Illegal tax collection by Myanmar rebels

AIZAWL, Jan 3: Myanmar rebels working mainly for the Chin National Army (CNA) were depositing huge amounts, illegally collected as tax money from the Chin independent state, at their Mizoram-based 'information centre', a Home Ministry note claimed. [AT]

Undertrial dies in hospital

ITANAGAR, Jan 4: An undertrial died in Ziro district hospital on January 1last while in police remand, according to police here. The deceased, Ngilyang Tagia, an active member of National Liberation Front of Arunachal (NLFA), was arrested by Ziro police from Hapoli market on December 25 last when he was serving an extortion note for Rs 5 lakh to a trader, the sources said. [AT]

Indefinite strike by transporters
Goods becoming scarce in Manipur

IMPHAL, Jan 9: A variety of goods ranging from building materials to clothes have become scarce in Manipur markets because of the indefinite strike by transporters since December 15 last, reports PTI. Manipur Goods Transport Association (MGTA) under which more than 20 transport agencies are operating have stopped carrying several items to Manipur since December 15 in protest against the "huge money demand" by some underground groups. An MGTA spokesman told PTI today that NSCN (I-M) had recently imposed five per cent tax on all goods transported by these agencies to Manipur. He said it was not possible to pay the new tax because already transporters were paying Rs 5000 per truck going to Imphal as taxes to NSCN (I-M). [AT]

Fund crunch hits library services in State

GUWAHATI, Jan 10: Library services in the state have been hit, quite badly, by the State Government's financial crisis, leaving the state-run libraries in the state gasping for survival and the readers disappointed at the state of affairs. Cash flow from the State Government has virtually dried up since the last couple of years, sources in the State Directorate of Library Services told The Assam Tribune. The result is the shelving of all expansion plans with even the procurement of books and journals being put on hold. [AT]

KYKL owns up killing of Loktak engineer

IMPHAL, Jan 14: The outlawed Kanglei Yawol Kann Lup (KYKL), Oken faction, has claimed responsibility for the killing of Loktak Project Chief Engineer Subash Chandra Sher, saying he was gunned down for not complying with its demand for payment of "taxes". Sher, despite knowing that KYKL had been collecting "taxes" from both State and Central government officials stationed here for some years, refused to comply with its tax demand, KYKL (Oken) said in a statement issued here. Sher was shot dead at Komkeirak in Manipur's Bishenpur district on Wednesday. [AT]

Bank looted

SHILLONG, Jan 17: Two armed miscreants today looted approximately Rs 5-8 crore from the Lawngtlai branch of the SBI in Lunglei district of Mizoram around 7 pm today. [AT]

Abduction of city traders

GUWAHATI, Jan 17: Unidentified gunmen abducted a shop-keeper from Post officearea of the G.S. Road in the city at around 4.30 p.m. yesterday. [S]

tea executive abducted

KOHIMA, Jan 17 (UNI): The Lingri tea Estate manager K M Sharma was abducted by unidentified gunmen from Notun Basti area, Dimapur on Saturday last, police said here today. [S]

Trader succumbs to injuries

TIHU, Jan 17: Binoy Biswas, who had been shot at and injured by unidentified gunmen onthe night of Uruka at Tihu market, and later admitted to the Down Town Hospital, Guwahati, succumbed to his injuries today. [S]

Villagers along Assam-Nagaland border flee BOKAJAN, Jan 21: A large number of farmers, owners of brick kilns, businessmen, etc., of Matipul and Begenabeel villages lying along the Assam-Nagaland border under Bokajan police station deserted their villages following extortion demands amounting to lakhs of rupees by the NSCN. [S]

Bank robber arrested

AIZAWL, Jan 22: Mizoram police on Thursday arrested one of the seven robbers who looted Rs 5.76 crore from State Bank of India, Lawngtlai branch on Monday, reports PTI. [AT]

tea workers yet to get paid rest day

GUWAHATI, Jan 28: The tea industry in the State has flourished at the cost of their sweat. There is no denying the fact that about five lakh tea workers in the State form the backbone of the industrytea gardens fighting the elements to keep the tea factory furnace burning. [AT]

Teenagers attempt to rob bank

GUWAHATI, Jan 31: In a dare-devil escapade, three teenagers today attempted to decamp with Rs 40 lakh from an employee of the ANZ Grindlays Bank in front of the bank on the busy G.N.B. Road, opposite Rabindra Bhavan. [S]

Probe into HR violation demanded

AIZWAL, Jan 31: The joint action committee of State Bank of India officials (Mizoram unit) on Sunday demanded setting up of a special inquiry commission to look into alleged human rights violation against two Lawngtlai branch officials in police custody, reports PTI. [AT]

tea executives kidnapped

GUWAHATI, Feb 1: Three persons including two tea executives were kidnapped by suspected militants in two separate incident in the State today. A group of suspected NSCN-IM militants today abducted two executives of Bhuban Valley tea Estate under Lakhipur police station of Cachar district at around 11 am today. [AT]

Demonstration by Bank employees

GUWAHATI, Feb 2: Activists of the Assam Provincial Bank Employees' Association today resorted to a day-long demonstration at the Congress (S) Bhawan premises here in support of its various demands along with the rest of the country under the auspices of the All India Bank Employees' Association. [AT]

Assam plans to raise tea Workers' Force

SILCHAR, Feb 3: The Assam police are chalking out a plan to train and arm selected young workers of vulnerable tea gardens in Cachar district as an auxiliary force to patrol in tandem with the police and security forces. This is aimed at thwarting incursions by ethnic militants based in Manipur and North Cachar Hills district into the tea estates of Cachar's eastern areas bordering Manipur. [TT]

The bell tolls for Dergaon Sugar Mill

DERGAON, Feb 4: The epitaph of the Dergaon Assam Cooperative Sugar Mill, an important cooperative undertaking of the country has been written and nailed. When the mill was operational, Dergaon, Baruabamungaon was bustling with activity. Now, all the hustle and bustle have died away. Most of the employees of the mill have turned into daily wage labourers or have started their own business. The gong fell on the silence of the mill compound. [S]

Terrorism hits Cachar tea gardens

SILCHAR, Feb 8: A renewed spate of terrorist activities like kidnapping, extortion and shoot-outs in the eastern part of Cachar district bordering Manipur had created tension in the tea-garden areas. [AT]

Three bodies recovered

BOKAJAN, Feb 9: Police recovered bodies of three businessmen from Jelembung hill, 40 km away from Saijan area here on February 4, a delayed report received here said. The three traders have been identified as Nazimuddin (28), Farukh Ahmed (30) and Nasiruddin. [S]

Nagaon bandh peaceful

NAGAON, Feb 11: The 12-hour Nagaon bandh called by the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) today affected normal life in the township. Shops and business establishments remained closed and vehicular traffic was thin. The bandh, which was peaceful, was called by the AJYCP to protest against the killing of four youths by the ULFA. Nagaon Superintendent of Police SN Singh had confirmed that the ULFA was behind the killing of four youths, including a businessman who was a former militant. -- PTI [AT]

Barak valley TEs soft targets for ultras

GUWAHATI, Feb 13: The tea gardens of the Barak Valley districts of the State have become a happy hunting ground for insurgent outfits and a number of tea executives were kidnapped by insurgents in the last six months. [AT]

State's vacillation over concessions likely to affect industries

GUWAHATI, Feb 15: Even as frequent reports are there suggesting State Government's relentless efforts to attract industrialists from outside to the State, failure of the State Government in implementing its own notification concerning recovery of the incentives, already availed, may lead to a negative impact on the deplorable industrial scenario in the State. [AT]

Ultras kidnap tea official in Cachar

SILCHAR, Feb 16 (PTI): Suspected militants today kidnapped an official of Martycherra tea Estate in Assam's Cachar district, police said. The assistant manager of the tea estate Keshub Bhattacharjee was whisked away by suspected activists of Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) when he went for inspection of tea bushes at Icchachhera division of the garden, police said. [S]

SULFA activists held on kidnapping charges

GUWAHATI, Feb 16: In a swift operation, Chandmari Police today arrested three surrendered ULFA activists Ranjit Malakar, Dhanjit Baishya and Kandarpa Pathak on charges of kidnapping of two businessmen of the city. [AT]

Dispur not doing enough to check fall of export

GUWAHATI, Feb 17: Trade and business circles in Assam are extremely concerned that exports from the State have been steadily declining since the past some years. While nearly 99 per cent of the State's total exports is accounted for by tea alone, the fall in production of tea in the State is stated to be primarily responsible for the fall in exports. [S]

tea industry seeks army presence in Cachar

SILCHAR, Feb 18: Alarmed by the spate of abductions in Lakhipur subdivision and Udarbond block of south Assam's Cachar district, the tea Association of India (TAI) has demanded deployment of the Army in all "vulnerable areas" of the Barak Valley. [TT]

Ultras mounting extortion drive

GUWAHATI, Feb 18: After lying low for a certain period recently, militants operating in the State have mounted their extortion drive all over the State creating panic among all sections of moneyed people including businessmen and tea planters. [AT]

Tea garden manager killed

AGARTALA, Feb 18: The tea industry suffered yet another setback when NLFT militants gunned down the manager of a tea estate in North Tripura district today and injured his wife and the driver. [S]

Businessman shot dead

NALBARI, Feb 19: Two persons were killed in two separate incidents under Tamulpur Police Station area in Nalbari district during the last 24 hours. A rice-mill owner Ramesh Deka (33) was shot dead by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants at his mill premises in Balabari village under Tamulpur police station at 5.30 pm yesterday. It may be mentioned that the slain businessman took initiative in mobilising public opinion against extortion by militants. In another incident a hardcore NDFB militant, Dipak Boro was shot dead by the Army at Polokata village under Tamulpur police station this morning. [AT]

N Tripura bandh peaceful; 5 held for murder

AGARTALA, Feb 20: The dawn-to-dusk bandh in Dharmanagar subdivision of North Tripura district, called by major political parties to protest the killing of a tea estate manager, ended peacefully at 6 p.m. on Saturday while the police arrested five persons in connection with the murder, police said. [AT]

Trade bandh

AGARTALA, Feb 23: Bengali businessmen in the Natun Bazar area of Amarpur sub-division in south Tripura launched a "business bandh" today in protest against continuing militant depredations and the government's failure to provide security to the people. [TT]

Closure of timber trade renders tribals jobless, hungry and into penury

GUWAHATI, Feb 23 (IANS): Kiriansy Lyngdoh, a tribeswoman in the West Khasi Hill district of Meghalaya, is a dejected soul, with little to feed her family and forced to pull her children out of school for want of money. Lyngdoh and her family, with no source of income,have been surviving for the past couple of years on a daily intake of a fistful of boiled rice and wild vegetables.

