation because fantastic ideas in this country have been laid to waste because of issues like lack of resource allocation, lack of faculty and reservations.

Anisha Borah

Universities provide the biggest potential for development. If we look around the world, entire cities have developed around a university. Look at Oxford or Cambridge or Harvard for that matter. These are just cases in point. For Assam or Meghalaya for that matter or even for the entire northeast, a university of the scale and size of a UNU might just be the great filler that is required for a planned city to come up. And with a city comes all the opportunities of development, employment, business et al. Nothing can be more foolhardy for any government than letting this opportunity slip by in the name of red tape or whatever is preventing allocation of land.

Mon Imaan Hazarika

Ever since the British stopped building cities in India, the only planned cities in this country have been Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar. It is indeed time that Assam or the northeast had at least one planned city to boast of. Needless to say, a proper UN University coming up would not only raise the standards of education that is dispensed within this region, it would go a long way in developing the surrounding area into a proper urban space that is so required as an alternative living space. I am only hoping that the supposedly dynamic state government that is in power today would pip its neighbouring states in this particular race.

Bibhash Deka

Ah! Great TV time ahead for all of us. Another agitation over land allocation in offing it seems.

Bandhs, road blocks, UNU location demands and great TRPs for all TV channels. Great, spicy viewings for all of us and a toothless state government will sit tight until the brouhaha dies down and we will all sit and watch Miss Opportunity passing us by. I am cynical at this moment and I will never blame myself for it. Government inaction makes me sick of it.

Born and brought up in Nalbari, Santanu Choudhury, founder and managing director of Pragati School of Management, is a well-known entrepreneur who started his managementschool after quitting a top-notch corporate career in IDBI Bank and Reliance at Mumbai. Santanu holds a B.Tech. (Hons) from IIT-Kharagpur (1984). After completing his engineering he pursued management studies from IIM, Ahmedabad (PGP ’86). “I enjoyed the management course and after its completion I went to Mumbai and started working in IDBIBank. I was involved with financial institutions for a long time and later in life, I worked inthe telecom industry,” said Santanu.It was that time between 1995 and 1997 when the telecom sector was de-regularised withmany private operators coming in to start operations that Santanu left his job in IDBI Bank for a variety of reasons. “I basically wanted to see the probability of business potential withthe onset of internet; e-commerce began and I started to work in Mumbai with acommercial company for two years.

After the company was sold off to another owner forcorporate restructuring I shifted to Reliance which was planning to launch mobile telephoneservices. At that time I also shifted to the BPO industry and within a very short span of time Iwas heading the BPO in Mumbai for four years and I grew very fast in my career,” said Santanu.

Santanu felt that it was the beginning of a new thinking process in him as earlier he was shifting from one sector to another.

During his stint in the BPO sector and as a corporate recruiter, he faced a funny problem. “Lakhs and lakhs of people are unemployed but when we wanted to recruit people for a BPO which had a capacity of 400-500 agents a month I just did not find enough people that I could hire. The qualifying educational criterion I was looking for was minimum Class XII pass outs who had good communication skills in spoken English. We were paying good salary; food and lodging was subsidized but there simply were no suitable candidates,” Santanu said. The entire IT and BPO sector

was running with shortage of manpower.

With that kind of experience Santanu decided to open up a management school in Guwahati, Assam to give opportunities to the people of Assam to get involved in the wider world and to stand on their own stead. He also realized that there are many social issues in Assam with many young people taking wrong paths and career decisions. After 25 years of work he also realized that he needed to do something for his state and provide some kind of training to the youths which would also give them opportunities to find quality employment. Santanu also worked in various corporations including Reliance Infocom and GTL Ltd. in senior management positions. In 2005, he moved out to try his hands at launching start-up ventures in telecom infrastructure and business aviation sectors. He lived and worked in Mumbai for a total of 25 years and in 10 of those years he held senior positions such as CFO, COO and CEO. He is aware and concerned about the ongoing debate on whether or not India will reap the anticipated demographic dividends.

Rather than being an onlooker, Santanu decided to quit his job and invest his time in the education sector with special focus on higher and vocational education.

After 3 years into the journey he is confident that with the right educational intervention among other things, India will be able to reap the benefit of being home to the youngest population in the world. He is passionate and committed to demonstrating the same by making Pragati’s educational programs a vehicle for bringing about substantial and sustainable transformation in the northeastern region.

In 2011, Pragati School of Management decided to impart training in hospitality management and tied up with an Australian company to provide excellent training facilities which would train its students at par with international standards. The stumbling block was that students did not have adequate knowledge on written and spoken English and so, it was not possible to provide them with a certificate by the Australian company which had certain minimum requirements. In 2011, the school was started with just 12 students who came from places like Hajo, Kaithalkuchi etc. – students who had never travelled out of Assam or had knowledge in English. But they were successfully placed in hotels like Taj, Le Meridian, Hyatt, etc. with the training that they had received during the course of their education.

After the achievement of getting the students placed in top companies and hotels with the requisite training and skills, Pragati School of Management today has also started degree course (from this year) under Gauhati University and is also planning to start master degree courses from next year. They have also planned to start vocational courses in carpentry plumbing, etc. so that certain sections of people can take the basic training and be gainfully self-employed.

