Development

SHILLONG, July 16 ? Chairman of North Eastern Council (NEC) Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh today reviewed the status of Meghalaya?s Baljek airport, lying incomplete for nine years, and enquired about its operatability. Singh, who is also the Assam Governor, went to the incomplete airport in West Garo Hills district town on way to Guwahati and had a review session with the officials.

He found out the status and queried what type of aircraft could operate from there, Deputy Commissioner of the district, S Jagannathan, told PTI over phone. The work of the Baljek airport, the second one of Meghalaya...

IMPHAL, July 16 ? In the wake of large-scale protests over the killing of a woman allegedly by Assam Rifles personnel, Manipur Government has asked the Centre to ensure that central forces do not commit human rights violations in the State, an official statement has said. Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh informed an emergency meeting of the Cabinet that he had taken up the killing of Manorama Devi with Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and suggested ?appropriate affirmative action to restore public confidence?.

Singh also suggested to the Centre to issue appropriate directions to prevent...

GUWAHATI, July 16 ? Aromatic and medicinal plants in the North-East have tremendous potential to generate employment and income and efforts are on to commercialise their cultivation and use in the region reports PTI. The North-East Development Finance and Corporation Limited has started its own Research and Development Centre at Khetri in Assam?s Kamrup district to encourage unemployed youths of the region to take up their cultivation and ensure proper income generation.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has emphasised the importance of aromatic and medicinal plants in the economy of the State...

KOKRAJHAR, July 16 ? The commander in chief of Adivasi Cobra Military of Assam (ACMA), Kanhu Murmu and the chairman of this organisation Xabrias Khakha have demanded ST status to the Adivasi of Assam. Addressing the gathering at its ninth foundation day recently, both the leaders also demanded immediate rehabilitation to the riot-hit Adivasis of lower Assam, especially those affected in the Bodo-Adivasi violence in 1996-98.

At the same time, both the leaders also appealed to the cross-section of people to maintain peace and tranquility. They also appealed to the other militant outfits to...

IMPHAL, July 16 ? Indefinite curfew in force in Imphal and Greater Imphal areas was today extended to Thoubal and Bishenpur districts of Manipur even as more than 60 persons, protesting the killing of a woman allegedly by the Assam Rifles, were injured in police action, official sources. The sources said indefinite curfew was clamped from 4:00 pm in Thoubal and Bishenpur sub-divisions, following widespread protest against the killing of 30-year-old Manorama Devi. The police fired teargas shells and rubber bullets after lathi-charges failed to disperse the protestors at Kongba, Khurai...

GUWAHATI, July 16 ? Fear has gripped the city dwellers living in the hilly areas following Thursday night?s landslides in which 13 people were killed and several more injured. Many people have abandoned their houses on the hills and are now taking shelter in alternative accommodations including the ten relief camps set up by the district administration. Around 1,500 people have already taken refuge at the relief camps. Apart from those whose houses have been destroyed by landslides, the camp inmates also include a number of persons who have left their houses, fearing another occurrence of...

GUWAHATI, July 16 ? The All Assam Students? Union (AASU) today demanded that Assam should be allowed to manage its resources like mineral oil and tea to mobilise the fund for solution of its flood problem. It also demanded that foreign flood experts should be engaged to study the State?s flood problem and to evolve a solution to the problem within a specified period. It warned that the people of Assam were not prepared to accept any Central Government attempt to equate the State?s flood problem with that of Bihar. Assam?s problem of flood is a unique one. It should be recognised as a national...

NEW DELHI, July 16 ? Responding to Assam Government?s SOS, the Centre today claimed to have come to its full rescue unveiling a series of measures undertaken to bail out the State Government. A team of four experts of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space armed with four INMARSAT satellites and eight Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) phones have been rushed to Guwahati to assist the State Government in establishing emergency communication links. The Union Government?s statement came after much criticism over its inaction on tackling the crisis in Assam and Bihar in the...

GUWAHATI, July 16 ? The overall flood situation remains grim even today in the State. Today was the twenty-third day of the second wave of the floods hitting the State. The current wave of floods has affected 88,26,851 people in 7,311 villages in the State?s 26 districts, said the official flood bulletin here this evening. The death toll has shot up to 49 today. Meanwhile, the Brahmaputra has posed a serious threat to the Palasbari-Chaygaon areas by eroding away about 300 metres of the Palasbari-Gumi dyke today. The Brahmaputra is flowing above the Danger Level (DL) at Dibrugarh (0.94 metres)...

New Delhi, July 15: Students who plan to come to the capital from the Northeast for higher education need no longer worry about finding affordable accommodation. The ministry for development of the northeastern region (Doner) has written to the Delhi government, seeking land to build hostels exclusively for students from the region.

Nearly 5,000 students from the eight northeastern states land up in Delhi every year for under-graduate, post-graduate and professional courses.

Doner minister P.R. Kyndiah said these new hostels would cater exclusively to students from the region, including Sikkim...