IMPHAL, March 19: The Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam today said extortion, kidnapping, killing, movement of insurgents with arms and/or in combat uniforms and attacks on police/ security forces would be treated as breach of the ground rules of the ongoing unilateral cease-fire announced by his Government. Giving a statement in the Assembly he said the Cease-fire Monitoring Group (CMG) held its first meeting on March 17 and it was noted that except for the "burning of 15 oil tankers by insurgents near Karong on March 8, there has been no serious violation of cease-fire so far. He said the...

GUWAHATI, March 19: The historic Guwahati Kabarsthan at Athgaon is in dire straits. The Kabarsthan, which is believed to be a heritage of the Ahom era of the State's history, is now facing myriad crippling problems allegedly due to the mismanagement of the Kabarsthan Committee. The situation has come to such a pass today that while the graveyard, one of the largest in the State, is not witnessing any developmental work within its campus for the past about three years, its management committee and its lessee traders are now locked in acrimonious disputes. Meanwhile, agitated over the alleged...

ITANAGAR, March 19: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mukut Mithi today presented a 'tax free' deficit Budget for 2001-2002 in the State Assembly proposing several stringent cuts in the expenditure to streamline the fiscal conditions, reports PTI. The Budget showed total receipt of Rs 1345.49 crore and expenditure of Rs 1346.92 crore showing an overall deficit of Rs 1.43 crore. Mithi, who also holds the finance portfolio, in his budget speech, proposed to ban the purchase of vehicles, foreign tours, creation or filling up of posts and engagement of consultants. If exception had to be made, 'in...

GUWAHATI, March 17: As a result of the marked improvement in law and order situation in Assam, the flow of tourists to the State has been steadily increasing particularly in the recent years, an official release stated. The fact that the law and order situation in Assam has registered tangible improvement over the last few years is being recognised by foreign countries too and they have started revising their Travel Advice for tourists desiring to visit Assam. Recently, John Mitchiner, Deputy High Commissioner of United Kingdom in Kolkata has, in a letter, informed Assam Chief Minister P K...

IMPHAL, March 19: The finance minister, Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam, presented the revised estimate for the year 2000-2001 as well as the budget estimates for the year 2001-2002 in the Manipur Assembly today. Although a deficit budget, this year's budget papers make a departure from the past by outlining a bold policy to meet and overcome some of the impending crisis, including the perennial fiscal crunch looming over the state. Standing out in bold letters, some of the salient features of the budget are the government's intention to downsize itself and to introduce numerous austerity...