Let down by chopper

Twenty-two passengers travelling by the Skyone Airways helicopter service from Naharlagun to Guwahati on Tuesday were stranded at the helipad for over four hours, causing many to miss their connecting flights from Guwahati, says a report in the Itanagar-based Arunachal Times.

The Skyone helicopter VTJJA was supposed to take off from Naharlagun helipad at around 8.30 am. However, officials of the civil aviation later informed that due to bad weather, the chopper would not fly and asked passengers to wait. Again at around 10 am, the same information was received and passengers were asked to wait for another 40 minutes.

“At around 12.10 pm, passengers were asked to board the flight and all the 22 passengers boarded. The helicopter engine also started but after two minutes, the pilot informed that the helicopter has developed a technical defect and will take around 30 minutes to repair. However, the authorities could not repair the chopper on time and it was replaced with another,” said a passenger.

Irked by the poor management of the Skyone helicopter service, some of the passengers cancelled their tickets and went back.

One passenger Tadar Akap said, “The officials posted in the helipad are not of any help and hardly care about issues concerning passengers. The government should look into it.”

Water tanks distributed

Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya held a security review meeting and also distributed subsidised 3,000 litres water tanks to 20 beneficiaries for rain water harvesting, at Raj Bhavan, Kohima, says a report in the Dimapur-based Nagaland Post.

A press release from Raj Bhavan said that the security review meeting was held with senior officers where the governor was briefed on the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

At the water tank distribution programme, Acharya called upon the beneficiaries to encourage others to harvest rain water for their benefit. Stating that hill stations face water shortage during the dry season, he encouraged people to collect water during the rainy seasons. The governor stated that rainwater harvesting was the need of the hour and making the switch to an eco-friendly rainwater harvesting system was neither complicated nor time consuming and would result in a wide range of benefits for homes and businesses.

The beneficiaries of the 3,000 litre water tanks to promote water harvesting, an initiative of the governor, were selected at Raj Bhavan, Kohima. The beneficiaries were given the water storage tanks at a subsidised rate of 59 percent.

Conference on Gandhi

On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the International Centre for Gandhian Studies is organising an international conference on “Mahatma Gandhi’s Vision and Contemporary Political Leadership in North East India” on 5 and 6 October at the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya, a press release said.

The organisers have called for papers from scholars and individuals interested in the conference, which will see participation from eminent Gandhain scholars and academicians, according to a report in the Guwahati-based Assam Tribune. Research scholars, college teachers and interested persons are invited to come and participate in the deliberations and present papers on themes (not limited to) — Peace and Conflict, Rural Economy, Cooperative Federalism, Social Cohesion, Cattle Protection, Industrialisation, Infrastructure Development, Political Ideology, Religion and Society, Gender Issues in Society, Law and Justice, Cultural Nationalism, Media and Social Change, Ethics and Morality, Decolonisation, Hind Swaraj, from Swaraj to Suraj. The abstract of papers can be emailed to icgsconf2018@gmail.com before 15 August. ICGS is a Gandhian centre for peace and conflict resolution under USTM.