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GUWAHATI, May 31: DONER and Tribal Affairs Minister PR Kyndiah today said that his Ministry would ensure that funds were released to the north-eastern States timely and the schemes completed on schedule. Kyndiah gave this assurance when he called on Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi at the latter’s residence here.

Gogoi apprised Kyndiah of the various problems plaguing the State like floods and erosion, burgering insurgency-related expenditure, modernization of the police force, erosion problem of Majuli, hundred per cent reservation of jobs for locals in fourth grades of Central Government...

GOLAGHAT, May 31 – The forests in Golaghat district are facing a virtual wipe out. The roads along which trees were beautifully lined now look much the worse for a malady of epidemic proportions – timber smuggling. This practice has taken its toll on the entire area even if families live life to the fullest from profits earned through this clandestine trade.

In Golaghat district, till a couple of years ago, huge trees, planted in the pre-independence time, would stand clustered nicely on both sides of the highways. Those trees would not only protect the highways from erosion but are...

GUWAHATI, May 31 – It seems that the State’s efforts at power reforms may go haywire as the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) authorities’ failure to include a sum of around Rs 1,900 crore for the terminal benefit of the Board employees. The Board had earlier formulated a proposal for introducing reforms in the power sector worth Rs 1,200 crore for the purpose of availing a loan worth 250 million dollars from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The latest stand-off in the ASEB following the agitational programme announced by the State wing of the National Coordination Committee of...

DIMAPUR, May 29 – In a startling revelation, damning indictment of the rot of State machinery, the Naga Council Dimapur virtually exposed the total break down of law and order in Nagaland by pointing at the failure by state authorities to check illegal collections by various organizations creating absolute havoc to the fragile local economy. The Council stating that the rampant mushrooming of illegal tax collectors on goods have triggered escalation in prices of essential commodities appealed the government, the NSCN-IM and all concerned to jointly take on such collection systems.

Representat...

GUWAHATI, May 31: The smaller tribes in the State have demanded a series of measures, including creation of autonomous regional councils to safeguard their rights and interests. In a recent memorandum under the banner of the Smaller Tribes Human Rights Organization, which was submitted to the President, they said, an immediate change in the name of Karbi Anglong district is necessary with a view to maintain its multi-tribe character. They suggested the district should be named Diphu.

In view of the frequent ethnic clashes in the hills district, they have demanded village police force as per...