Picture used for representational purpose only
JORHAT: Assam health and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the government is planning to increase the number of MBBS seats up to 1,000 in the state by this year.
Sarma, who laid the foundation stone of a flyover on Kamarbandha Ali near Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, said, “We will increase the total number of MBBS seats in Assam up to 1,000 this year. We will start medical colleges at Diphu and Lakhimpur soon. This was my commitment to the people of the state in 2006, when I took over the charge as the health minister in the state for the first time. I am happy that my commitment is about to be fulfilled by this year.”
Tourists take jeep rides inside Kaziranga National Park on Friday
GUWAHATI: Over 64,000 people have visited the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, home to the great one-horned rhinoceros, since it was reopened for tourists on October 21.
The park, which is also a Unesco World Heritage Site, usually remains closed between June and September because of the annual floods and reopens in November. However, tourism here suffered the double blow of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests and the novel coronavirus.
Kaziranga field director, P Sivakumar, said as many as 64,100 tourists visited the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve since October 21, 2020, while the revenue collected during the 70-day period was Rs 127.32 lakh. In 2018-19, over 47,10,971 domestic tourists and 25,739 foreign tourists had visited the park. The park director said the flow of home tourists in December was better than last season, but tourists from other states and abroad were very few.
Students attend a class in Guwahati on Friday
GUWAHATI: After a gap of 10 months, lower primary classes in Assam’s schools finally resumed on Friday following Covid-19 protocols.
As per the SOP of the state education department to hold offline classes for students of classes 1 to 5 every alternate day, classes were held for students of standards 4 and 5 on the first day of the new year. While formal classes for students of 4 and 5 will be conducted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, classes for standards 1, 2 and 3 will be conducted on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. However, students below the age of five years cannot attend school.