GUWAHATI, March 4: The Gujarat earthquake has turned into a wake-up call for the citizens of Guwahati, resulting in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) being flooded with complaints of unauthorised constructions. The GMC Commissioner, A K Bhutani, has asserted that the Commission would not tolerate any unauthorised construction in the city. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Bhutani said about a hundred buildings are under scrutiny by the GMC in Guwahati. He said that in recent weeks, the GMC had received about 250 complaints, including about a hundred through e-mail, about...

SHILLONG, March 4: Shillongites may soon have to carry shopping bags to the market as the Meghalaya Government has decided to ban plastic bags. The decision came in the wake of pressures from various NGOs and local 'durbars' who have been expressing grave concern over the extensive damages caused to the environment by the rampant use of low-density coloured plastic bags in the State. The Meghalaya Cabinet, in a meeting on March 2, approved a Bill, the Meghalaya Prohibition of Manufacture, Sale, Use and throwing of Low-density Plastic Bags Bill, 2001, which will be introduced in the Budget...

AGARTALA, March 4: The capture of a rare leopard by villagers in Rangamatia village near Sonamura subdivision in West Tripura has taken the wildlife conservation section of the forest department by surprise as there is officially no tiger or leopard population in the forests of Tripura. According to the forest department officials, three Muslim peasants of Rangamatia village Abdul Malek Mia, Aktar Hossain and Shahjahan Bhuiyan spotted the "clouded" leopard while working on their field along the Gomati river in Sonamura subdivision on February 26. They laid a crude trap for the animal and...

GUWAHATI, March 4: A group of 60 Asom Gana Parishad workers today disrupted a public rally addressed by NCP leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma and former Assam home minister Bhrigu Kumar Phukan. The AGP activists snatched the microphones and ransacked the dais which led to a clash between the rallyists and the attackers. Police resorted to a lathicharge to disperse the groups. The meeting was jointly organised by the NCP and Phukan's Asom Jatiya Sanmilan to kick off their election campaign. Phukan described the incident as an "act of cowardice on part of the AGP and a...

KOLKATA, March 4: The Centre was willing to extend the ceasefire to all militant groups in the Northeast, Union Home Minister L K Advani indicated here today. Speaking to newsmen at the Calcutta airport during a brief stopover on his way to Port Blair on a special aircraft, he said the Chief Ministers of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh had also favoured such a step during their discussions with him. "The stand of both the Chief Ministers is now flexible. Appropriate steps would be taken by the government in due course," he stated, adding that there was no need for a mid-term review of the...