Two Tripura youths sentenced to death for rape-murder
Agartala: A special district court in southern Tripura on Thursday pronounced death sentence for two youths accused of brutal gangrape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. Special Public Prosecutor Paltu Das said special district court in Udaipur (southern Tripura) judge AK Nath sentenced Kastarai Tripura (33) and Bhanjoy Tripura (35) to death by hanging. The convicts residents of Amarpur under Gomati district. Das told media that both the accused raped the girl when she was going to school on December 5, 2018 and killed her before burying her body in a nearby jungle. Soon after the verdict, the two facing death row were taken to the Gomati district jail amid tight security. (IANS)
Piped water supply to all Assam villages by 2024: Sonowal
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday said his government will provide piped water connections to all households in the state by 2024 under the Centre’s flagship scheme ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’. Piped water will be supplied to 20 lakh households, covering one crore people, in 9,000 villages of Assam in the first phase of the scheme which will be rolled out in the state in March, he said. Sonowal directed the PHE Department to adhere to the exhaustive roadmap for implementing the scheme. He also directed the Public Health Engineering Department to make plans for sustainable use of surface and underground water and rejuvenate water sources. (PTI)
Deficit Nagaland budget
Kohima: Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Thursday presented a Rs 2,358.81 crore deficit budget for fiscal 2020-21, proposing to impose a new tax on heavy machinery and equipment, besides raising duty on petroleum products. Rio, who also holds the finance portfolio, said the budget proposed to take up innovative steps in various sectors to meet the challenges of the changing times. The expenditure for the coming fiscal is estimated at Rs 21,049.87 crore and the gross receipt is projected at Rs 20,826.02 crore, the chief minister said. He said because of the negative opening balance of Rs 2,234.85 crore, the year 2020-21 is estimated to close with a negative balance of Rs 2,358.81 crore. (PTI)
Assam Budget session from March 2
GUWAHATI: The Budget session of the 14th Assam Legislative Assembly will take place from March 2 to March 27, 2020. On the opening day, the Assembly Speaker will announce the report of the Business Advisory Committee settling the business for the Budget Session of the Assembly, 2020. After the Question Hour on March 4, the Annual Financial Statement (Budget Estimates) of the government of Assam for the year 2020-2021 will be presented. On March 5 and 6, there will be general discussion on the budget after the Question Hour. From March 7 to 19, there will be recess for departmentally related standing committee (DRSC) meetings.