18

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Lifestyle

VAASTU SHASTRA

NVIDIA announces GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOME MORE COLOURS

We have been discussing various colours and their effects (see G Plus issue dated 15th October, 2015). Some more colours are explained here: NVIDIA added to its arsenal two new graphics cards in its GTX 10 lineup. The GTX 1050 and the GTX 1050 Ti – both are based on the Pascal GPU architecture. The GTX 1050 Ti has 768 Cuda cores, with a base clock speed of 1290 MHz, a boost clock speed of 1392 MHz. It has an onboard memory of 4 GB GDDR5 with memory speed of 7 Gbps.

The GTX 1050 Ti has 640 Cuda cores, with a base clock speed of 1354 MHz, a boost clock speed of 1455 MHz. This is equipped with a 2 GB GDDR5 with a memory speed of 7 Gbps.

Both cards support display resolutions up to a massive 7680 x 4320@60Hz (refresh rate). The cards deliver a smooth 60fps. There are DVI and HDMI connectors, and support for multi monitor displays. The cards plug in to the PCIe 3.0 bus. There is support for Open GL

4.5, DirectX 12 as well as the Vulkan API. However, neither card is VR ready.

The graphic cards can run on 75 W power, with a recommended system power of 300 W. If the cards are not boosted, they do not need supplementary power cords, and can draw the required energy from the bus itself.

The cards are available from Nvidia GeForce partners including ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, Palit and Zotac.

The Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti will be available from October 25, while the Nvidia GTX 1050 will be available from 8 November.

The cards will be simultaneously made available in 238 countries through the global network of Nvidia GeForce partners. The GTX 1050 is priced roughly at Rs 7,300, while the GTX 1050 Ti is priced at around Rs 9,500.

SHADES OF PINK

Pink is a very soothing colour and it is universally accepted as the colour of love. In the human body, this colour is generated from the heart chakra. The use of this colour brings gentleness and warmth. Too much of pink should not be used indoors say, in the entire house. This creates a floating effect and the residents tend not to live in the real world.

Since the southwest area is associated with relationships, love and marriage, using this colour in the southwest helps in these sectors. Pink can be used on the walls, furniture and other decorative items in the southwest. Generally, a lighter version of pink is always used. But if more fire element is desired, then it can be combined with orange or even red.

Pink can be used for a girl’s bed-

room. But this room should not be in the north, east or northeast.

Pink is also suitable for ladies’ dressing rooms.

Feng Shui suggests placing a bowl of rose quartz crystals in the southwest to activate relationships and business luck.

Combinations of pink have various uses. The most commonly used combinations are pink and black or pink and green.

Pink and black is a mixture of the fire and water elements. This creates a contrast that gives an interesting but beautiful combination which is sometimes required for elegance.

Pink and green is a mixture of fire and wood elements which strengthens the energy of the pink colour.

RED, YELLOW ORANGE

These are very potent colours and

recipe of the week

ISLAND COCONUT PRAWNS WITH A PINEAPPLE DIP Prawn is a common name, used particularly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Commonwealth nations, for large swimming crustaceans or shrimp, especially those with commercial significance in the fishing industry. Shrimp that fall in this category often belong to the suborder Dendrobranchiata. In North America, the term is used less frequently, typically for freshwater shrimp.In the United Kingdom, prawn is more common on menus than shrimp, while the opposite is the case in the United States. The term prawn also loosely describes any large shrimp, especially those at 15 (or fewer) to the pound (such as king prawns or jumbo shrimp).

In North America, the term is used less frequently, typically for freshwater shrimp. Prawns, I feel are every non-vegetarian’s favourite food. If it was easily available and cheaper, Guwahatians would have made it their staple fare. Today I am sharing a simple but very delicious prawn recipe. It is ideal as a snack or also as part of a main course menu.

PROCESS

AND

Break eggs in a bowl and add garlic, salt and flour. Mix thoroughly. Add beer and mix into a smooth paste. Mix bread crumbs and coconut. With a sharp knife cut the prawns from the top to the tail and spread it out. This is called *butterflying the prawns. Dip prawns in egg batter, now coat with coconut crumb mixture.

Deep fry till they are golden brown.

For the dip, add all three ingredients together and serve with the hot prawns.

Hope you enjoy it!!

they are eye-catching as well. Red is the colour of fire and so it is used at south. It has the property of strength, vitality and potency.

When red seems too strong for a room, one can use orange and yellow instead to bring down the intensity. Red should not be used in the direction of the water element, i.e. north and northeast.

Orange also represents the fire element and it can be used at south and southwest which represents fame & reputation and love & marriage respectively. In Pranic healing, orange colour helps in elimination and disintegration.

This colour prana is abundant in nature with fruits like orange and papaya which help in bowel movement. Orange colour can be used in the kitchen especially at west and southwest. When one wishes to play with colours in the children’s room, orange can be used at places. This is also good in the living room.

Orange colour should be avoided in the west and northwest because these directions belong to the metal element and fire destroys metal.

Yellow colour lightens and brightens a space like sunlight. It creates a cosy atmosphere. This colour is suitable for children’s room and rooms at southeast. It can also be used in the family room.