Thousands have been passing through a similar ordeal since the 1996 Supreme Court ban on the timber trade in the north-eastern region.At least 50 people have died of starvation in Meghalaya as thousands of tribespeople were left jobless following the closure of the timber industry. [S]

Businessman killed by ULFA

DIBRUGARH, Feb 23: Two bicycle borne suspected ULFA militant shot dead Gaya Sah, a businessman on February 19th his own shop at No.2 Ghooronia village under Tinghkhong Police Station, a delayed report said. [S]

Bank relocation

AGARTALA, Feb 23: The Tripura Gramin Bank has decided to relocate three branches in Dharmanagar sub-division for security reasons. [TT]

ISI pumping counterfeit currencies into state

GUWAHATI, Feb 24: The Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agents of Pakistan in connivance with some local agents have pumped counterfeit notes into the markets in different places of the State, posing a threat to the country's economy, official sources disclosed today. [AT]

Hold-up blow to NE coal trade

SHILLONG, Feb 24: Coal traders of Meghalaya are now caught between the devil and the deep sea. The A'chik National Volunteer Council militants, aided by the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) and some local thugs, had seized hundreds of coal trucks at Nonglam, Rajalu and Chemogoam, nearly five km north of Borsora in the West Khasi Hills district on February 18. Borsora is one of the largest transit points for exporting coal to Bangladesh. [TT]

Extortion bid from city PCOs

GUWAHATI, Feb 24: City Police today nabbed a notorious SULFA leader, Manoj Hazarika, for planning to collect regular "taxes" from the PCOs in the city, besides detaining some of his accomplices. [S]

Dry spell hits NE tea output

NEW DELHI, Feb 28: Unfavourable weather conditions in the North East has hit tea production and its output is expected to be lower by 60-65 million kgs during the current year, though prices would remain steady, according to the Economic Survey report (1999-2000) tabled in the Parliament by the Finance Minister, here today. [AT]

Accuse alleges third-degree torture, files petition

AIZAWL, Feb 24 (UNI): An accused in the sensational Rs 5.77 crore bank dacoity case has filed a petition with Aizawl bench of Guwahati, High Court alleging torture and inhuman behaviour by an IPS officer. [S]

NDFB ultras kill one, kidnap another

RANGIYA, Feb. 28: Jalan Ali (37), a businessman was shot dead by NDFB militants at Ghogapar under Tamulpur police station here today. It may be mentioned that Ali had been served with an extortion notice earlier which he refused to oblige. In another incident, Pinak Majumdar, a businessman hailing from Guwahati was kidnapped by NDFB militants at Dwarkuchi under Rangiya police station yesterday. [S]

Dry spell hits NE tea output

NEW DELHI, Feb 28: Unfavourable weather conditions in the North East has hit tea production and its output is expected to be lower by 60-65 million kgs during the current year, though prices would remain steady, according to the Economic Survey report (1999-2000) tabled in the Parliament by the Finance Minister, here today. [AT]

Bodo militants kill four

ITANAGAR, Feb 29 (UNI): Four members of a family were shot dead by suspected Bodo militants at Kokila in Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh, official sources said. The militants entered the house of Mr B Gupta, a businessman and shot him dead from close range. They then killed his wife, son and daughter. [S]

Body recovered

AGARTALA, March 1: The body of one Kajal Chakraborty, a small trader who was kidnapped by ultras on February 24 from Killa police station area of the South Tripura district was recovered from the area yesterday, police said. The body of another kidnapped person, one Sikhram Munda abducted by suspected NLFT ultras, was recovered yesterday from Panditrambari under Kalyanpur police station of West Tripura district yesterday. -- PTI [AT]

Fear psychosis grips Barak tea executives

GUWAHATI, March 3: tea executives working in Barak Valley tea gardens of different companies have been living under constant fear of attack from gun-toting extremists ruling the roost there. [AT]

ULFA among 3 killed

GUWAHATI, March 4: Three persons including one United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militant were killed in different parts of the State since this morning. Meanwhile, four suspected NDFB militants shot dead businessmen Mulchend Dugar and his son Srichand Dugar in Sarbhog town in Barpeta District early this morning. [AT]

AITUC protest march to assembly on March 10

GUWAHATI, March 5: AITUC, Nikhil Bharat Krishak Sabha and the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, frontal organisations of the CPI, have decided to organise a march to the Assembly on March 10, involving employees, workers, farmers and farm labourers, to protest against the economic policies being pursued in the country. [AT]

State incurs revenue loss of Rs 3827.75 lakh GUWAHATI, March 8: The State government has incurred a revenue loss of Rs 3827.75 lakh during 1998-99 due to failure in recovering taxes from various departments, according to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). [AT]

Bank robbery

DOOMDOOMA, March 10: More than Rs 1.75 lakh was looted by an armed gang from the Dangori branch of the State Bank of India, about 15 km from here, this noon. [AT]

tea garden workers still uncared for, underpaid

GUWAHATI, March 10: Chal Mini Assam Jabo Deshe Bara Dukhre / Assam Deshe re Mini Cha Bagan Hariyal (Mini, let us sail for Assam, here in our land, we are very hard-pressed/but, in Assam there are lush green tea estates) -- This was the allurement which made a sizeable number of most backward, poverty-stricken people from Bakura in West Bengal, Chanthal Pargana in Bihar and also from Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to come to the tea estates of Assam around 1860. [AT]

TAI demands Army deployment in north Cachar

SILCHAR, March 12: tea Association of India (TAI) had urged the State Government to deploy Army in the northern part of Cachar district bordering Manipur which had become a hunting ground for Naga and Dimasa terrorists. [AT]

Bhutanese currency in circulation at Jalah

JALAH, March 13: Circulation of Bhutanese currency notes is in full swing in the entire Jalah area and the northern parts of Barpeta district. The large circulation of foreign currency notes has already been creating a problem for the local economy. [AT]

'Ultras involved in Mizoram bank loot'

LAWNGTLAI (Mizoram) March 13: An insurgent group operating in southern Mizoram-Myanmar border had masterminded the loot at the SBI branch here, police said, reports PTI. Rs 511 lakh was looted from the bank on January 17 and the police are hopeful of recovering part of the money and arresting the looters, the police said. [AT]

State paying Rs 512.10 cr interest on loans

GUWAHATI, March 13: The total amount of loan taken by the State Government from the Central Government, other Government-run financial institutions and market has touched the amount of Rs 6929.74 crore, said Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta today in reply to a unstarred question put by Congress (I)'s Dr Hemaprabha Saikia. The State Government is paying an amount of Rs 512.10 crore per year interest on the above loan amounts. [AT]

Utter failure of plains tribal development scheme incentives

UDALGURI, March 15: The tribal development schemes in Udalguri have failed to ensure the economic developments of the tribal population. Owing to lack of motivation and proper training and guidance, every package schemes for the tribal development had miserably failed. An absolute non-recovery of the distributed bank loans through the Assam Plains Tribal Development Corporation has created a heavy burden for the financial institutions on one hand, while on the other, the loan amount provided for their economic upliftment had been severely misused in the maximum cases, which created a very negative prospects in the society at large. [S]

Ultras kidnap 2, Army nabs 2 collaboratos

AGARTALA, March 15 (PTI): Two traders have been kidnapped by insurgents of banned militant outfit of National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) while two collaborators of the outfit have been apprehended from different places of the State, police said today. [S]

Kidnapped by militants

CHAPAR, March 15: Adivasi militants kidnapped Subhash Bhowmik, an employee of the State Bank of India, Chapar branch last evening. Mr Bhowmik hails from Kokrajhar. [S]

Rs 44-lakh financial irregularity in ASEB?

