GUWAHATI, July 10 ? The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has assured all possible help to the State Government to deal with the flood situation, while, an emergency meeting of the State Council of Ministers this evening decided to release an amount of Rs 50 crore for providing relief to the affected people. Official sources said that the Prime Minister today called up Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to discuss the situation arising out of the devastating floods in Assam and assured that the Centre would provide all possible help to the State.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister convened a meeting of...

Shillong, July 9: Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang today tried to cap the dissent simmering within his own party over the downsized Meghalaya Democratic Alliance ministry. The ministry now has just 12 members. Lapang spoke to the media soon after the swearing-in ceremony of 15 parliamentary secretaries.

The government also announced a list of 11 chairmen and co-chairmen, in which former chief minister F.A. Khonglam?s name figures prominently.

Outgoing home minister R.G. Lyngdoh and senior Congress legislators K.K. Dkhar and Tony Curtis Lyngdoh stayed away from the function. Lyngdoh has...

Silchar, July 9: Project Setuk, a unit of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), is set to add another feather to its cap by completing a double-lane national highway linking Karimganj town with Suterkandi village on the Indo-Bangla border in record time.

The highway is expected to boost border trade between the two countries.

The BRO unit had recently bagged the ISO 9001-2000 certificate for meeting the specified quality standard, while executing infrastructure schemes in the Northeast.

The new 14-km National Highway 151 will have a state-of-the-art double-lane metallic track.

Briefing...

Agartala, July 9: The Reang demand for an Autonomous District Council, which had triggered their largescale exodus from Mizoram in 1997, has been revived by Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) militants, who are fighting for the tribe?s autonomy in that state.

A decision to this effect was taken by BNLF leaders at a recent secret meeting in a forest hideout near the Assam-Tripura border.

Sources in the intelligence wing of the state police said the BNLF had slowed down its activities in Mizoram and North Tripura, hoping for a solution to the twin issues of repatriation of Reang refugees...

Imphal, July 9: The CPI is driving a hard bargain with Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh over portfolios, now that the battle over ministerial berths is over. Four days after Ibobi Singh pruned his ministry, the clamour for plum portfolios is on in full swing.

Portfolios are likely to be reallocated after Ibobi Singh, currently in New Delhi, returns to the state after meeting party chief Sonia Gandhi and attending the AICC conclave tomorrow.

The CPI, a partner of the Secular Progressive Front (SPF), has got two cabinet berths. It has made it very clear that the party is not going to...