Hemanta Kumar Sarmah Engineer, Businessman, Advanced Pranic Healer and Su Jok Acupressure specialist

Ingredients • 1/2 a kg of prawns deveined and washed and butterflied* (read below) • 2 eggs beaten • 1/2 cup flour • 1/2 cup beer • 1/2 teaspoon garlic paste • Salt to taste • Two cups oil for frying • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs • 1 cup grated fresh coconut or dry coconut powder.

KUL Goswami RAHMAN Entrepreneur, mother and a passionate cook

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

19

Lifestyle THE LIFE BAKERY - by Madhur Jain

Why you shouldn’t follow your passion This must be the first time somebody’s suggesting you not to follow your passion in life. The idea is simple - because passions change. Just like time changes, the situation in your life too changes - your mood, your interests, everything changes from time to time and so does your passion. What Facebook pages did you “like” back in 2012? What pages have you liked recently? If the two are completely different, then you know what I mean.

We have one life and I believe that we should make the most of this life. We should experience more and more things. Be it good or bad, we should at least try and get the taste of as many things as possible. We shouldn’t be pulled back by things just because once upon a time it used to be our passion.

So today, you might be interested in sports and probably want to become a sportsperson; but tomorrow you might be inspired by the white collars and might wanna have a career in the corporate world. But if you’re stuck to your previous passion, you will not be able to give your hundred percent to your new passion. You inner self would be torn between your passions. The guilt of leaving behind something, the attachment with a previous interest won’t allow us to move ahead in life. And my idea of life here at the life bak-

Behind the cool hair scenes!

We all love how lovely hair colors, and straighters & curlers can transform our personality. It’s no surprise that they have become our dressing table staples. While these are our instant fixes for cool hair, are we really doing enough to keep them healthy in the long run? Continue reading to find out how to keep hair healthy, so you can continue to style them as you want, till the end of time!

Nutrition Hair and skin are the very last to receive nutrition in our body. We need to make sure Omega3 fatty acid, Vitamin K, E and biotin rich food can really do wonders to keep your hair healthy. You could snack your way to good hair -Walnut, spinach, eggs, pumpkin seeds, lentil and yogurt are known to be very healthy. Some of us might even need hair vitamins as dietary supplements- as the lack of minerals like zinc can cause severe hair problems.

Heat-protect your hair From dryers to straighteners, the number of heat treatments we put our hair through is just not going to decrease. This step is crucially important for those who cannot go even three consecutive days without the hair straightener (we know that’s a lot of us!). Avoid a major part of the damage to hair by using heat-protecting spray or serum (this is different from the regular detangling serum you use) before heat-styling your hair. There are tonnes of options available at online stores such as nykaa. com and also at all major salons across the city. L’Oreal, TRESemme, John Frieda, Shwarzkopf, etc. are among some brands that make these products.

Your hair needs moisture The age old ways of regularly oiling your hair to replenish

ery is to move forward at all times and be happy.

So do what makes you happy.

Follow your contribution instead.

Find the thing you’re great at and put that into the world. Contribute to others and help the world be better—that is the thing to follow.

Thank God there are people who don’t follow their passion. Because if everybody followed their passion, we wouldn’t find people to clean up our toilets.

It is difficult to prioritize between passions. Am I passionate about photography or dancing?

Am I passionate about driving or cycling? It’s usually difficult to answer these questions when you truly feel equally excited about two completely different things.

It’s much easier to determine what we’re good at. Am I better at photography or writing? Do what you’re good at.

I also disagree with those you preach that in order to be successful one needs to do what his/ her passion is. It wasn’t Mahatma Gandhi’s passion to free up countries, It isn’t Warren Buffet’s passion to number crunch all the time.

But they made it large because they did what they’re good at.

So next time, if you get bored of doing something that was once your baby, do not hesitate to dump it and move on; if you’re good that doing something, don’t regret doing it just because it isn’t your passion.

Madhur Jain

Madhur Jain is the founder, author and podcaster at The Life Bakery.

The Life Bakery is focused on sharing life hacks, tech and tools to make life awesome. Visit www.thelifebakery.com

Cool Couture

moisture is actually an important part of your routine.

Infact, good old coconut oil and almond oil are some of the best options as they are full of vitamins that absorb in your scalp and nourish your hair.

Flush out the toxins Keeping toxins off your head is not just the job of shampoo. It is crucially important to drink plenty of water for keeping your mane healthy. For the same reason, you should fix yourself a spinach salad with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Happy hair-styling!

Meenakshi Talukdar Blogger at www.afravelmovie.com. You can follow her daily styling on her Instagram handle @meenakshi_afravelmovie.

Never Hit a Strength Plateau Again

Overview It’s called getting into a rut, and exercise enthusiasts are not immune to the same. The problem is following the same routines. This trait is found equally in daily fitness fanatics and casual gym weekenders and if your strength levels have not improved it’s time to re-evaluate your strength-training program.

Progressive Overload You have to learn to ask more of your body because to make genuine progress in building strength and fitness you have to think about building muscle and strength for years, not just a few weeks or months. In other words, this will be a plan for a lifetime and a part of your lifestyle, not your 4 weeks beach body agenda. wThe name of this program is ‘progressive overload.’ Our muscles must be put to the test and the body must be given proper stimulus for continued growth and a continued progression in strength. Where many people make a mistake, however, is performing higher repetitions -10 to 15, for example -- and trying just to add weight to the bar.

