GUWAHATI, May 16 ? Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today stated that the ongoing eviction drive by the State Forest department would continue till all forest areas including wildlife sanctuaries and national parks were cleared of encroachers. Talking to this newspaper, Sri Gogoi said the State government was bound by the Supreme Court directive to purge forest areas of encroachers and could not stop the eviction drive despite the resistance from encroachers or the criticism from different quarters. When his attention was drawn to the incidents where a couple of ruling party MLAs tried to interfere...

Imphal, May 16: Justice H Kaminikumar Singh of the Gauhati High Court, Imphal bench in an interim order today stayed the state government order which constituted the Upendra Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the arrest and death of Thingujam Dhirendra Singh. The chief secretary of Manipur issued the order on April 9 last constituting the commission. The High Court passed the interim order following a petition filed by jointly by the secretary, ministry of defence, IG Assam Rifles (N), commander 9 sector AR and CO 7 AR. The petitioner challenged the order of the state government on the ground...

DIMAPUR, May 13 ? By arresting five NSCN-IM activists, including a female while they were extorting money from businessmen of the state capital, Kohima Police have not only got a breakthrough into the extortion racket but also found vital clues of vehicle lifting incidents, which have become the reason for sleepless nights for many vehicle owners. According to Superintendent of Police, Kohima I Toshitsungba Aier, police receovered a 9 mm Taiwan make pistol with 6 rounds, 29 counterfoils of demand notes/ receipts of the Angami region of GPRN besides few fake number plates (NL 10 1061, NL 01C...

GUWAHATI, May 15 ? The fate of over 16,000 employees of the Assam Tea Corporation (ATC) hangs in balance as it has incurred huge losses. The situation of the corporation has reached such a magnitude that the authorities are yet to clear the salaries of the employees for the last several months. The ATC was set up with 14 tea gardens scattered over six districts ? Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Sonitpur and Karimganj, with an eye on boosting the tea sector and providing employment to the youths of the State. But now, most of the gardens of the ATC are in dire straits due to political...

NEW DELHI, May 15 ? The contentious gas supply agreement between the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has been clinched, thereby clearing a major hurdle in the implementation of the mega gas cracker project in Assam. The resolution of the dispute between the ONGC and the RIL was announced at a review meeting of the gas cracker project, chaired by Union Chemical and Petrochemical Secretary, Vinay Kohli here yesterday.

According to sources, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (P&NG) was expected to take another two to three weeks to identify...