Development

GUWAHATI, July 26 ? As many as 1597 persons including more than eight hundred militants were killed in the State in the last three years. This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Home, Rockybul Hussain, in reply to a question by Jagadish Bhuyan (AGP) in the State Assembly today. The Minister said that during the period from June, 2001 to June this year, 857 persons were killed by police and security forces, while, 713 persons were killed by insurgents and 27 were killed by dacoits. During this period, 3818 cases of killing, 4499 cases of kidnapping, 2490 cases of rape, 14890 cases of...

NEW DELHI, July 26 ? While the Congress-ruled State Government showed extra alertness over Ministry of Home Affairs? (MHA) statement on presence of 50 lakh illegal immigrants, since withdrawn, an interim report pertaining to implementation of Assam Accord is gathering dust, as Assam Government is yet to finalise its stand on the definition of Assamese people.

Interestingly like its statement on estimates of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, this revelation too came from the Ministry of Home Affairs. In a statement tabled in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs, S. Reghupathy in reply...

GUWAHATI, July 26 ? Though the water levels of the major rivers are receding, the worst affected districts are still reeling under floodwaters and the some portions of the National Highway-37 in Morigaon district are still submerged. The death toll in the current wave of floods has gone up to 144. According to the flood bulletin issued by the State Government here this evening, all the rivers are flowing above danger level in Morigaon district and almost all the roads are still under floodwaters. The death toll in the tragic boat capsize has gone up to 18. In Nagaon district, a large number of...

ITANAGAR, July 25 ? A 12-member Central team headed by Joint Secretary of the home department K Jain will arrive here next week to assess the damage caused by the current floods in Arunachal Pradesh, reports PTI.

State?s Relief Commissioner M K Parida told PTI that the team comprising senior officers of different Central ministries would tour the flood-affected districts of the state for a week.

Meanwhile, the flood situation in the state has improved following let-up in rainfall for the last three days. However, six of the seven flood-affected districts still remained cut off and there was...

TURA, July 24 ? There is jubiliation in all the three districts of Garo Hills following the six month-long ceasefire agreement signed between the top leadership of the banned ANVC and the representatives of the Central and State Governments in New Delhi on Friday afternoon. Many were taken by surprise over the sudden outcome of the peace parlays.

The Garo Baptist Convention (GBC) which was instrumental in facilitating the talks, have taken the ceasefire agreement with cautious optimism. Welcoming the ceasefire, GBC president Grover R Marak said that he was happy to see it happen. He believes...

NAZIRA, July 25 ? ?We want to push up production of crude from 1.5 million tonnes to 2 million tonnes per annum in Assam, and we also want to jack up gas production from 1.2 MMSCMD (million metric standard cubic metres per day) to 1.4 MMSCMD? said SC Upadhyay, the Nazira-based executive director of ONGC. He said that the ONGC, which has been operational in Assam for the last 45 years, now wants to augment production and productivity by inculcating the latest that technology has to offer. The price for all this: A whopping Rs 1000 crore.

Speaking to The Assam Tribune, Upadhyay allayed fears of...

UDALGURI, July 25 ? Finally, after much speculation, the full-fledged body of the All Bodo Peace Forum (ABPF) was recently formed at Harimubhawan here in the presence of more than 200 representatives from Sonitpur, Darrang, Kamrup, Nalbari, Kokrajhar and Shillong who were looking forward to ?a good hope? for the banned outfit organisation ? the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB). The meeting chaired by J Basumatary resolved to create a congenial atmosphere needed for the preparations to bring the Bodo ultra outfit to the negotiation table.

After a broad consensus, the meeting formed...

GUWAHATI, July 25 ? The six-month ceasefire agreement between the Garo militant outfit Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) and the Centre could prove to be handy for the security forces in Assam fighting the ULFA and the NDFB. Security sources here said that the end of hostilities with the outfit could effectively put an end to the movement of NDFB and ULFA cadres from Bangladesh to Assam through the Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya.

The high-level sources, while refusing to be identified, said that there is an air of optimism in the security apparatus in Assam following the ceasefire...

GUWAHATI, July 25 ? Though the water levels of the major rivers are receding, the overall flood situation still remains grim and the road communication to all the flood-affected areas remains cut off. The death toll in the current wave of floods has increased to 136.

According to the flood bulletin issued by the State Government this evening, more than 1.17 crore people of the State have been affected by the current wave of floods and more than 15.87 lakh affected people are still taking shelter in 1557 relief camps.

Though the water levels of all the major rivers in Morigaon district are...

SHILLONG, July 24 ? Meghalaya Chief Minister, D D Lapang has expressed happiness over the agreement with the ANVC and said no parallel move was on with another underground outfit of the state ? Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC).

?Don?t mix up the two,? he said adding ?we are dealing with an open mind...HNLC has surrendered in a phased manner and many of them have been rehabilitated.?

Queried if the Garo Baptist Church, a church body which was earlier appointed by his government to bring the ANVC to the negotiating table, was intimated about Friday?s development, Lapang said :...