GUWAHATI, March 16: Yet another financial irregularity in the Assam State Electricty Board (ASEB)? This time the amount involved is around Rs 44 lakh of the fund-starved ASEB. [AT]

ATTSA sit-in demonstration

GUWAHATI, March 16: Members of the Assam tea Tribes' Students Association (ATTSA) staged a sit-in-demonstration at Dispur Lastgate here yesterday demanding increase in wages of tea garden labourers from Rs 31.60 to Rs 49 and provision of proper education for tea community members. [AT]

Mismatch in production, sale of Assam tea triggers speculation

GUWAHATI, March 17: Many an eyebrow has been raised over the sale last year of several lakh kilogrammes of teas in excess of that of the year before through the Guwahati tea Auction Centre (GTAC) even though the industry has been claiming that production of tea in Assam had fallen last year compared to the year before. Normally, if production falls, the sales through auction also fall. But exactly the opposite of this had happened in the GTAC last year. [S]

Yaoshang-eve business hit by non-payment of salaries

IMPHAL, March 19: The State government's decision to freeze the salaries of its nearly 80,000 workforce in view of acute financial crisis has adversely affected the business establishments here, which have recorded poor sales figures on the eve of Yaoshang festival. Yaoshang, the biggest festival of the Meiteis in Manipur, is going to be celebrated this time without a single penny in the hands of the State government employees. [AT]

Breakthrough in forgery case

TINSUKIA, March 19: Tinsukia police led by Mr Lakhok Saikia made a major breakthrough in bank forgery case following the arrest of Subrata Roy of Borpathar, Tinsukia who had been allegedly involved in frudulent withdrawal of money by submitting forged stolen drafts at various branches of State Bank of India in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts in recent times. [S]

False trade registration

NAGAON, March 21: Taking advantage of the negligence on the part of the tax officials, a section of notorious businessmen have been evading taxes registering their firms in the name of other persons. [S]

Students' union denies rebel links

IMPHAL, March 21: The All- Manipur Students' Union (Amsu) has denied having links with any outlawed outfit or extorting money from businessmen. [TT]

Severe financial anomalies rock DRDA, Morigaon

MORIGAON, March 23: Two Junior Engineers (JE) namely Deep Prasad Kakoti and Jahuruddin Chowdhury of Lahorighat Development Block under District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Morigaon are directly involved in serious financial offence causing grave concern among the local people. [S]

Corruption, mismanagement plague Nagaon ASTC division

NAGAON, March 24: The Nagaon division of ASTC comprising Nagaon, Marigaon, Karbi Anglong and NC Hills districts now faces acute financial hardship due to rampant corruption among the staff, mismanagement and a design to keep it in perpetual red to force its privatisation. [AT]

Abductions hit Cachar TEs

SILCHAR, March 24: The Cachar police has been shaken by a series of abductions of tea planters and businessmen by extremists. Between August 1999 and March 2000, as many as 13 planters and businessmen were abducted. [S]

Starvation deaths stalk Tripura

AGARTALA, March 26: Prolonged insurgency coupled with an economic blockade enforced by militants in the interior areas, have started taking a heavy toll on tribal lives. Seven tribals have died of starvation in Ganganagar and its nearby areas under the rebel-infested Gandacherra sub-division over the past fortnight. [TT]

Body identified

MORIGAON, March 27: The bullet-ridden body, which was recovered on March 20 from Jarabari under Mikirbheta police station in Morigaon district, has been identified today as that of Parimal Bhowmik, a businessman. Mr Bhowmik had been abducted by unidentified gunmen from Saparmukh village under Raha police station about a month back. [S]

NSCN (I-M) tax notice jolts NEEPCO projeact

WOKHA (Nagaland), March 19: Dogged by both man-made and natural calamities, the much-delayed NEEPCO Doyang Hydro-electric Power Project has received another jolt when NSCN (I-M) recently demanded Rs 1.50 crore from the power unit as 'tax'. [AT]

RBI reimposes freeze on Manipur Govt accounts

IMPHAL, April 1: In view of the overdraft of about Rs 50 crore, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has once again frozen all accounts of the Manipur government with effect from March 30 last, a highly placed source said. [AT]

Govt unaware of planters' exodus from Cachar

GUWAHATI, April 3: The State Government has no information on any move on the part of the tea planters to pack up their business in Cachar district in the wake of growing threats from the militants. [AT]

Racket on fake bank draft busted

SHILLONG, April 5: The network of an inter-State gang involved in circulation of fake bank drafts in the whole country was unearthed by the Meghalaya police here in Shillong yesterday. [S]

tea plantations still 'buying peace' in Assam

GUWAHATI, April 9(IANS): Assam's tea industry is mired in a fresh controversy, with accusations surfacing that plantation executives were paying "protection money" to separatist guerrillas. [S]

All banks except SBI closed in Manipur

IMPHAL, April 10: All banks in Manipur, barring the State Bank of India (SBI), have been closed for over ten days as there is no security for them in this insurgency-afflicted State. [S]

HNLC ultras loot Rs 6.57 lakh from SBI

SHILLONG, April 12: In a daring robbery, suspected HNLC militants today looted an amount of Rs 6.57 lakh from the State Bank of India (SBI), Mawlai Mawdatbaki branch here today. Two persons were also injured as the militants opened fire before entering the bank. [S]

Bank employees' strike on April 18

GUWAHATI, April 12: The Bank Employees' Federation of India (BEFI) has called for a countrywide strike in three public sector banks -- Indian Bank, UCO Bank and United Bank of India opposing IBA's discrimination against the total workforce of these three banks in respect of payment of arrears and new age package emanating from the seventh Bipartite Wage Settlement, on April 18, a press release said. [S]

CAG raps Meghalaya on lotteries

SHILLONG, April 13: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has slammed the Meghalaya Government for not organising the State lotteries in consonance with the requirements of the Supreme Court or on commercial considerations resulting in the state coffers receiving only crumbs out of the turnover of several thousand crore in the lottery business. [AT]

Tension prevails in Boichabari TE

JORHAT, April 16: Tension prevails in Boichabari tea Estate following physical assault on the assistant manager of the tea estate by a section of the tea workers on April 14. [S]

Miscreants snatch away bank draft

PAVOI, April 17: A 10-12 strong group of miscreants snatched away bank draft Nos 341490 and 341492 for Rs 14,896, from the possession of Moni Bora of Hawajan. [S]

Imported tea hampers Assam's tea industry

JORHAT, April 18: Imported tea has posed a threat to the prospect of Assam's tea. Speaking at the 63rd annual conference of the Assam tea Planters' Association, held at the Tocklai tea Research Centre, the out-going president Mr Prabhat Bezbarua stressed on the need to make it compulsory for the manufacturers of such imported tea to display the name of the country of such tea packets on body of the packets. [S]

Abduction of city trader : AHRC asks family to move SC for CBI probe

GUWAHATI, April 18: After more than a year of the sensational kidnapping of a city-based businessman, Hara Gopal Goswami alias Kaju Goswami by some unidentified miscreants from the Geetanagar area of the city on March 27 last year, the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Monday instructed the victim's mother, who had petitioned the human rights body, to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court or the Gauhati High Court to facilitate a CBI inquiry into the matter. [AT]

Militancy hits banking in Imphal

IMPHAL, April 18 (UNI): All branches of nationalized banks here, barring two, remained closed for the last two weeks owing to lack of security. [S]

Funds crunch in Manipur : Govt may borrow from centrally-sponsored bodies

IMPHAL, April 19: In view of the financial crisis in Manipur, Wahengbam Nipamacha ministry is making preparations to borrow Rs 16 million from the Centrally-sponsored corporations, a highly-placed source said here today. [AT]

Volume of coal trade comes down, smuggling unabated

MANCACHAR, April 19: The volume of coal exported to Bangladesh through the Customs gate at Sahapur near the Mankachar town is coming down gradually due to communication problems. But at the same time, smuggling of goods through the border is going on unabated despite the posting of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on the Indo-Bangla border. [AT]

Abducted trader released

GUWAHATI, April 21 : One Pinak Mazumdar, 30, who was abducted from Dwarkuchi under Rangiya police station on February 1 by suspected NDFB ultras, was released yesterday night at Baihata Chariali. [AT]

Agitation by ATTSA

NAGAON, April 21: Assam tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA) observed a sit-in-dharna in front of the branch offices of Assam Chah Mazdur Sangha on April 19, demanding immediate fixing of daily wages of tea labours at Rs 49 per day along with granting of wages on weekly holidays as recommended by the expert committee set up by the Government of Assam. [S]

Truckers change night halt place due to threat

IMPHAL, April 22: In view of the large-scale extortions and collection of illegal tax from the drivers of the Imphal-bound trucks by the suspected armed militants, most of the drivers have started to halt for the night well within the Assam territory instead of Dimapur, sources here said recently. [AT]

4 tea garden workers killed

GUWAHATI, April 22: Four tea workers were killed when PSOs of the manager of Borgora tea Estate under Dolgaon Police Station in Darrang district opened fire on a group of agitating labourers in front of the Manager's office in the garden at around 8.00 a.m. today. Fifteen other labourers were injured in the incident out of whom four seriously injured were shifted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital. [AT]

Killing of 4 TE workers : Manager remanded to judicial custody

GUWAHATI, April 23: The manager of the Borghora tea estate where four employees were gunned down by security personnel was sent to judicial custody following his arrest yesterday after the incident. SP of Darrang district when contacted over telephone informed this evening that the manager, OP Singh Siwal ordered his PSOs to open fire at a mob of employees in front of his office while they were demanding withdrawal of suspension order of Bijay Tanti, head of the local unit of Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha. The employees as well as the management of the tea estate lodged two cases against each other. [AT]

Tripura child labour survey raises doubts

AGARTALA, April 23: They are everywhere -- from tea stalls and brick kilns to factories and construction sites. However, official statistics would have everyone believe that the number of child labourers in Tripura has come down drastically. [TT]

'Like it or not, your image is that of an insurgent State'

GUWAHATI, April 25: The British Deputy High Commissioner to India, Dr JE Mitchiner who is also an engaged Indologist, has said that the image of Assam in the eyes of the West is that of insurgence. "Like it or not, we have known Assam more for its insurgency problem. But, however, I am very happy to see now that the image is changing from insurgence to a resurgence of economy," he said while delivering a short but thought-provoking speech at a function to mark the launch of an economic policy document "From Insurgence to Resurgence" brought by the North East Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NECCI) here today. [S]

ULFA-KLO nexus stalks Dooars tea industry

BINAGURI (West Bengal), April 25: tea planters in the Dooars region of North Bengal are worried not because of plummetting tea price in the international market but of recent spurt in militancy, reports UNI. Insurgent groups from North-east, like the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Kamtapuri Liberation Organisation (KLO) in Dooars tea belt, have shaken the planters. The tea industry is now planning to raise a private protection force on the line of the one in Assam. Planters maintained that the law-and-order situation has been deteriorating fast in the region, having more than 275-odd established tea gardens. [AT]

