Shillong, July 12: The Nationalist Congress Party received a shot in the arm when all the 11 members of the Meghalaya Congress Legislature Party today formally merged with it. Announcing the merger, the NCP general secretary, PA Sangma, told a press conference here after the first-ever convention of the Meghalaya unit that Robert Kharshiing has been unanimously selected the president of the State unit. The other members will be selected shortly after consulting the district unit, he said claiming that many more former MLAs and district Congress committee members would join the NCP within a...

Agartala, July 12: Maximum alert has been sounded in Tripura to deter Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (IS) agents and insurgents being trained in Bangladesh from entering the state through the porous border, according to the director-general of police (DGP) K T D Singh. Singh said that Tripura police suspected the hand of ISI and Bangladesh outfit Harkat-ul-Zihad in using landmines for the first time in an ambush by militants at Takumbari in South Tripura on July 10. Six persons, including five Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawans, were killed in the ambush. The DGP, who visited the spot...

Agartala, July 12: Ten militants of the Tripura Tribal Youth Force (TTYF) laid down arms before Assam Rifles personnel at Ambassa on Saturday, Assam Rifles sources said on Sunday. The militants led by its self-styled 'zonal commander' Gajendra Tripura surrendered their guns before the Assam Rifles camp in Dhalai district.

Guwahati, July 11: The Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) has allegedly signed the Lease, Rehabilitation, Operation and Transfer (LROT) agreement on the Bongaigaon Thermal Power Station (BTPS) with the US-based Ogden Energy Incorporate, blocking all ways for preventing the privatisation of BTPS, even as an impression has been given by the State Government that efforts are on to find out a judicious solution to the issue of the privatisation of this public sector coal-based power station. The state government has also been holding parleys with the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) and the Joint...

Golaghat, July 11: The forest resources in the state have dwindled during 1994-1999 with valuable forest products, mainly the trees of rare varieties such as, titasopa, lali, bonsom, gamari, gandkoroi etc, felled down illegally by the miscreants who have not only encroached upon the forest lands but also destroyed the forest products. The government enforced laws and several regulations against the felling of trees in the reserve forest areas, but the forest department concerned has been doing nothing against the encroachers and as such as the miscreants have been indulging in illegal timber...