The one-repetition maximum is defined as the maximum amount of resistance you can lift in any exercise for one repetition. Both casual gym-goers and fervent fitness enthusiasts can fall into this rut of performing the same set and repetitions with minor variations which however will not affect their body strength. Using the same amount of resistance relative to their maximum strength is a sure recipe for a strength plateau after a few months.

Training Age Being able to lift more weight is a good thing, and no strength coach would argue against trying to increase the resistance you use over time. But no matter the number of repetitions you perform, you are going to need to alter the plan.

Why you ask? Well, it’s your age, but not the one on the calendar, but what the fitness industry calls your ‘training age.’This is defined as the amount of time you’ve been

consistently training. As that increases, you’ll actually need to start using lower-repetition sets to keep the gains coming. And you will need to perform those at a higher percentage of your one-repetition maximum. The efficiency of that model quickly declines, and it’s often married with the same routine in more ways than one.It’s not just about gradually increasing the percentage of weight relative to your maximum strength and trying to add weight to the bar.

Your exercise selection is equally important.

The 80/20 rule A good approach is the 80/20 rule which is followed by most veteran fitness experts. It is said that 80% of your strength gains will come from 20% of the exercises you perform in your workouts and you shouldn’t waste a lot of time focusing on smaller, isolation exercises, like leg extensions, bicep curls and the inner thigh machine. You should be focusing the majority of your efforts on multiple-joint exercises which work a lot of muscles simultaneously.

Pro-trainers believe that there are only six exercise variations worth investing energy on: squats, deadlifts, bench presses, rows, chinups and overhead presses.

The 80/20 rule Strength plateaus are an inevitable part of the training process.

They’ve happened to anyone who has spent any real time in the gym, and they are also an indicator that you’ve made some progress. But they don’t have to be permanent.

Instead, they should provide you with the message that it’s time to adapt your routine.By paying close attention to your exercise selection while focusing on multiple-joint exercises and gradually attempting to lift weights closer to your maximum strength over time, you can keep the strength gains coming and burst BIBHU through any plateau.

MONI SINGHA,

Sour

Gym Manager Training & Nutrition Head, SFL Fitness Gym & MMA For further Workout Programs & Diet follow me on Facebook or log on to my website – www.bibhuuniversalfitness.

(Source: Livestrong) ( com. You can also watch my videos on my YouTube channel.

20

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Reviews Cast: Om Puri, Sanjay Mishra, Anupam Shyam, Rishi Bhutani, Dolly Chawla, Meghna Haldar, Mukesh Tiwari Director: Sanoj Mishra

vie Mo view Re

If only Gandhigiri had released a few days earlier. Even hardsniffing TV channels may have absolved Om Puri of many crimes after this show of “nationalism”. There are others who may call Gandhigiri itself a crime, and not just against Gandhi. But there must be drawbacks to offering the other cheek. We begin with an NRI from dependable Mauritius lamenting for that “greatest nation of all”, Bharat, and particularly that “greatest soul of all”, Gandhi, at a Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet, no less. In no time at all, he is back for good to a fictional native village in very real “Rae Bareli”. Here the men are thugs, women rapacious, sadhus fraud, and politicians divided by caste and united in bloodlust. All it takes is throwing the Mahatma in the midst — a Gandhi for every occasion, from reforming criminals to

helping accident victims on the road, while moving around only and only in an Ambassador. The town, barring a reliably snarling Brahmin leader, is ever so grateful for the NRI benevolence.

The aforementioned NRI, with the weighty name of Rai Bahadur Singh (Om Puri), invites a crude assortment of some of the above louts to live in his own haveli. Their criminal goingson don’t appear to bother the Gandhian Rai Bahadur. On the contrary, even as they plot, Rai Bahadur extends his generosity to opening a “global school”.

That school appears and disappears in a flash, but not without offering an unforgettable image of adults dancing draped in Tricolour hues.

Two of the most homely of those adults are in hush-hush love, interspersed with some very loud songs. Both are “medical students”, but in good, old

UP, that never did mean attending classes. Apart from Gandhi, the film abounds in sex — in innuendoes, talk, gestures, in back of vans offering a sexual cure, and down the cleavage of a woman who convinces our Rai Bahadur of her destituteness while the mascara, lipstick, and hair highlights are still in place.

So why does this film have Om Puri, Sanjay Mishra, Anupam Shyam and Mukesh Tiwari? And why does it offer special thanks to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal? Maybe, some questions are better left unasked.

If Gandhi is taken to mean everything in the film, there is only one person who watches the entire exercise with deep skepticism and a deeper frown.

A “Deendayal”. Think what you will.

Cast: Ssharad Malhotra, Hritu Dudani, Melanie Nazareth, Deepraj Rana Director: Arshad Siddiqui Sitting in his palace in Rajasthan, amongst the ghosts of his royal ancestors, Prince Aditya Pratap Singh mourns the loss of his wife.