ATTSA calls for 12-hr Assam bandh on May 8

GUWAHATI, April 26: Assam tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA) has called for a 12-hour Assam bandh on May 8 next in protest against the killing of tea garden labourers in Darrang district and the State government's alleged failure in increasing daily-wage. [AT]

AASAA calls Assam bandh on May 1

GOSSAIGAON, April 28: The All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam (AASAA) has called a 12-hour Assam bandh on May 1 from 5 a.m. in protest against the killing of four labourers at Borghora tea Estate in Darrang district. [S]

SULFA men cause fear psychosis in Rangiya

RANGIYA, May 4: Extortion and kidnapping have been going on unabated in and around Rangiya. A group of extremists served extortion notices to some businessmen of Rangiya.
Meanwhile, some of the businessmen have left Rangiya by selling their properties out of fear. Life and property have become completely insecure at Rangiya. The SULFA men have caused fear psychosis in the entire Rangiya subdivision at behest of the police. They have collected forcibly huge amount of money from the rich people, contractors and businessmen of Rangiya. [AT]

Fund crunch hits NEDFi

NEW DELHI, May 5: The Prime Minister's promise of an annual loan disbursement of Rs 50 crore, announced as part of the special package for economic development of the region, has landed the North East Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi) in trouble, leaving it with no option but to go to the market. [AT]

SULFA youth asked to repay loans

DIBRUGARH, May 5: The general manager of the District Industries Centre (DIC) and the local bank officer have issued a joint appeal to all surrendered militants to make timely repayment of loans which they have availed on easy terms from various banks. The abysmal loan repayment has become a cause of serious concern in banking circles here. Apart from rehabilitated misguided youth, even those who have availed of loans under Prime Minister's Rojgar Yojana have faltered in repaying loans. [AT]

Non-sanction of bank loan creates resentment

BONGAIGAON, May 5: A team of ward commissioners of Bongaigaon town led by Mr Prabhat Baishnab, Chairman of Bongaigaon Municipal Board launched a picketing programme in front of the Central Bank of India, Bongaigaon branch on April 25 in protest against return of bank loan applications of some beneficiaries for which functioning of the bank remained paralysed for that day causing great inconvenience to the other bank consumers. [S]

Trader, son missing

DIBRUGARH, May 6: Sheodhari Paswan (50), a businessman, and his son Dheeraj Paswan (15), who went out on a scooter (AMB-8124) towards Paltan Bazar on the night of May 4, have been missing since. Police recovered the abandoned scooter at Bahbari here today. Police investigation into the incident is on. [S]

AATTSA calls Assam bandh

KAMPUR, May 6: The All Assam tea Tribes Students Association (AATTSA) has called a 24-hour Assam bandh from 8 a.m. on May 8 in protest against exploitation, atrocities and killings of tea labourers in the State. [S]

Anomalies by salt tradersState PDS suffers setback

GUWAHATI, May 7: Despite state food and civil supplies department's strict norms, public distribution system (PDS) has suffered a setback due to anomalies by some salt traders. [AT]

Abducted person, son's bodies found, Dibrugarh shocked

GUWAHATI, May 7: Dibrugarh police on Sunday recovered the dead bodies of two persons -- Sibdhari Lal Paswan (45) and his son Dhiraj Paswan (10) -- from the sand banks in the middle of the Brahmaputra.The bodies had been buried in the sand and preliminary investigations revealed that sharp weapons had been used to kill the deceased, police said.On Thursday night, at around 8 P.M., Sibdhari Lal Paswan and his son were returning from his father-in-law's house in the Paltan Bazar area to his own residence near the Dibrugarh railway workshop by scooter bearing registration number AMB 8128. Apparently on the way, the two were abducted by unidentified persons, police sources said, adding that the scooter was later found at Santipara. [NED]

Beware, adulterated spices abound

GUWAHATI, May 8: If you consume spices which are loose and in the powdery form, it is time that you gave up this habit. Such spices are adulterated, in most of the cases. Ferric oxide, lead oxide, rice powder and dust are some of the substances "abundantly mixed" by unscrupulous traders with the food items, disclosed regional food inspector S Choudhury to The Northeast Daily. [NED]

Jobless Assam jumbos up for sale

JORHAT, May 8: Some sell jobs. Mitharam Sonowal sells those who need jobs. In other words, he sells the "unemployed" to those who have jobs. Yes, Sonowal's business is big. As big as the elephants he deals with. Following the Supreme Court ban, which prohibited felling and movement of timber in the Northeast, Sonowal hit on this novel idea about how to sell elephants which found themselves jobless since then. The court ban may come as a boon for environmentalists but hundreds of elephants involved with the timber industry have been left without a job. [TT]

Total bandh at Dibrugarh

DIBRUGARH, May 9: The spontaneous bandh of all shops, business establishments including banks, schools, post offices etc., paralysed the normal life in the town today. Despite the withdrawal of night curfew this morning, the business community of the town observed a bandh for the eternal peace of those killed in yesterday's police firing and in protest against the police high-handedness. [S]

Assam bandh total

KAMPUR, May 9: The Assam bandh call given by the All Assam tea Tribes Students Association (AATTSA) on May 8, evoked total response in the tea garden areas in Nagaon and Morigaon. Total bandh was witnessed in all the 42 tea garden in the two districts. Nearly 90 AATTSA activists were arrested in Hojai alone. [S]

4 traders, 2 ULFA linkmen held in Majuli

JORHAT, May 10: The police arrested four businessmen -- Mr Om Prakash Bajaj, Mr Lakshmi Narayan Bhatta, Mr Bhawal Sharma and Mr Monoranjan Deb Nath -- on charges of paying cash to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and two others -- Bipul Ojha and Luku Bora -- on charges of helping the banned outfit in its fund-raising drive, from Majuli yesterday. It may be mentioned that during its four-day-long search operation against the ULFA in the river island, the police picked up as many as 26 persons for interrogation. [S]

Banks in NE fail to benefit rural poor

GUWAHATI, May 13: Banks operating in the North-eastern region have failed to contribute towards uplift of the rural poor as majority of these people continue to borrow from private money-lenders instead of banks. [AT]

Two tea officials abducted in Tripura

AGARTALA, May 13: The outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) militants on Saturday kidnapped the assistant manager and garden supervisor of Golakpur tea estate in Kailasahar subdivision in North Tripura district. CP Thakur, assistant manager and Bipad Bhanjan Das, garden supervisor had gone for inspection when a heavily armed gang of about eight militants kidnapped them at gunpoint. Last of the tea executives killed by militantswas DK Nath, Manager of Dharmanagar tea garden. He was shot dead and his wife was injured on February 18 last by NLFT militants. Almost all gardens have to pay huge subscriptions to the militants. [AT]

NSCM (IM) clamp down on extortion by associations

KOHIMA, May 18: The NSCN(IM)'s 'ministry of finance' said it has decided to abolish permit system on all essential commodities and ban all the so called unions with immediate effect. [NED]

3 ULFA rebels held in Dibrugarh

JORHAT, May 20: The Dibrugarh police yesterday arrested three Ulfa militants from Gohainbari village in Lezal area. The militants were involved in the killing of a tea vendor, Deepak Gogoi, on May 16. [TT]

Fiscal anomalies in NE councils worry Centre

NEW DELHI, May 21: Gross discrepancies in accounts and financial transactions in the nine autonomous district councils of the North Eastern region, running into hundreds of crores of rupees, have made the Union Government see red, even as pressure has mounted on the Centre to enforce some accountability. [AT]

Large-scale anomalies in DRDA work allotment

NAGAON, May 22: The DRDA office in Nagaon, which is considered as the nerve centre of economic activities in the district has turned into a place of heightened corruptions in the recent years. The political interferences in the process of selection of beneficiaries are always a source of complaints from the poor village people. In order to get sanctions of any loans from this office, the poor people have to pay commissions to the officials concerned, otherwise they are forced to give up all their hopes and plans. [S]

Its NSCN-DHD whose writ runs in Karbi Anglong

HAFLONG, May 22: Despite the presence of the Army and the paramilitary forces, the NSCN(IM) and the DHD are running a parallel administration in the North Cachar Hills. According to sources, the two terrorist outfits have levied taxes on the government employees, traders, businessmen and common people. [S]

Five injured in ATPF firing

DIBRUGARH, May 22: Five persons including two women were injured when Assam tea Protection Force (ATPF) resorted to firing to disperse a violent mob at Mudoi village under Chabua police station yesterday. The injured persons have been identified as Ms Pransanti Baruah, Ms Devati Dulia, Dipul Dihingia, Khanin Dulia and Jitu Dulia. [S]

ASEB in throes of severe financial crisis

GUWAHATI, May 24: The Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) is facing a severe financial crisis as the gap between income and expenditure is growing with every passing day and the failure of the State government to pay the subsidy due to the Board and the electricity bills have only complicated matters for the fund-starved organisation. [AT]

Trader abducted

SHILLONG, May 25: Unidentified men abducted the owner of Ashok Auto Service at Byrnihat. The abductors have demanded Rs 5 lakh as ransom. In another incident, a group of dacoits looted Rs 70,000 from a petrol pump at Khanapara. [TT]

