AIZAWL, July 22: The Centre has okayed the setting up of four hydel projects in Mizoram, the state deputy chief minister Lalhmingthanga said on Wednesday. Replying to a question in the House, Lalhmingthanga, who also holds the power portfolio, said the cost of one of these projects, the 75-MW Bairabi hydel project, was being assessed. The estimated costs of other three projects are Rs 448.9 cr for the 60 MW Tuirial hydro-electric project, Rs 85.81 cr for the 12 MW Serlui 'B' hydel project and Rs 462.09 cr for the Tuivai hydel project (210 MW), he said. The minister said a Mumbai-based company...

AIZAWL, July 22: Over 32,000 families in Mizoram were identified as living below poverty line, the state food and civil supplies minister Aichhinga said on Wednesday. Altogether 2,455 families of the 32,555 families were living in the state capital alone, he told the House in a written reply. The families living below poverty line would be given ration through the public distribution system (PDS) at half the retail price, he said.

AGARTALA, July 23: The ruling Left Front in Tripura has landed in a crisis following an assault on an RSP minister allegedly by CPI(M) activists. Both the CPI(M) and its alliance partners are locked in a rift over the incident which has jolted the state's political circles. The state's food minister and senior RSP leader Gopal Das was assaulted on Wednesday, the last day of the three-tier panchayat polls at a polling centre in South Tripura district.

PHUENTSHOLING, July 23: The Bhutan government has served an ultimatum on the ULFA and Bodo terrorists to leave the country or face eviction. Meanwhile, the government has decided to enforce a cut-off in supplies to the terrorists in camps. The terrorists sneaked into the dense forests in Bhutan on the Bhutan-India border in 1992 and established as many as 21 camps between Kalikhola and Daifam. The spurt in their activities in Bhutan was noticed following the pressure on the ULFA terrorists in Bangladesh by the Bangladesh government a few years ago. The home minister of Bhutan Thinley Gyamtsho...

KOHIMA, July 22- The Nagaland unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was formally constituted on Wednesday with former Assembly Speaker KV Keditsu as president and former Congress leader K Zhimomi as general secretary. The state executive committee of the NCP was formed after the first meeting, Zhimomi, who is spokesman of the state unit, said. The meeting resolved to field candidates in the region in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.