GUWAHATI, April 8: Broken chairs, smashed photoframes, a twisted signboard, torn flags and festoons, shards of glass - they all lay scattered at the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Rajgarh Road here this afternoon. No, it was not a typhoon that has visited here, but a depressing reminder of a sudden 'visit' by party workers, apparently unhappy with the party leadership's decision to seek an electoral understanding with the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which, till the other day, was the party's main foe along with the Congress. The workers, numbering about 150 and...

GUWAHATI, April 8: Meaningful autonomy with constitutional safeguards to the ethnic groups of Assam will be the main poll plank of the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) and its associate organisations in the ensuing Assembly elections in the State, said the ABSU advisor, Urkhau Gwra Brahma. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Brahma said that the indigenous people of Assam must fight together for their survival as the their identity was under threat due to wrong policies of the successive governments and unabated influx of foreigners, which changed the population pattern of the State. He...

IMPHAL, April 7: The state precautions committee, formed recently with the objective of taking up disaster management and mitigation measures had its first meeting on April 4 last in the office chamber of the MAHUD minister, L Jayentakumar. During the meeting, a sub-committee was formed to look into the earthquake vulnerability of existing buildings and structures based on the reports of the Imphal Municipal Council's specially constituted taskforce. The sub-committee includes L Mangi, senior architect of the PWD as chairman, N Gitkumar, architect, town planner as convenor, and six members...

IMPHAL, April 7: The Chorus Repertory Theatre of Ratan Thiyam, which completed 25 years today, has till date produced 36 plays. It is now preparing to produce three plays this year. Notable plays produced by the company include Chakravyuha, Karnabharam, Blind Age, Hiroshima, Uttarpriyadarshi and Vietnam. As part of the year long celebrations, the National School of Drama, New Delhi in collaboration with the Chorus Repertory Theatre will organise a national theatre colloquium on "Theatre Economics in India in the last 50 years" at Thiyam's complex, on April 12. Thiyam said the colloquium will...

GUWAHATI, April 7: The 100-year old Digboi Refinery is in the eye of the storm for its alleged failure to conform to pollution control norms. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and particularly the Central Pollution Control Board, has reportedly taken a firm stand to compel the Refinery authorities to improve its Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) or to face the consequences. This stand of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests came in the wake of reports that a major incident of fire in the Lakhipathar Reserve Forest and its adjacent areas triggered by the escape of oily...