3 of a family among 6 killed in ULFA revenge attack at Tinsukia

GUWAHATI, May 27: Suspected Ulfa militants gunned down six persons, including three of a family, in a revenge attack at No 2 Magumgaon village under Pangeri police station in Tinsukia district on Friday night. Police said the rebels , numbering around six and dressed in Army fatigue, gheraoed the house of one Krishna Karki (50) around 1:30 A.M. on Friday.
Police suspect the incident to be a revenge attack. Earlier, the outfit had served extortion notices to Karki and another person, who were citro-nella traders. The matter was brought to the notice of the police. And when on April 28, when a group of Ulfa men came to collect the money, policemen posted at Karki's residence killed one militant. The Tinsukia SP said that Karki had already paid Rs 50, 000 to the rebels. [NED]

Chaibari TE manager abducted

GAURIPUR, May 28: Mr Ashok Chakraborty, assistant manager of Chaibari tea Estate was kidnapped by suspected Adivasi militants from the tea estate's factory. In another incident, suspected MULTA activists killed a youth, Dipak Kalita at Sapatgram on May 26. [S]

ULFA rebel held

JORHAT, June 1: A hardcore Ulfa militant, Gajen Duwara alias Nayon Phukon, was apprehended by the Tinsukia police from the Santipur area yesterday, reports our Jorhat correspondent.
Golaghat police arrested two persons, posing as Ulfa activists, last night for extorting money from a businessman.
One person was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants in Falengi village of Golaghat district last night. [TT]

Pre-start snag in NRL, loss Rs 100 cr

GUWAHATI, june 3: Commissioning of the newly built Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has been delayed for over one-and-half month owing to a technical snag inside three reactors of the Hy-drocracker Unit (HCU), causing a loss of over Rs 100 crore in business transaction to the organisation. [NED]

Sharma's family passes tension filled days waiting for his return

NALBARI, June 5: Each and every member of the family of Bankim Sharma, Manager, Pragjyotish Gaonliya Bank Ghagrapara who was abducted on May 12 is gripped by fear, tension and sleepless nights. The whereabouts of Mr Sharma is yet to be found. None of the terrorist outfits have so far owned responsibility of the abduction. [S]

Drivers' 'ban' hits Nagaland districts

KOHIMA, June 7: The Mokokchung, Tuensang and Zunheboto districts of Nagaland are facing acute shortage of essential commodities following a 'ban' imposed by the Mariani Drivers' Union in Assam, reports UNI. The Mokokchung Chamber of Commerce (MCC) has taken a serious note of the unwarranted 'ban' imposed on vehicles carrying essentials from Assam to Mokok-chung, Tuensang and Zunheboto by the Mariani Drivers' Union following assault of a driver near Changki village on May 28. [AT]

Resignations jolt NEEPCO

SHILLONG, June 8: Paralysed by an acute financial crisis, the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco) has suffered another jolt with two of its directors resigning from their posts. Sources told The Telegraph here today that finance director P.K. Chatterjee and technical director S.B. Dey resigned following "differences" with their superiors in the power corporation. [TT]

tea executive abducted in Cachar

GUWAHATI, June 8 (PTI): The manager of the Lakhipur tea Estate was kidnapped by suspected NSCN militants from south Assam's Cachar district today. [S]

Strike by IOC employees

TINSUKIA, June 9: There is likelihood of a shortage of kerosene and petrol in the near future following a 'pen down, tools down' strike by the employees of the Assam Oil Division at the IOC's commercial department at Sripuria in Tinsukia. The IOC employees are protesting against the increase in the weekly working hours from the present 39.5 hours to 48 hours. [S]

ATTSA's concern over poor condition of tea labourers, demands privatisation

JORHAT, June 9: The tea garden owned by the multinational companies comparatively take better care for the labourers. The general secretary of the Assam tea Tribes Students Association, Mr Kamakhya Prasad Tacha alleged that though the tea industry has flourished in the State at the cost of the blood and sweat of the labourer, the plantation owners are indifferent to the welfare of these people. He alleged disparities in the welfare measures for the labourers. He lamented that though the local owners of the gardens were supposed to show more concern for the labourers, their attention to the labourers was remarkably poor. [S]

ULFA goes for corporate business -- in tea

GUWAHATI, June 9: Now that all avenues of the flow of funds to the ULFA are getting clogged, thanks to the relentless pressure of the security forces and the police who have seen to it that the ULFA is starved of the funds, the banned outfit has decided to join the corporate world in the form of setting up own business in tea in Assam. [S]

Chakka bandh by Mariani truckers continues

JORHAT, June 10: With the Mariani Truck Drivers' Union refusing to attend a conciliatory meeting convened by the Mokokchung district administration today, there seems to be no respite in sight for the 13-day-long economic blockade against the three Nagaland districts, namely Mokokchung, Tuensang and Zunheboto. [AT]

Two tribal youths killed

AGARTALA, June 12: Two tribal youths have been killed by insurgents of All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and traders robbed of their belongings in separate incidents in Tripura, police said today. In a separate incident, villagers detained twotribal youths at Sipahi Para when they were extorting money from them yesterday.[S]

Traders suffer loss following strike

JORHAT, June 13: Following the strike by the Mariani Truck Drivers' Association which entered the 16th day today, business transaction worth Rs 2 crore involving Jorhat and Nagaland came to a standstill. The businessmen of Jorhat have so far suffered a loss of Rs 4 to 5 lakh. [S]

ULFA ultras kidnap businessman

GAURIPUR, June 13: Suspected United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants kidnapped a businessman -- Upendra Nath Gogoi -- from Madhusailmari village under Golokganj police station last evening. Police investigation is on. [S]

Hotels in city recording low occupancy rates

GUWAHATI, June 14: The hotel industry in Guwahati is going through a lean phase and hotels in the State capital are recording low occupancy rates. The culprit is the poor law and order situation in the State. [AT]

Ultras release eight persons

IMPHAL, June 15: There is a sigh of relief that the armed insurgents have released the eight abducted persons who were held for a ransom of Rs 3 million. Four of them are South Indian businessmen stationed at the border town of Moreh, while two others were van drivers. [S]

When mindset becomes stumbling block on path of development

GUWAHATI, June 16: About 150 years back in 1853, a Christian Missionary made an observation about the people of Assam saying: "The want of an enterprising and impressive spirit is everywhere seen, and until the monotony is broken up by drawing the attention of the natives to the advantages of commerce, and the blessings which honest industry is certain to secure, little can be hoped from the Province (Assam)". [AT] Ultras loot Rs 8.23 lakh from bank in Shillong

SHILLONG, June 16: In another broad daylight raid, suspected Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) ultras looted Rs 8.23 lakh from a bank in the heart of the city today dealing another big blow to the sagging morals of the police. The incident has come as a big embarrassment for the State's police which is already demoralised by a spate of attacks by the HNLC in the city during the last fortnight. [AT]

Thriving racket in bank drafts detected

DIBRUGARH, June 17: The Draft Reconciliation Department of the State Bank of India (SBI) has detected a thriving racket in forged bank drafts, which has caused a flutter in the country's premier bank. [AT]

Pruned ASTC fleet deals heavy blow to its finance and employees

GUWAHATI, June 18: The number of buses in running condition in the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) has now been reduced to about 130 against the about 230 buses it had on the roads about one year back on August 28 last year, said sources in the Corporation. The Corporation had a few years back a fleet of about 900 buses. [AT]

A tale of how premier tea cos harass locals

DIBRUGARH, June 19: Just how vindictive can a premier tea company be to "teach a lesson" to an honest employee, who had the temerity to question his boss every time he detected an irregularity? Well, in this instant case, the provident fund cheque was kept concealed maliciously for three months, while the employee is yet to receive his gratuity dues, 11 months after he retired from service. [AT]

Fake notes seized, 4 held

DIBRUGARH, June 20: The traders of local Bhutia market here today apprehended two youths -- Susanta Baidya (18) and Rabi Parusuram (17) -- while they were trying to circulate fake notes. Later, the traders handed over both the youhts to the police. The police recovered Rs 800, all in Rs 100 denomination, from their possession. The police, later, on the basis of information received from the arrested youths, nabbed other two accomplices -- Mona Sarkar, and Chandan Sharma from Santipara area and recovered worth Rs 1,700 from their possession. [S]

Fake ULFA activist held

DIBRUGARH, June 20: Police arrested a youth -- Mridupawan Khound alias Bitupan on the charge of extorting money on the name of the ULFA from a businessman on June 17. The youth had demanded Rs 50,000 from the businessman and when he came to collect the amount, the businessman himself caught the youth and handed him over to the police. [S]

20% currencies in Guwahati banks, bazars fake

GUWAHATI, June 20: The incidence of counterfeit currency in circulation in Guwahati is as high as 20 per cent in certain parts of the city with even cashiers of public sector banks failing to detect such spurious notes. This has come to light when dealers of a fake currency detecting machine recently went round the city marketing their new product. [NED]

Are tea gardens behind theft of crude oil?

