Guwahati, Dec. 5: Experts on road-building and maintenance are flipping through the pages of history for inspiration from the Ahom monarchs, who built Assam’s most durable roads and bridges. These experts, gathered here for the ongoing Indian Roads Congress, are of the view that the methods employed by the erstwhile Ahom rulers to maintain the road network of that era were worthy of being adopted even today. “Coupled with modern technology, the system of old can make roads easier to maintain and strong enough to withstand the ravages of time,” engineer B.M. Goswami said in his presentation.

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Imphal, Jan. 5: Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and some of his ministerial colleagues today visited the hub of Manipur’s Naga community, Senapati district, in a bid to smoothen feathers ruffled by his government’s refusal to withdraw the cases pending against NSCN (I-M) leader Thuingaleng Muivah. The daylong tour would have been interpreted as routine, but for the chief minister’s stand, which has antagonised the Naga community.

Trying his best to convince the Nagas that the government was not prejudiced against them, Ibobi Singh announced a slew of welfare schemes for the community...

Gangtok, Jan. 5: Sikkim police’s prize catch Dhiren Boro has revealed that the National Democratic Front of Borloland (NDFB) was keen on talks with the Indian government. Police sources said Boro, the NDFB vice-president who was arrested from his hideout here on new year’s day, had disclosed during questioning that the outfit was looking for a mediator for opening a dialogue with the Tarun Gogoi government in Assam and the Centre.

The Bodo top gun was arrested along with his wife Pratima Boro and two associates, Babloo Sargari and Praveen Boro, at a rented flat in the flour mill area of Tadong...

Kohima/Phek, Jan. 5: A 10-member NSCN (I-M) delegation is headed for New Delhi to assist their leaders, Isak Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, in the next round of negotiations with the Centre. The delegation comprises kilonsers (ministers) and members of the outfit’s steering committee and ceasefire monitoring cell. The team will be led by A.Z . Jami. The convener of the NSCN (I-M)’s ceasefire monitoring cell, Pungthing Shimrang, and its principal secretary, Samson Jajo, are already in New Delhi.

With expectations of a breakthrough rising with each passing day, Nagaland chief minister S.C...

Dhekial (Golaghat), Jan. 5: Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Brindaban Goswami and his predecessor, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, today put up a rare show of unity at the launch of a mission to regain the party’s “lost touch”. Goswami and Mahanta sat next to each other on the dais during the party’s annual convention here, setting at rest speculation about a showdown between AGP factions owing allegiance to the two leaders.

Both leaders hit out at an unnamed faction, saying it was trying to cause a rift in the AGP. “An anti-party lobby has become very active, trying to divide party workers. This...