AGARTALA, February 8: The National Liberation Front of Twipra released 21 volunteers of the Jamatya Hoda (community council) this morning following intensive combing operations by the police and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawans over the past week. The Jamatya Hoda (community council) had also taken a tough stand against the rebels. The hostages were freed near the remote Nitya Bazar area under Killa police station. The Hindu Jamatya tribals had been fighting the Church-backed NLFT under the leadership of Hoda Okra (head priest and community leader) Bikram Bahadur Jamatya over the past year...

GUWAHATI, February 7: The spectre of President's Rule looms large in Manipur as the constitutional crisis in the state has peaked with Chief Minister W. Nipamacha Singh and state Assembly Speaker Sapam Dhananjoy engaged in a bitter feud over supremacy. State governor Ved Marwah had recently asked the 60-member State Assembly to re-convene by February 6 to take up the no-confidence motion against the United Legislature Front government of Chief Minister Singh. Raj Bhawan sources in Imphal said that the Speaker has since informed the governor of his inability to convene the House. "The Speaker...

IMPHAL, February 7: Manipur Governor Ved Prakash Marwah today warned of 'serious consequences' if the state Assembly session was not reconvened immediately to discuss the pending no-confidence motion against the ruling United Legislative Front (ULF), Raj Bhawan sources said, reports PTI. Sources said the Governor wrote separate letters today to Chief Minister W Nipamacha Singh and Speaker S Dhananjoy that "the no confidence motion already admitted should be considered without any further delay." Earlier, the Governor had in separate letters asked the Speaker and the Chief Minister to sort out...

IMPHAL, February 7: The Governor of Manipur, Ved Marwah, in a letter that hardly conceals his impatience at the manner in which the Assembly affairs have been conducted, directed the Speaker S Dhananjoy Singh, to reconvene without any further ado with the warning that his failure to comply will attract "serious consequences". Today's message is the third in a series that the Governor dispatched to the Speaker, directing the latter to reconvene the House and dispose of the no-confidence motion against the council ministers that he admitted on the first day of the Winter session on December 1...

GUWAHATI, February 7: The State Fire Service Organisation which will have to play a major role in rescue operation besides fire fighting in the event of a mega earthquake rocking the State located in seismically high sensitive Northeast India, is not adequately equipped to face such a challenge. However, it will not be prudent to blame the department for the shortcoming. With its limited resources, it is simply not possible for the department to equip itself with sophisticated equipment to remain prepared for exigency in the wake of an earthquake which is predicted to rock the state any day...