JORHAT, June 20: Theft of crude oil from the pipelines by drilling holes and draining out of oil from the pipes in various places of Upper Assam, has been an oft repeated practice. Police detected several such cases, but the pilferage has not been stopped altogether. Crude oil has its utility mostly in the tea gardens. The tea gardens have to spend a lot for purchase of crude oil from the IOC. It is alleged, that the tea gardens illicitly purchase oil from these oil thieves, to curtail their expenditures. It is also alleged that the tea gardens, at least most of them purchase just one tankfull of crude oil from the IOC and supplant the rest of their requirements through such clandestine purchases. [S]

Insurgency affects industrial climate

GUWAHATI, June 23: Prolonged insurgency problem has severely affected the industrial climate of the State. According to official statistics, altogether 13,000 small-scale industrial (SSI) units are on the verge of collapse due to prevailing poor law-and-order situation of the State. The SSI units located at various parts of the State have become a soft target of the insurgent groups and as a result nearly 2,00,000 employees are facing hardship. [AT]

Karimganj bandh

BADARPUR, June 24 : The 12-hour Karimganj bandh, called jointly by CPI, CPM, UPPA and SUCI passed off peacefully today with no reports of any untoward incident. All educational institutions, business establishments, banks, financial institutions remained closed during the bandh period. The bandh call was given in protest against the police atrocities in Karimganj district. [AT]

Eight militants held in Manipur

IMPHAL, June 24: At least eight activists of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (I-M) were apprehended by police while one businessman was rescued from the kidnappers on Friday, reports PTI. [AT]

Traders in Tripura bear brunt of ethnic rift

AGARTALA, June 25: traders> are bearing the brunt of the ethnic conflict in the Teliamura area of West Tripura district. Groups of tribals looted at least five shops owned by non-tribals over the past three days. Goons also ransancked a cooperative society at Mungiabari and made off with cash and valuables worth Rs 2 lakh.
In another incident yesterday, a group of tribal women made an abortive attempt to loot a goods-laden truck at Atharomura on the Assam-Agartala highway. [TT]

Timber ban makes life miserable for saw-mill workers

UMTRU, June 29: Umtru -- a major power generating centres in Meghalaya. It is widely is known for its scenic locations as well as a potential picnic spot. Just before reaching Umtru, there is a thinly populated village named Balian. At least four saw mills in the village stretching upto Norbung, about 8 K.M. away from Balian, have been paralysed in view of the Supreme Court order on timber ban. Asked about the plight of the mill workers and their families, B Kharklang, a local youth associated with the timber trade, said: "Most of the workers have been living a pathetic life since they are left with no avenues in hands." [NED]

Concern over goonda tax collection

NALBARI, June 29: The Nalbari District Bus Owners' Association has expressed grave concern over the collection of goonda tax from the Guwahati-bound private buses operating from Nalbari and Barpeta, by some youths at Rangiya highway C`howk and Baihata Chariali Chowk. The bus owners, in a press release, alleged that the district administration and the police have turned a deaf ear to the atrocities committed by the miscreants on the bus employees who refuses to meet their demands. The bus owners warned that unless the district administration takes proper steps to curb the menance, they will be forced to resort to agitational means like chakka bandh. [S]

AJYCP stages demonstration

GUWAHATI, June 30: Members of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) staged a four-hour sit-in demonstration from 11 am today at the Judges' Field here in support of their demands for deportation of the foreign nationals, scrapping of the IM(DT) Act, implementation of the Assam Accord, stalling the move to enact the Super TADA Bill, solution to the State's flood problem and rejuvenation of the sick industries. [AT]

9 goonda tax collectors nabbed

GUWAHATI, July 1: Dispur police led by SI N C Das caught red-handed a gang of men who were openly collecting goonda tax in the Ganeshguri Chariali area of the city on Saturday afternoon. Nine of the gang members were caught while a few others managed to flee. [AT]

'Extortion is like small scale industry'

GUWAHATI, July 3 (PTI): Extortion from business houses has become like a "small scale industry" for Assam militant groups who are reeling under acute shortage of funds, General Officer Commanding Four Corps Lt General DB Shekatkar has said. "There are reports that the big multinational tea companies are paying money to the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland on demand," Shekatkar told reporters without naming the companies during an informal chat with them here last night. [S]

Villages and TEs threatened by Samrang river

TANGLA, July 3: The Samrang river, flowing from the Bhutan hills to the north of Darrang district has been causing extensive damages and sufferings to the people of a number of villages including three tea-gardens under Panery LA constituency of Darrang district for the last few years. [S]

Rs 1.44-cr financial scam at Sivasagar treasury SIVASAGAR, July 3: The alertness and timely action of the Sivasagar Deputy Commissioner, Mr L.N. Tamuly has brought to light a major financial scam involving an amount of Rs 1.44 crore. [S]

Rebels take Tripura planter hostage

AGARTALA, July 3: NLFT rebels abducted the manager of North Tripura's Golokpur tea estate, Bipin Bihari Tandon, from his bungalow inside the garden last night. Altogether 13 tea executives have been abducted by militants so far. In separate incidents, militants released four hostages, including a 10-year-old girl from captivity yesterday. [TT]

Employee absconding with block's money

SONARI, July 4: Pradip Sevak, an employee of the Pachim Abhoypur Block of Charaideo subdivision, who had gone to deposite Rs 30 lakh of the block to the State Bank of India on June 26, deposited half of the amount, and is absconding with Rs 15 lakh. [S]

3 abducted Diphu traders' bodies found in forests

GUWAHATI, July 6: Three decomposed bodies were recovered from the Labanga-nala reserve forest, around 45 K.M. away from Diphu town under Diphu police station in Karbi Anglong, bordering Nagaon district on Wednesday evening. Police suspect the possible hand of UPDS militants behind the incident, sources said. [NED]

NSCN-DHD targets Barak tea industry, gardens sold

GUWAHATI, July 6: Massive extortion and constant threat from extremist forces have forced a leading tea company to sell off its five highly profitable tea gardens in the Barak Valley. The activities of the militant outfits in the valley have also affected the overall production of the tea gardens. Highly placed security sources informed that for over one year, the NSCN and DHD militants have been serving regular extortion notices to most of the tea estates of the Barak Valley. The demand notes range from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. "At least 18 tea garden executives were kidnapped while three others were killed by militants in the Barak Valley itself during the period. The garden manager of the Lakhipur tea estate is still in the captivity of the rebels," said a top official. [NED]

2 shot dead

HOJAI, July 6: Two persons were shot dead and two others sustained serious injuries when a gang armed with deadly weapons including country-made rifles barged into the house of a businessman at Hojai last night and opened indiscriminate fire. Sri Ajay Chhowcharia succumbed to his injuries at the hospital while Sri Manjit Das, an employee died on way. [AT]

NLFT releases 2 tea officials

AGARTALA, July 6: National Liberation Front of Tripura released the assistant manager of Golakpur tea estate CK Thakur and garden supervisor BB Das on Wednesday night. The two were kidnapped at gun-point by the militants in May last from Golakpur tea garden at Kailasahar in North Tripura. However, the manager of the garden BB Tandon, kidnapped by the same outfit on July 2 last, is still in captivity of the militants. It is learnt that the militants had kidnapped Tandon as the Golakpur TE management declined to fork out ransom money to the tune of lakhs of rupees for safe release of Thakur and Das. [AT]

Police trying to push back Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) employees and Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) activists as they were entering the ASTC bus station to stage a demonstration in the city on July 6. A Sentinet photo.

Gullible Jorhat consumers taken for a ride

JORHAT, July 11: Call it what you will! Either plain unconcern, devil-could-care-no-less attitude, negligence or gross unawareness. But unscrupulous traders in Jorhat are cashing in on the gullibility of the local consumers day in and day out in the absence of any formal protest from the mute and 'ignorant' public. [AT]

NDFB steps up extortion drive in Nalbari

NALBARI, July 11: The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a major militant outfit of the Lower Assam operating especially in the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) areas, has intensified its extortion drive among the non-Bodos in various parts of the district. Despite stepped up security arrangements, the outfit has served notices demanding huge amount as Bodoland tax and donation. Following the declaration of ceasefire by the BLT another militant outfit of the area, the NDFB has intensified its extortion drive in Barama, Mussalpur, Tamulpur and Nikachi area of Nalbari district creating a fear psychosis among the non-Bodo people. [AT]

AFC future bleak sans Central action

GUWAHATI, July 12: The Assam Financial Corporation (AFC) is staring at a bleak future unless the government of India takes immediate steps to revive the State finance corporation by implementing the restructuring scheme which has been approved and recommended by the Government of Assam. [AT]

One abducted in Shillong

SHILLONG, July 12 (PTI): Rajesh Sethia, son of a prominent businessman, was abducted by an unidentified gang while he was proceeding to his shop yesterday. [S]

Assam electricity board suffers 42 per cent power theft losses

GUWAHATI, July 14: Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) suffers from 42 percent transmission power theft losses and even if half of these losses are checked, the board's poor financial health will improve. [NED]

Labour trouble brewing at APOL

GUWAHATI, July 14: It seems that a serious effort at bridging the communication gap between the management of the Assam Polyester Cooperative Society Ltd (APOL) and its Shramik Santha is the urgent need of the hour to save the Society from a serious labour trouble. Or else, the Society, which is making remarkable strides forward to give the State an important place in the textile industry map of the country, will also find itself in the in already long list of sick and closed industries of the State. [AT]

Stop extortion, save coal trade: truckers urge Meghalaya govt

SHILLONG, July 16: The Co-ordination Committee of Hynniewtrep Truck Owners and Drivers' Association and Jaintia Hills Truck Owners' Association have urged chief minister EK Mawlong to take immediate action to check extortion on truckers plying on the National Highway-44. [NED]

'Operation Khoj' launched along Assam-Manipur border in Cachar

SILCHAR, July 16: In view of the spate of abductions of tea garden managers, businessmen and extortions of huge sums of money for their release and a sense of panic gripping people in general in the North-east bordering areas of Cachar, "Operation Khoj" has been launched by the police in Lakhipur subdivision of Cachar and North Cachar Hills. [S]

11 held for stealing green tea leaves

NAGAON, July 16: Samuguri police busted a racket involved in the stealing and selling of green tea leaves in the district and arrested 11 people in this connection. [S]

8 Assam depts face fiscal bungling charges

GUWAHATI, July 18: The Assam government has charged eight key departments of abetting serious financial irregularities by their failure to initiate action on defects, omissions and irregularities pointed out from time to time by the accountant general, Assam. [NED]

