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Dimapur, April 3: Naga Hoho president M. Vero today said the search for a political solution to insurgency in Nagaland should not be affected by the success or failure of efforts to unite warring factions.

Addressing a seminar here on ?Reconciliation, peace and unity?, the man who heads the apex organisation of Naga tribes said ?internal issues? must be dealt with separately to ensure that the pace of the ongoing political dialogue does not slacken.

Vero?s statement marks a departure from the popular view that the Naga peace process will remain a one-sided affair until the entire community...

GUWAHATI, April 3 — Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today informed that the Government of India was yet to take any concrete initiative to man the unguarded Indo-Bhutan border in the State to prevent infiltration of extremists from their camps in Himalayan kingdom. Talking to newsmen here this morning, Sri Gogoi said, “Although the State Government has been insisting on deployment of the BSF along the unmanned Indo-Bhutan border, the Centre has decided to deploy SSB personnel. However, no step has been taken so far to deploy even the SSB along the international border through which ULFA and NDFB...

GUWAHATI, April 3— The Assam Legislative Assembly today passed the Assam Value Added Tax Bill, 2003 amidst walk out by the Opposition members, who demanded that the Bill should be sent to the Select Committee of the House for a thorough discussion on all the clauses.

As soon as the VAT Bill came for discussion in the House today, Leader of the Opposition Brindaban Goswami said that the Bill, in its present form, has some lacunae and those should be removed. He requested the Government to send the Bill to the Select Committee of the House for proper discussion on all the clauses. He said that...

GUWAHATI, April 3 — The Assam Electricity Bill, 2003 introduced in the State Assembly by the Power Minister on March 31 last, has stunned the power engineers here. The Bill seeks to restructure the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) with a view of creating independent corporate entities in the fields of generation, transmission and distribution.

The Power Minister, while introducing the Bill, said that the principal objective of the Bill was to provide universal access to electricity at competitive and affordable prices within a defined time frame. But, power engineers here maintain that...

GUWAHATI, April 3 – The Assam Legislative Assembly today passed the Bodoland Autonomous Council (Repeal) Bill, 2003 to pave the way for creation of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) under the Provisions of amended Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

Participating in the discussion on the Bill, Zoii Nath Sarma (AGP) asked the Government to clarify as to who would monitor the development of the area till the BTC is formed. Dilip Kumar Saikia (AGP) said that the Government should take steps to ensure proper utilisation of the funds released to the BAC till the BTC is formed.

Pramila...