IMPHAL, March 17: The State Cabinet has decided to undertake a scheme on highway protection sooner or later to check activities of unlawful elements on the two national highways, the lifeline of a land-locked State like Manipur. The decision was taken in an emergency Cabinet meeting held at the office chamber of Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam. The meeting, while deliberating in detail about the burning of 15 oil tankers by underground activists on the National Highway-39 on March 8, also reviewed the ongoing law-and-order situation of the State after the announcement of the month-long...

IMPHAL, March 17: The underground Revolutionary People's Front, rejecting the ceasefire announced by the Army and state government, has declared that the RPF would cease its activities only when there is clear-cut indication that 'colonial rule' would end and Manipur would regain its independence. A statement issued by the department of communication and publicity of the outfit said the people of Manipur cannot be taken off their guard by the 'crocodile tears' of a ceasefire or the possibility of talks under colonial rule. It added that in a fitting reply to the ceasefire announcement, PLA...

IMPHAL, March 17: A 'commander-in-chief' of the underground Kangleipak Communist Party, KCP, Puthem Ibomcha, alias Leichil, was gunned down by some unidentified gunmen suspected to belong to a rival group in the early hours today at Yumnam Patlou, under Lamlai police station. According to a reliable source, Leichil and at least nine other members of his group were overpowered and abducted by a group of unidentified armed men from a camp at Ekou last Thursday evening at around 8 pm. Leichil was found dead with a bullet through his chest and his hand tied behind his back near a foothill at...

AGARTALA, March 17: Tripura University which has all along been in the thick of controversy for inept handling of the varsity affairs, is now facing contempt of court. It started with the Tripura University's attempt to appoint a financial officer on deputation. The varsity published advertisement for the intending candidates for the post. But it is alleged that the aspiring candidates were deprived of any interview on flimsy grounds as some influential sections in the institution took special care that one Shiburanranjan Saha was given the post. Saha was already on deputation in the Finance...

SHILLONG, March 17: India's first District Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) for extending ability aid and other help to the physically disabled was inaugurated by the Meghalaya Chief Minister, EK Mawlong, at the Shillong Civil Hospital here yesterday. Observing that the biggest challenge in the effort to provide rehabilitation services to those in need was inaccessibility, Mawlong said, "About 99 per cent of the physically-challenged section of society, numbering 15 million, live in the rural, semi-rural and small towns," Mawlong said. Taking into account this fact, Mawlong added, the policy...