Thousands being cheated by NBFCs in Meghalaya

SHILLONG, July 19: Motilal Yadav (not his real name), a hawker selling cheap childrens dresses in a busy Police Bazar street here ekes out a bare livelihood for his family. The promise of doubling his investment in a single year given by a non-banking financial company (NBFC) make him deposit his hard-earned lifes savings of Rs 10,000. His dreams lay shattered today as the NBFC disappeared into thin air before his deposit matured. [AT]

TE officials, driver held for ULFA links

JORHAT, July 19: Jorhat police arrested as many as four officials of Mahbonda tea Estate -- Assistant Manager Aswini Sarma, Medical Officer Gajen Gogoi, driver Gajen Bhuyan and Haren Saikia -- today on charges of providing medical services and other mode of help to the "commander" of the Kakdonga Sakha Parishad of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Ratul Dutta alias Sangram Koch, who had died of malaria in a hospital in Jorhat recently. [S]

Chenijan TE owner arrested

DIBRUGARH, July 19: The proprietor of Chenijan tea estate, Mr G Sarma was arrested on charges of extortion. According to police sources here, Mr Sarma had been demanding Rs 50 lakh from his father-in-law, who is also a reputed tea planter of Dibrugarh. On being informed, the police laid a trap and arrested Mr Sarma. According to police, Mr Sarma's father-in-law had been receiving telephone calls demanding Rs 50 lakh from an unknown man who claimed himself to be a member of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). [S]

TE executive shot dead

TINSUKIA, July 20: Suspected ULFA militants gunned down Shankardev tea Estate's assistant factory manager RK Chaturvedi under Doomdoma police station in Tinsukia district at 4.50 p.m today, police said. The ultras shot him dead from close range in front of the gate of his office while he was going home after his duty. The TE executive received 16 bullets. [S]

AIDC's woes: Debts, low credit-worthiness

GUWAHATI, July 20: The Assam Industrial Development Corporation's (AIDC) line of credit with the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) has been snapped following the former's failure to pay outstanding dues worth Rs 52 crore to the latter. Talking to The Northeast Daily, AIDC managing director Jishnu Barua said on Thursday that this has forced the corporation to confine itself to activities that are a corollary to its primary task of funding investment in the state's industrial sector since 1992-93. [NED]

IT raids in city

GUWAHATI, July 20: Income Tax (IT) officers today seized valuables and cash worth around Rs 85 lakh from the residence of Assam Public Service Commission chairman Dr Tara Prasad Das while conducting a raid. The IT officials also conducted raids simultaneously since this morning in the city residence of several officials of the DRDA, Education and Sales Tax departments, besides some professionals, for their alleged failure to conform to Income Tax regulations. The alleged defaulters in whose residences the IT officials conducted the raids today also included DRDA Project Director Subhash Borgohain, DRDA contractor Arman Sheikh, former DPI Ananda Pegu and senior advocate Anil Bhattacharyya. [AT]

Two extortionists arrested

RANGIYA, July 21: One Bhabesh Kakati of Dwiguenpar village and Tapan Kakati of Ali Pub village under Kamalpur revenue circle were caught red-handed by the police when they were coming to collect cash from a businessman at Rangiya town today. A number of traders of Rangiya town received demand notes from some unknown miscreants. [S]

IT raids end, Rs 1 crore in cash seized GUWAHATI, July 21: Raids conducted by the Income Tax officials at the houses of four senior bureaucrats, two senior advocates of the Gauhati High Court, and one DRDA contractor since yesterday continued for 24 hours and came to an end this morning. The officials, during the raids, seized huge piles of valuable documents and cash worth about Rs 1 crore. [S]

Fraud arrested

JORHAT, July 23: Acting on a tip-off, police arrested one N. Sen from a hotel here last evening on the charges of deceiving people through a fraud financial institution in Maligaon and Pandu areas in Guwahati last year. [S]

CM orders APSC chief to resign over tax raid

GUWAHATI, July 23: Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on Sunday summoned the controversial chairman of Assam Public Service Commission Tarapada Das and asked him to resign in the wake of recovery of approximately Rs 70 lakh in cash from his residence by Income Tax sleuths, a state government spokesman said. [NED]

Four SULFA activists arrested

LANKA, July 24: Four surrendered United Liberation Front of Asom (SULFA) activists -- Bhaity, Kumud Saikia, Nilamoni Saikia and Balband Singh -- were chased away by a group of labourers from the reserved booking yard at Lanka railway station when the formers demanded Rs 32 lakh from timber traders yesterday. The four SULFA activists were later arrested by Lanka police acting on a case (No. 96/2000) lodged by timber traders under sections 387,506, 511/38. [S]

Timber sized

SHILLONG, July 24: A truck loaded with timber was caught by the Ri Bhoi Youth Federation on G.S. Road during a check at Byrnihat today, reports our correspondent. Timber trade in the Northeast has been banned by a Supreme Court since 1996. The youth handed over the truck to the sales tax office. [TT]

Banks siphon out Rs 1421 cr from Meghalaya

SHILLONG, July 25: At a time when the backward North Eastern States are crying out for more investments in order to accelerate the pace of development, commercial banks in Meghalaya siphoned out more than Rs 1421 crore from the state in one single year ending March last. [AT]

Bakijai cases against 63

JORHAT, July 26: Bakijai cases have been registered against 63 persons, some of whom have also been issued arrest warrants, for their failure to repay bank loans taken by them through various developmental schemes of the Government. According to a source, as many as 63 persons, who had taken bank loans through Government schemes, are yet to pay Rs 91,65,493. [S]

Rs 3.61-lakh scam detected JORHAT, July 31: Financial anomalies amounting to Rs 3,61,998 in the implementation of the National Obstetric Welfare Scheme under the National Social Assistance Programme came to light when a magistrate, who had probed into the financial anomalies, submitted the report to the Jorhat DC. According to a source in the district administration, it was mentioned in the cash book that Rs 10,97,195 had been given as assistance to pregnant women at different times, but after the financial year 1995-96 the lists of beneficiaries were not received in the office. [S]

Businessman kidnapped

JAMUGURIHAT, Aug 3: Mr Sadananda Dey (30), a businessman of village Ramdupam, Rongachakua, under Jamugurihat PS is found missing since July 17. As reported the businessman Mr Dey went to his own farm at Rangachakua in the evening on that day while four motor cycle riders took away Mr Dey to somewhere else which has not yet been possible to be ascertained. [S]

Bhutanese currency notes seized

RANGIYA, Aug 3: The civil administration in a raid carried out recently at Rangiya seized huge quantities of Bhutanese currency notes of different denominatons from shops and general public. The people possessing foreign currency notes were severely warned not to deal with the currency notes of a foreign country like Bhutan, which had affected the Indian economy. [S]

Bank looted in Shillong

SHILLONG, Aug 5: Armed miscreants looted Rs 1.08 lakh today from a branch of Punjab National Bank at upper Shillong. According to reports, a group of four youths who came in a car stopped in front of the bank and walked inside brandishing revolvers and asked the bank officials not to make any noise and looted the amount. [S]

Naga miscreants abduct trader

JORHAT, Aug 7: A Gypsy-borne four-member gang of Naga miscreants abducted a trader, Mr Kamal Kumar Jain from his business establishment at Chungajan market in Golaghat district at gunpoint at around 1 p.m. today. According to reports, some miscreants had served demand notes to Mr Jain. [S]

Loan of Sugar Mill
Ex-minister, officials behind duping Apex Bank of Rs 7.5 cr

GUWAHATI, Aug 7: The Vigilance & Anti-Corruption Department has found a former minister and 23 other officials, most of them senior IAS officers, guilty of gross irregularities in the matter of siphoning out Rs 7.5 crore from the Assam Cooperative Apex Bank Ltd, and handing it over to the Mumbai-based Brahmaputra Sugar Manufacturing Company owned by one Giridharilal Seksaria during 1992-96, and in the process slapping a whopping Rs 12 crore outstanding dues on the bank. The bank is unable to recover the huge debt. [S]

Naga miscreants abduct trader

JORHAT, Aug 7: A Gypsy-borne four-member gang of Naga miscreants abducted a trader, Mr Kamal Kumar Jain from his business establishment at Chungajan market in Golaghat district at gunpoint at around 1 p.m. today. According to reports, some miscreants had served demand notes to Mr Jain. [S]

Govt, pvt sector employers turn employment exchanges jobless

GUWAHATI, Aug. 9: At a time when lakhs of educated youths are languishing and waiting for a bleak future due to lack of job opportunities in the State, most of the public as well as private sector organizations are violating the Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 in the matter of providing jobs to the local unemployed. The private organizations, including the tea gardens owners and some State Government departments are giving appointments without submitting mandatory notifications to the employment exchanges for which the latter has not been able to provide information of jobs for the youths, who have registered their names with the employment exchanges. [S]

Blasts cost Rlys dear, hit commuters hard

GUWAHATI, Aug 10: The militants operating in Assam very often target the Railways to get maximum possible publicity, oblivious to the fact that apart from causing huge direct and indirect financial loss to the Railways, their actions cause immense hardship to thousands of passengers whose travel plans go haywire because of disruption of the train services. [AT]

Retailers jacking up prices of essentials

GUWAHATI, Aug. 10: It is generally believed that the wholesale traders in essential items of mass consumption, most of whom are based in the city's wholesale market in Fancy Bazar, jack up prices with the onset of monsoons and floods. But the prevailing market prices, both wholesale and retail in the city, have revealed that it is the retailers, over whom neither the district administration nor the Food & Civil Supplies Department has any control, who jack up the prices during such times. And this, even when the wholesale prices have come down for most of the essential items in the past couple of months. [S]

Cash looted

BILASIPARA, Aug 11: Three armed miscreants looted Rs 1,20,000 from one Raju Bura, an employee of M/S Ajit Singh Surendra Kumar of Bilasipara from a bus in which he was travelling from North Salmara to Bilasipara on August 10. The proprietor of the firm told this correspondent that Raju Bura collected the money from different traders of Goalpara and Abhayapuri and boarded a bus at North Salmara. [S]

