Development

Imphal, July 14: Manipur police are taking time off from combating militants to do some moral policing. As many as 20 couples were rounded up recently during raids on sleazy restaurants that rent out dimly lit cabins to people seeking privacy. One of the couples, Robin Singh of Imphal East and Romila Devi (not their real names) from Bishenpur, will tie the knot the next week.

Robin and Romila spent a night in the police lock-up along with the other couples before they were handed over to their parents and guardians. The wedding was hastily finalised to perhaps prevent the duo from eloping...

Dimapur, July 14: National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) militants have started dispersing from their two largest designated camps ? the council headquarters and the general headquarters ? following deployment of troops along key access routes to the camps. NSCN (I-M) sources described the move as a precautionary measure against of increasing military activities such as frisking and patrolling by the army and paramilitary Assam Rifles in and around the camps.

According to a senior secretary of the NSCN (I-M), rebels concentrated in the council headquarters, known as Camp Hebron...

Itanagar, July 14 (PTI): The three-day agitation by the Arunachal Pradesh unit of the Congress over governor V.C. Pande?s decision to dissolve the Assembly culminated in a 24-hour bandh that paralysed life in most parts of the state. Markets in the state capital were closed and private vehicles conspicuous by their absence. Sources in the transport office said four long-distance government buses left for their destinations under police escort. About 10 more buses plied within Itanagar.

No untoward incident was reported from any part of the state.

All banks and central government offices were...

Kohima, July 14: Chief minister Neiphiu Rio is pulling out all stops to prevent Nagaland from going the Arunachal Pradesh way. Yesterday, at a get-together of legislators of the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN), called by Rio ostensibly to ward off a coup, the new ministers tried to calm ruffled feathers.

Earlier this month, Rio picked 12 ministers out of the 35 for the new council of ministers adhering to the provisions of the 97th constitutional amendment.

Some senior ministers from alliance partners such as the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) were left out, as were a few from...

ITANAGAR, July 14 ? The Congress in Arunachal Pradesh has claimed that the ?caretaker? BJP-led UDF government was reduced to a minority due to some of the former MLAs of the coalition moving over to the Mukut Mithi-led Congress. Deputy CLP leader Tako Dabi asserted at a press conference here last night that the UDF government was reduced to a minority because 29 of its members had either joined the Congress or have given their consent to do so.

Besides the 22 members of the recently dissolved Assembly who had ?already joined? the party, seven, including four ministers, had consented to switch...

MAO GATE (Manipur), July 14 ? The Mao Students? Union has expressed its displeasure with the district administration and state government officials for their non-availability after the devastating landslide at Mao Gate, which has caused huge losses to the people in the area.

?The area continues to sink day and night and residents could gather only a handful of their materials as the sinking began to increase,? said the union in a release. Publicity secretary of the union L Daihrii said many people have been rendered homeless because of the severity of the landslide.

?Altogether 66 houses and...

AGARTALA, July 14 ? Chief Executive Member (CEM) of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), Hirendra Tripura resigned from his post on Tuesday following corruption charges against him. Sources in his Nationalist Socialist Party of Tripura (NSPT) said Tripura submitted his resignation to the chairman of the Council, Shanti Ranjan Reang who forwarded it to Governor DN Sahaya.

On July 5, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said the State Government initiated a CID inquiry against him in connection with his involvement with a job racket in an NGO.

Sarkar said the CID would also...

GUWAHATI, July 14 ? The Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) proposed to procure 78 per cent of its requirement from outside agencies in 2003-04. In the year it projected sale of 2,115 million units (MU) of power. In 2004-05 also it proposed to procure a similar percentage of power from outside sources.

The peak load hour demand of power in the State is 650 mega watt (MW) during summer season and 590 MW during winter season, while the off-peak hour demand of power in the State is 430 MW during the summer and 390 MW in the winter. The Board stated in its petition for rationalisation of tariff...

NEW DELHI, July 14 ? In an about turn, the Centre has claimed that an estimated 1.20 crore illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were living in the country including 50,000 in Assam. The Ministry of Home Affairs? latest estimate comes a week after Centre disclosed that some 26,000 foreign nationals were living illegally in the country. The figures given today were tallied with the estimate given by the previous Government in the report of the Group of Minister on Internal security. In the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State, Sriprakash Jaiswal disclosed that as on 2001, a high number of estimated 59...

Shillong, July 13: Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang is in for some serious trouble with the United Democratic Party (UDP) thinking of pulling out from the Congress-led coalition. The UDP, the second largest partner in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), has openly expressed its dissatisfaction at the way the chief minister downsized his ministry to 12 from 41 ministers. Earlier, Congress MLAs, including outgoing home minister R.G. Lyngdoh, had also contested Lapang?s decision.

The inclusion of some first timers in place of experienced and seasoned politicians has been severely...