His mundane life changes when a man is murdered in his haveli and the ghosts come knocking. A manic depressive prince, Aditya Pratap Singh (Ssharad Malhotra) not only believes in ghosts, but spends the better part of his days chatting up with them. His palace is a bastion for spirits, with the aatma of his recently deceased wife Kasturi (Hritu Dudani) topping the list.

As Aditya sinks deeper into delirium, a man is killed in the palace and inspector Suryakant Singh (Deepraj Rana) begins investigation. In the meantime, Aditya’s friend from the US, Sonali (Melanie Nazareth), comes visiting and almost falls in love with him.

However, she is chased away by

the jealous ghost of Kasturi. Just before intermission, the movie changes track so violently, that you’re not sure whether it’s a thriller or your brains are just being picked. Ssharad’s character -- of the brooding prince Aditya -- is so flat, it’s laughable, and not in the places where the director meant you to laugh. A decent actor, which a decade worth of TV acting can vouch for, Ssharad is relegated to playing a role that can be best defined as the caricature of a prince. His co-actors Hritu and Melanie have little to offer, as far as performances go.

They could easily have played each other’s roles and no one would have noticed. Deepraj as the suspicious inspector is another character who will leave you truly baffled, once you realise who he actually is.

Campy horror movies are fun

ALBUM:

Nobody but me By: Michael Buble

and end up becoming cult hits.

But with a running time of 120 minutes, Ek Tera Saat is too long to qualify for that. The ‘clever’ word/number play used in the title is for effect alone. At the end of the film, the only thing that stays with you is the title track.

This is a real story which is changed to the screen story. We don’t know if this means that existence of ghosts was verified to term this as based on true events, but there it is. The story is about Kunwar Aditya and his deceased wife Kasturi. The prince believes that her ghost still lives around him in the palace. If you let go of the cheesy Horror elements of the movie, there might be some interesting twists and turns in the story. And if you like those Horror shots, that would be an added bonus.

u Yo ULD O SH play

Bublé for the past three years, if you don’t count hearing him on the radio all the time whenever Christmas comes along.

His most recent studio album, To Be Loved, was released in 2013. Now he is ready for a big comeback with the album Nobody But Me on the 21st of October. The single with the same name is out today and luckily he shakes things up a bit with this release, while at the same time delivering an absolutely infectious hook!

The 40-years-old star who rose to prominence with his mix of pop and light jazz, has met incredible successes over the past ten years.

gold mine 7d 10.00 AM ek tera sath 11.00 PM haunted house 7d 01.00 PM 04.00 PM Gaane Ki Aane 02.00 PM 02.45 PM 08.15 PM Forest Adventure & Aero Bike (7D) - English (7D)07.00 PM

PVR Cinemas

Dona Planet. GS Road 08800900009 M.S DHONI : THE UNTOLD STORY 02.05 PM Jack Reacher: Never Go Back 03.45 PM 06.10 PM 08.35 PM Gaane Ki Aane O5.45 PM INFERNO O8.40 PM

HUB, GS Road 9864800100, 9864800200 SULLY (English) 03.40 PM Gaane Ki Aane 05.40 PM 31ST OCTOBER 08:45 PM

vie w o M vie Re

Game:

Batman: Return to Arkham

u Yo ULD O AY H S PL

Batman: Arkham Asylum was first released in 2009 to critical acclaim, with its sequel Batman: Arkham City following two years later in 2011.

Now, five years and three other games later, these two games have been updated, both graphically and technically for the newer console generation.

Both original games were developed by Rocksteady Studios and WB Games Montréal and published by Warner Bros.

Batman: Return to Arkham is developed by Virtuos and uses the Unreal Engine 4. The game is available on either PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.They were incredibly colourful when they

GOLD Cinema ASTC Complex, Paltan Bazar 9854066166

ek tera sath 11.00 PM 08.00PM Gaane Ki Aane (Assamese) 02.30 PM 05.30 PM Motu Patlu - King of Kings (3D) 11.30 AM SAAT UCHAKKEY 02:30 AM Hari Om (Assamese) 05:00 AM 08.30 PM

GOLD Cinema

Platform:

All his albums reached the number 1 spot in the US and a lot of places in Europe, but his last one didn’t dominate the charts as much as its predecessors. The bass and piano rhythms swing and his smooth vocals soar when he sings about not wanting to share his lover with anyone else. Be prepared to hear this a lot in the coming weeks.

Noonmati 03612656968, 9954544738

Galleria Cinemas

Salasar Building, Lakhtokia 9854077177

Xbox One Nobody But Me will be released on October 21 via Warner Bros/Reprise. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and Vancouver with producers Johan Carlsson, Alan Chang, Jason “Spicy G” Goldman and The Monsters and Strangerz, and it features three original tracks and covers of several standards (such as “The Very Thought Of You” and the oft-tackled Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”). Along for the ride as far as features go is Meghan Trainor and Black Thought of The Roots.

