AGARTALA, Feb 10— Security forces shot dead a top guerrilla leader belonging to NLFT (Nayanbasi) faction yesterday. Self-styled ‘Major’ Benjamin Hrangkhal with his group was moving around Herma, Rongmala and Charilam areas in West Tripura district for quite sometime. On Saturday noon at around 1 pm CRPF personnel posted in Herma market got a tip off that Benjamin with his five followers were holed up in the house of one Ranjit Debbarma in the same village. The security personnel at once cordoned off the house and an encounter ensued. After the fierce shoot-out, CRPF recovered ‘Major’ Benjamin...

KALGACHIA (Barpeta), Feb 10 — The three-day special session of the Asam Sahitya Sabha gets underway in a festive mood at the Ataur Rahman Samannoy Kshetra here today. People from the remote corners of the area are making a beeline to the venue of the session from the early morning today giving the impression to the delegates of the session that all roads of Barpeta District lead only to Kalgachia Ataur Rahman Kshetra. At 2 pm about 20,000 people from various parts of the District assembled at the venue of the session. But, significantly, there was no programme going on the dais.

The...

SHILLONG, Feb 10 — For the first time in the past several years, the declining trend in the credit-deposit ratio in the North-eastern states appear to have been checked following the initiative launched by the Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in October last year. Sinha had promised at the North-eastern Chief Ministers conference here on October 19 last year that the CD ratio in the region would be improved from 30 per cent to the level of national average of 60 per cent in these years.

As part of the initiative, Sinha had announced that additional credit of Rs 1500 crore would be...

GUWAHATI, Feb 10 – The decks are now clear for creation of a Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) as the Cabinet sub-committee on the Bodo issue, after a meeting with the leaders of the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) at Dispur today, decided to recommend to the State Cabinet formation of the Council under the provisions of amended Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Talking to newsmen after the meeting, the Minister in charge of Plains Tribes and Backward Classes, Sri Bharat Chandra Narah said that the sub-committee will place its recommendations before the Cabinet on February 13 and the...

Imphal, February 10: Two persons, including the deputy finance secretary of the underground PREPAK, were shot dead by troops of the Assam Rifles(AR) in two different incidents today. The PREPAK's deputy finance secretary, Salam Khomba alias Kumar alias Rajcn alias Nabachandra, 38, of Nongpok Sekmai Makha Leikai, was killed in what sources said was a five hour long encounter with PREPAK rebels in the early hours today at Heirok part II Khanarok. Official sources said the encounter occurred after troops of the 7th Assam Rifles posted at Khongjom laid an ambush in the Heirok part II area...