GUWAHATI, July 25 ? The six-month ceasefire agreement between the Garo militant outfit Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) and the Centre could prove to be handy for the security forces in Assam fighting the ULFA and the NDFB. Security sources here said that the end of hostilities with the outfit could effectively put an end to the movement of NDFB and ULFA cadres from Bangladesh to Assam through the Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya.

The high-level sources, while refusing to be identified, said that there is an air of optimism in the security apparatus in Assam following the ceasefire...

GUWAHATI, July 25 ? Though the water levels of the major rivers are receding, the overall flood situation still remains grim and the road communication to all the flood-affected areas remains cut off. The death toll in the current wave of floods has increased to 136.

According to the flood bulletin issued by the State Government this evening, more than 1.17 crore people of the State have been affected by the current wave of floods and more than 15.87 lakh affected people are still taking shelter in 1557 relief camps.

Though the water levels of all the major rivers in Morigaon district are...

SHILLONG, July 24 ? Meghalaya Chief Minister, D D Lapang has expressed happiness over the agreement with the ANVC and said no parallel move was on with another underground outfit of the state ? Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC).

?Don?t mix up the two,? he said adding ?we are dealing with an open mind...HNLC has surrendered in a phased manner and many of them have been rehabilitated.?

Queried if the Garo Baptist Church, a church body which was earlier appointed by his government to bring the ANVC to the negotiating table, was intimated about Friday?s development, Lapang said :...

DIBRUGARH, July 24 ? Assam?s second tea auction centre is likely to be established here before the end of the year, if the current progress in the matter is any indication. The Dibrugarh Nagarik Sangha first raised the demand for a tea auction centre here in 1976, considering that most of the State?s quality tea is produced in the present undivided Dibrugarh district.

The demand from the planters as well as leading citizens of the area led to the recent constitution of the Dibrugarh Tea Auction Centre Establishment Committee, with third generation tea planter and a leading light of the Assam...

GUWAHATI, July 24 ? A serious situation awaits the State?s farm sector. For, almost 50 per cent of the State?s 87-lakh livestock population is affected by the current wave of the floods.

According to an estimate made by the State Veterinary Department, the floods have affected 42.82 lakh of the livestock so far this year. Of these, 28 lakh are poultry. About 4,000 cattle and 5, 525 poultry have been washed away so far by the floodwaters. The Veterinary Department has 418 of its institutions, including the staff quarters, affected by the floodwaters, not to speak of the fate of the instruments...