The deluxe edition of the album will contain an extra three tracks. It has been rather quiet around Michael

Anuradha Cineplex

originally came out, they both had a sort of haze filtered over them. Now that haze seems to have been removed. While Batman flies through the air to introduce his fist to the next unwitting thug, there would be quite a bit of movement blur, but most of that seems to have been extinguished this time around. However, the weird, choppy, broken trail following Batman, while he jumps and dodges around the fights, seems to persist, and while it isn’t a huge problem by any means, it still seems like something that could have been fixed up.

ek tera sath 11.00 PM 08.00PM Gaane Ki Aane (Assamese) 02.00 PM 05.30 PM Motu Patlu - King of Kings (3D) 11.30 AM SAAT UCHAKKEY 08:30 AM Hari Om (Assamese) 02:30 AM 05.00 PM

GOLD Cinema

LG Towers, Narangi 8811001898 ek tera sath 11.00 PM 08.00PM Gaane Ki Aane (Assamese) 05.00 PM Hari Om (Assamese) 02.00 PM

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

21

Entertainment

Audio Album released Assamese film

‘Moromor Rumal’ ‘Haanduk’ to KALYAN KUMAR KALITA

be screened at Jio Mami

gPLUS fEATURE

An album of modern Assamese songs titled ‘Moromor Rumal’ containing 6 tracks of distinct style was released recently. The album has been musically arranged by popular Assamese music directors Pranjal Prodip Bharali and Bikash Baruah. The album containing the tracks Rumalot, Dhol Baai, Bhejal Preety, Xadhukothar, Beka Sawoni and Basi Khaba have been beautifully rendered by Rupak Dutta, Barnali Kalita and Shreemoyee Bordoloi.

All the songs have been written and tuned by Pankaj Sami, Hridayananda Saikia, Rekibul and Kalyan Kumar Kalita. The musicians are Pranjal Prodip Bharali, Bikash Baruah, Amitabh Baruah, Robin Bora and Bhaskar Saikia.

The songs are recorded and mixed

by Pranjal Prodip Bharali at Stu-

dio Eden, Jorhat. The album has been produced under the banner of Anuska Production. All the songs are written and have been carefully arranged to suit the ever changing tastes of Assamese music lovers. The audiences will definitely vibe with each song.

Rupak Dutta, the lead singer of the album, had started his musical journey at a very young age.

He has also performed at various functions and cultural events all over Assam. He shared his feelings saying that it is a dream comes true for him as he had always dreamt of releasing an album. He hopes that the Assamese music lovers will accept his album and encourage him and his efforts. Presently, the singer is busy with his upcoming project which will hit the market soon.

Antardrishti’ (Man with the

Binoculars) screened at the Cannes gPLUS fEATURE ‘Antardrishti’ (Man with the Binoculars) was screened at the 69th Cannes Film Festival at Marche du film 2016. The film was officially selected for Jio Mami Mumbai Festival which will be held from coming 20th to 27th October. The film also got an official selection at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival which is to commence from 14th November.

“The Man with the Binoculars” is a tender and poignant slice-of-life debut film by Rima Das about love, desire, responsibilities, struggles, differences, loneliness, coming-ofage, introspection, realizations and the inner conflicts and angst of the chief protagonist.

The film is the story of Chaudhury, a retired geography teacher from a small village in Assam, whose life starts turning upside down when his son, who has come for a visit, gifts him a pair of binoculars.

Haanduk, an Assamese film, has been shortlisted for screening amongst the 11 best films at the 18th Jio Mami Mumbai International Film Festival, to be held from coming 20th to 27th October. The festival witnessed a participation of as many as 170 films, out of which 11 films had been shortlisted for the final screening.

Directed and produced by Jaicheng Jai Dohutia under the banner of Mayamara Productions, Haanduk is the only Assamese film which has made it to the list of top 11 films to be screened during the final round of the festival. “Haanduk” is a Moran word for an unused place or the dark corner of a house.

Heramoni, the mother of an untraced extremist, performed the last rites of her son Mukti even as she receives intimation that the outfit cannot confirm his death. Along with this, Biplob, a surrendered rebel from the outfit is unable to mingle with other surrendered rebels. He struggles to find his place in the society and has his own problems of existence. These two issues form the main theme of ‘Haanduk’.

Haanduk revolves around the relation of a

mother and a young reformed militant’s pain, hope, and struggle in the middle of destruction.

The key roles have been essayed by Bandoi Chetia, Bishal Anuraag, Nivedita Baurah and Jitu Moran among others. The film was shot mostly in Kakopathar, Digboi, Lido, Margherita and Tinsukia with a Cannon EOS 5D Mark-III by Chida Bora.

Sonar Boron Pakhi to be screened at international festivals

KALYAN KUMAR KALITA

Sonar Boron Pakhi, a biopic on the legendary singer Pratima Barua Pandey, directed by Bobby Sarma Barua of ‘Adamya’ fame, has been invited for screening at the Mumbai International Film Festival (starting 20th October) and the 15th Dhaka International Film Festival scheduled for January, 2017. The screenplay of Sonar Boron Pakhi has been penned by Jiten Sarma, Bobby Sarma Barua and Bhaskarjyoti Das. The camera work is by Abhijit Nandi, a graduate from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.

The three phases of Pratima Barua Pandey’s life have been portrayed by Arati Barua, Pranami Bora and child artiste Sushmita Roy. The cast is supported by Pranjal Saikia among others.

Significantly, the film has been made in the Rajbongshi language, supervised by Nilimoy Pradhani. It is scheduled for a commercial release before Rongali Bihu next year.

