GUWAHATI, February 8: Noted seismologist Arun Bapat has said that though it might not be possible to stop construction of high rise buildings in Guwahati city in view of the threat of a big earthquake striking Assam, an interim stay could be enforced. In an interview with The Assam Tribune, Sir Bapat suggested that during the stay period, the builders must make suitable amendments to the designs so that the structures are able to withstand seismic force. For this purpose, suitable legal measure can be taken by the State Government. The urban authorities, after thoroughly checking the extra...

GUWAHATI, February 8: The President of Samajwadi Party and former Defence Minister of the country, Mulayam Singh Yadav today said his party was open to form alliance with the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) if the latter maintained equal distance from the BJP and Congress. The heavy-weight of Uttar Pradesh politics, Yadav said Samajwadi Party which is trying to consolidate its base in Assam, was interested in forging alliance with anti-BJP and anti-Congress forces in the State. The former Defence Minister who is here to attend the two-day convention of the State unit of the party, criticised...

AGARTALA, February 8: The sixth Census in Tripura is slated to begin from tomorrow. Authorities have identified a "peculiar tendency" among people in filing incorrect replies to queries on age. Apart from the need to enrol in the voters' list, people have a "general tendency to furnish wrong information about age to square off age limits on round figures". Pointing out this tendency in "single year age returns" (determining the number of people in a particular age group in a year) of the 1991 census, director, census operation, Krishnadhan Nath, said, "In the enumeration of the 1991 Census...

IMPHAL, February 8: A Border Security Force jawan was killed while another seriously injured when suspected underground activists ambushed a road opening foot patrol at Kumbi Pukhri Mapal in Churachandpur district this morning. According to official sources, the incident occurred when a column of 32nd BSF posted at Churachandpur was conducting their routine ROP this morning around 7 am. The well-armed ultras waylaid the patrol and fired from various directions, taking over in the nearby drains and thick bushes, when the convoy was nearing Kumbi Pukhri. The BSF jawans returned the fire and the...

AGARTALA, February 8: The NLFT was forced to release the Jamatiya hostages last night with more tribal groups joining the revolt against the ultras. The insurgents freed 21 Jamatiya activists who were earlier kidnapped from Chhai Maroa hill village under Killa police station in South district's Udaipur sub-division. Vikram Bahadur Jamatiya and Haricharan Jamatiya, both chiefs of the community's apex social unit in a news conference at the Agartala Press Club yesterday announced that the Jamatiya hill tribesmen were ready for an "all out resistance against the NLFT excess in the state's hill...