22

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Citypedia Horoscope of the week

Gemini

You might have to shell out extra money due to some unexpected expense coming up. A partner might behave in a very odd manner.

Be willing to listen first before evaluating. Financially it will be an extremely beneficial week. Don’t put off the important tasks in hand.

Some of you may go overseas, and initiate the new beginning in their career. Health will remain generally fine baring few minor ailments like headache, cough or cold. You must exercise your patience in certain delicate and emotional matters.

New contacts or ideas may impress, urging a review. Prepare for a test of confidence at home, bringing uncertainty or confusion. This week, your stars focus on simple work transactions. There’ll be furtive incidents in the air. Try to find out happening behind the scenes.

A partner or close associate will be under pressure from extended duty. But you may feel like retreating from the social bustle. Your proficient demands will clash with your requirements. Put your energy cheerfully into your health and fitness.

Sudden and unexpected problems might erupt at end of the week thus spoiling your peace of mind. Try not to be stressful. Speculation and new investments should be controlled. Unemployed natives may have good chance of clearing all the interviews and getting good job. Therefore, be confidant and put your sincere efforts, success would be yours whatever you will undertake. Your relations with your life partner would be much better than ever. Share inner emotions and feelings without any hesitation.

Your relationship may be slightly upset with family members and friends. You may buy new property or vehicle during this week. Habitually, you will spend extravagantly over household things. It is good week for students and those preparing for any sort of exams.

Your relatives will ditch you causing loss of wealth. Overall, this week is going to produce some troubles at work place. Troubles in personal life are also foreseen. There would be lack of concentration and mental peace. There are lots of chances you may get injured during this week so be careful while driving or even while walking on road.

New contacts or ideas may impress, urging a review. Prepare for a test of confidence at home, bringing uncertainty or confusion. This week, your stars focus on simple work transactions. There’ll be furtive incidents in the air. Try to find out happening behind the scenes.

A partner or close associate will be under pressure from extended duty. You might focus on ways to earn money in or from your home.

But you may feel like retreating from the social bustle. Your proficient demands will clash with your requirements.

In matters of health there is an exciting chance to begin a new exercise and fitness routine. Socially and romantically, this could be a terrific week. You may travel over this week. Guests from afar may visit you, and you may have a really sweet time entertaining them. Possibly, this week, you may change your investments or make new contractual arrangements. Career wise, you seem to be making progress.Atmosphere at work place will be normal and without much change.

Cancer

Libra

Demonstrate confidence in your great ideas and let them exude positive impacts on others. This week is good time for making new contacts as your future will greatly depend on these. Job opportunities, salary increment, promotions are in store this week. Celebrations with your family and friends will bring great enjoyment. Just beware from splurging or you’ll feel pinch for many weeks. Health will be well keeping you in good spirits mentally as well as physically.

Leo

Sagittarius

Scorpio People in job will have a certain sense of dissatisfaction and look for new opportunities elsewhere. Just remain patient as things will improve soon. Curb your desire to spend recklessly or your budget may go haywire. A friend of yours may come forward to seek your help.

Friends will be supportive and helpful this week. Your health might require your attention during the first half of the week. Talking idealistically, blend your good deeds with personal pleasure that you wish and want. You are very enthusiastic to take up a fruitful trip.

Aquarius

Capricorn You will be popular with everybody. Your will be able to overcome your enemies. A gift or inheritance money will come your way. You will also do well in your field of interest. Beware of speculation as it can prove damaging for you. You are likely to be involved in noble deeds. Some auspicious ceremony in your family is on the anvil.

Your income will increase . Your proficiency will let you handle even difficult situation. There will be unseen expanses pinching your pocket. Beware of speculation as it can prove damaging for you.

Virgo

Beware of an unfriendly person who is very inventive. He or she might interfere in a work matter concerning you straightforwardly.

Students will achieve laurels in sports, games and competitions.

Do not lose temper over trivial matters. Be patient with everyone around. Do not jump to conclusions and make guesses. The responsibility of an important assignment might come your way. Health will remain good for most part this week. Those who had been suffering from fever or headaches will get relief.

Relax and enjoy activities happening around you. Initial days of week will keep you happy and contented with everything happening around you. Good news is on the anvil that will pep up your week.

Your family will render cooperation letting you focus on opportunity elsewhere. Your financial position will remain satisfactory but will not match up luxuries that you are eyeing. Review and revise your investment plans to make most of the economic situation. Look after your health, taking great care of cleanliness around you.

You may suffer a short term financial failure. Success will only come through excessive efforts. There are losses in business and fall in professional status. Domestic strife will also prevails, but get resolved soon. Due to your intelligence and hard work, you will earn handsome. Higher authorities will grant you favors. You will acquire name and fame and fulfill your desires. In examinations students will meet success and enjoy higher studies. Generally you will have comfort and remain calm.

GUWAHATI

EMERGENCY NUMBERS RADIO TAXI SERVICES Prime Cabs 0361- 2222233 Green Cabs 0361-7151515 My Taxi 0361-2228888 Cherry Cabs 8876222288

24-HOUR PHARMACIES Arya Hospital, Ulubari (2606888, 2606665) D Modern Medicos, Maligaon (9864366763) Candid 24x7, Panbazar (2604422) DEAD BODY CARRYING VAN GLP Social Circle 2737373, 9435047046 Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251 GGUMTA 98640-16740 OTHERS Fire Emergency 101 State Zoo 2201363 GMC Carcass Pickup 9435190720, 9864047222 LPG Emergency/Leakage 2385209, 2541118, LPG Booking (ivr System) 7670024365 Child line Guwahati 1098

ELECTRICITY SUPPLY Call Centre – 9678005171

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

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 Free Ambulance to GNRC Hospitals Toll Free: 1800-345-0011

Pisces

police station

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About Sudoko

A Sudoku puzzle consists of 81 cells which are divided into nine columns, rows and regions. The task is now to place the numbers from 1 to 9 into the empty cells in such a way that in every row, column and 3×3 region each number appears only once.         

   

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

Marwari Hospital & Research Centre 0361-2602738/39 Marwari Maternity Hospital 0361-2541202/01 Nemcare Hospital 0361-2528587, 2455906, 2457344 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

GMC helpline number for garbage collection

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Comissioner of Police: 0361-2540278 DCP, Traffic: 0361-2731847 DCP, (Central): 94350-49599 DCP, (East): - 94350-83103 DCP, (West): - 94350-27744 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

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) International Hospital 0361-7135005 Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (2541477, 2543998)

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last week solution

Taurus

Aries

Hospital

TB Hospital (2540193) Wintrobe Hospital 0361-2519860, 98647-77986 IHR-Institute of Human Reproduction 0361-2482619, 098641-03333 Dispur Hospital Reception 97070 20370 82539 99124 361-2235759 (Landline No. / Fax) Hayat Hospital 8011003110 GNRC Hospital 1800-345-0022 (Toll Free) GNRC Ambulance 1800-345-0011 (Toll Free)

Vigilance and anti corruption toll free number

1800-345-3767

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

23

Events

Bismil at Underdoggs

G Plus News

Underdoggs played host to Bismil, a multi genre Hindi band, based out of New Delhi, India. Guwahati was treated to a great Friday evening with these guys.

The Band and its members are dedicated towards the idea of perfect entertainment and that is what Guwahati got!

7

Days

Events

Oct 22nd to Oct 29th

22nd Oct, Tera Mayaa

24th Oct 2016 at Tirtha Nath Sarma Bhawan, Chandmari

Oct 23 2016 at 02:00 pm Shanghai Salsa

DJ Girish at TerraMayaa Playing a wide variety of genres Girish has been on top of his profession and the 13 year long residency of one of the most happening clubs of Kolkata is proof of his consistency and musical attributes. He spun some mad tunes at Guwahati last week at TerraMayaa and brought the house down!

Oct 25 2016 at 09:00 pm Maniram Dewan Trade Center

Club XS !! 22nd Oct !!

Guwahati

29th Oct, Terra Mayaa

Oct 25 2016 at 09:00 pm Maniram Dewan Trade Center

24

G PLUS OCT 22- OCT 28, 2016

Catching Up Most shared story of the week

Karabi Sarma

New

Chic on the block

About Me

626 100 Assam likely to get a United Nations University – Guwahati to be the next best destination for education. The United Nations University (UNU) is a global think tank and postgraduate teaching organization headquartered in Japan. The establishment of the university will make this only the second UN Institute in the world after the first in Tokyo. The UN has decided to set up the university either in Guwahati or Shillong, and the expected date of the university being declared open is 2018 facebook.com/guwahatiplus

Guwahati

twitter.com/guwahatiplus

GYAN

Did you know?

Vivekananda Sporting Club

Founded in 1964 by eight to ten concerned locals of the Colony Bazar area the club, on this date, has over 150 members. The club indulges in several social activities like construction of lanes and providing support in other developmental activities. The members took the initiative of installing a bore by collecting funds from the local residents and had constructed roads in several nooks and corners of the area. The club had also provided donation to the poor and needy on several occasions. A major attraction of the club is the Kali Puja celebration. Marking this year’s celebration which is the club’s 52nd year of Kali Puja, the Puja pandal this year will represent the Bandarban Buddist temple of Bangladesh. As part of the celebrations and social activities, the club will distribute more than 500 blankets and school bags to needy children.

Hey there! I am Karabi Sarma.

Born and brought up Guwahati, I am 23 years old and I’m currently a 4th Semester student of M.Com from Gauhati University. I have a positive attitude which is one of my major strengths and I must confess that I’m a total shopaholic.

Professionally I am an actress. I started my career in 2011, before which, I was a background dancer.

I struggled a lot to get to where I am, and I still have a long way to go.

I’m thankful to my family for being such an immense support in my pursuit of becoming an actress.

I my first feature film was Saya and being a part of that movie was an out of the world experience! I got two more films shortly after that – ‘Love in Bangkok’ and ‘Khawoi the Danger Zone.’ I’ve also worked in many television shows like Nixabda, Beharbari Outpost, Mon Paporir Hubakh, Dhoru Jibonor, Tathastu and in several other music albums.

I believe that nothing pays like hard work and dedication. If you have passion and talent in you, you just need to follow the right path and dreams will become a reality.

Coordinated by - Nisar Ahmed

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