Alleged anomalies in STW scheme

MORIGAON, Aug 12: Some anomalies in Shallow Tube Well (STW) scheme under Morigaon District Agriculture Office (DAO) were reported. According to information received, National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has undertaken schemes in Morigaon district to provide STW to marginal farmers through village level Pathar Parichalana Samiti (PPS). The Bhurbandha PPS alleged that the Bhurbandha Agriculture Extension Officer under Morigaon DAO was involved in gross anomalies in executing the scheme causing grave concern among the farmers. The PPS in a press release alleged that the Bhurbandha Agriculture Extension Officer forcibly collected Rs 1,000 to 1,500 as bribe from each PPS. Each PPS consists of eight marginal farmers. [S]

NSCN (I-M) recovers looted money, hands over to police

KOHIMA, Aug 20: An amount of Rs 21.7 lakh, out of Rs 23 lakh, looted by armed miscreants on Friday from the Dimapur branch of Punjab and Sind Bank in broad daylight, was recovered by the NSCN (I-M) and the amount handed over to Dimapur Superintendent of Police on Friday night, reports UNI. [AT]

Businessman shot dead

BILASIPARA, Aug 21: One businessman, Ranjit Bharali, was shot dead by suspected Bodo militants at his Anandabazar residence under Barpeta Road PS around 10.40 pm yesterday, our Barpeta Road Correspondent added. [AT]

Nalbari traders call 72-hr trade bandh

NALBARI, Aug 22: Traders in Nalbari town have called a 72-hour trade bandh in the town from this morning in protest against the police brutality on a jeweller, Mr Dipak Jain, proprietor of Madhushree Jewellers, for having refused to hand over gold ornaments worth Rs 13,570 to the wife of the Nalbari Additional SP (Sador), for just Rs 6,000. [S]

Tiger force rebels raid Tripura market area

AGARTALA, Aug 22: Virtual anarchy prevailed in large areas of the Khowai subdivision with reports of largescale looting and arson. A large group of tribals, backed by six heavily-armed All-Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) rebels led by 'area commanders' Ranjan Debbarma and Hiralal Debbarma, swooped down the Bengali-dominated Bachaibari market near Khowai subdivisional town yesterday, police said.
The militants opened fire in the air to scare away the traders and looted cash and valuables worth Rs 25 lakhs. The panic-stricken traders informed the nearby BSF post and the police in Khowai town. While the BSF jawans refused to move, the police sent a mobile patrol van to the spot. [TT]

Students plan economic blockade for development of Dibrugarh

DIBRUGARH, Aug 24: Piqued at the lack of development efforts in the Dibrugarh district, the All Dibrugarh District Students' Union has decided to launch an economic blockade whereby outward movement of products and goods from the district will be blocked for an indefinite period. [AT]

NDFB steps up extortion drive

TEZPUR, Aug 24: The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a major outfit of the lower Assam districts operating especially in the Bodo Autonomous Council (BAC) areas has intensified its extortion drive among the non-Bodo families in various parts of Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar districts respectively. Despite stepped-up security arrangements, the outfits has served notices demanding huge amount of Bodoland tax and donations. [AT]

Rubber industry in Tripura hit by abductions, agitations

AGARTALA, Aug 24: The rubber industry in Tripura was severely hit by the ongoing cease-work agitation by the Rubber Board employees and officers following the abduction of one of their colleague, from Baludham area under Dharmanagar subdivision of North Tripura district on August 4. All the Rubber Board projects remain unattended for last three weeks while disbursement of subsidies for the privately owned plantations also remain suspended. [S]

ACMS agitations from Sept 1

DIBRUGARH, Aug 24: The Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) has decided to launch an agitational programme from September 1 in protest against the State Government's apathy towards the labourers of tea estates of Assam tea Corporation (ATC), an undertaking of Assam Government. [S]

1 killed, tea labourers wages looted by NLFT

AGARTALA, Aug 24: The insurgents of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have killed one person and seriously injured another at Narendrapur tea garden in West Tripura district and looted Rs 1.10 lakh from there, police said here on Thursday, report agencies. Police said the ultras armed with sophisticated weapons raided the garden on Wednesday night and opened fire at the labourers when they were in a queue to receive their weekly wages. [AT]

Illicit liquor traders assault excise officials

JORHAT, Aug 26: A seven-member team of excise officials were assaulted by illicit liquor traders when the officials went to bust the illicit liquor shops in the neighbouring areas of Dhekiajuli yesterday. [S]

Vehicles go off Imphal-Moreh sector of NH-39 in protest

IMPHAL, Aug 26: The private vehicles and all kinds of passenger buses and Tata Sumos have stopped plying on the Imphal-Moreh sector of the National Highway 39 in protest against collection of illegal road tax by the suspected NSCN (I-M) cadres. [AT]

Insurgency hits credit flow in State, CDR on the fall

GUWAHATI, Aug 27: Lack of investment-friendly atmosphere and economically viable projects due to the insurgency problem in the State has slowed down the credit flow from different commercial and rural development banks. The credit deposit ratio (CDR) has been showing a downward trend in Assam since 1997. [S]

Timber industry hit by illegal felling of trees in Kokrajhar

GOSSAIGAON, Aug 27: Large-scale illegal felling of trees has hit hard the timber and other forest product-based industries in Kokrajhar district. Timber, cane, precious resources, of late, have become almost rare materials in the district. [AT]

Fraud arrested

TINSUKIA, Aug 28: Following several complains that M/s Killa CycleCo, located at Thana Road, Tinsukia, had been duping the public by selling ordinary sewing machine with USHA Rupa trade mark, a vigilance team from Joy EngineeringWorks New Delhi led by its officer Mr G S Ranhotra raided the shop premises recently and seized all the duplicate sewing machines. Police arrested its proprietors -- Ram Avtar Killa (38) and Anand Killa (34) and registered a case against them. Earlier, Mr Narayan Pathak, divisional officer at USHA International, Guwahati pretending as customer purchased a sewing machine at the cost of Rs 1,525 and that was found to be the duplicate one. [S]

Small tea growers threaten to stop auction, angry with tea majors
Storm in Assam tea, blockade today

JORHAT, Aug 28: Small tea growers in Assam are dumping more than 1.5 lakh kilogram's of green leaf worth Rs 1.5 million daily for the last ten days in the wake of the abrupt lowering of prices of green leaf by the tea majors who are the prime buyers. Angry tea growers, 25,000 strong, under the banner of the All Assam Small tea Growers' Association, has called a six-hour national highway blockade on Tuesday.
Association general secretary Hemanta Gohain told The Northeast Daily on telephone from Dibrugarh late Monday night that they would be forced to stop the sale of tea by big tea companies as also put a halt to tea auction at the Guwahati tea Auction Centre if the prices were not reverted back to the earlier rates. [NED]

2800 tea growers held for road blockade

DIBRUGARH, Aug 29: Altogether 2800 small tea growers of the district were arrested for blocking the National Highway at two points, Moran and Lahowal, near here. All were later released on personal bonds in the afternoon. [AT]

Government land still being encroached unabated by tea estates

DIBRUGARH, Aug 30: The encroachment of Government land by the tea estates continues unabated in the State. [S]

Licence revocation makes employees' future bleak

GUWAHATI, Aug 30: Over 450 employees of North Eastern Tobacco Company Ltd (NETCO) are staring at a bleak future in the wake of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry vide letter dated August 16,2000 declaring that its industrial licence No. CIL-128 (75) dated 1.5.1975 was no longer valid. [AT]

Rs 5 lakh meant for TE looted

DIBRUGARH, Sept 2: Three youths looted Rs 5 lakh meant for the payment of labourers of Umatara tea Estate situated between Tingkhong and Namrup in Dibrugarh district when the "banker" of the TE was taking it from the bank today. No security was sought by the TE for drawing the money from the bank, which is a must considering the amount. The "banker" of the TE has been picked up for interrogation. [S]

Militants block national highway

IMPHAL, Sept 3 (PTI): Suspected NSCN (I-M) militants today blocked the Imphal-Moreh National Highway 39, an important trade route, for the second time in the past ten days demanding payment of "road and goods taxes" from the vehicles, official sources said. Sources said, the armed militants prevented vehicles travelling from Imphal to Moreh at Thamnapokpi, about 50 km from here for several hours. [S]

Kobra ultras kidnap trader

KOKRAJHAR, Sept 4: Suspected Kobra militants kidnapped a businessman Biren Paul of Basobra in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal from Malikpur in Kokrajhar district today, police sources said. [AT]

Food adulterator convicted

JORHAT, Sept 4: The Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate of Charaideo Judicial Magistrate's Court, Md M Ali convicted a businessman -- Subodh Pal of Sonari town -- for selling adulterated rice, and sentenced him to undergo six months rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3,000 in default additional imprisonment for another six months on September 3. [S]

Tribal bank manager shot dead

AGARTALA, Sept 6: A tribal manager of Taidu Gramin Bank was killed along with another passenger and six others were seriously injured when an unidentified group of militants ambushed their jeep.
Police also recovered bodies of two tribals, identified as Pacchiram Reang and Sanjib Reang, killed in a separate incident in remote Chaplingcherra under Natunbazar police station in South Tripura, the sources added. [TT]

Rs 10 lakh embezzled

BIHPURIA, Sept 8: Bihpuria police today sealed two almirahs of Prerana cinema hall (Bihpuria United Industrial and Cooperative Society) following unearthing of large-scale anomalies indulged in by the society's secretary Jiuram Hazarika who, by using false chalans and seals, evaded entertainment taxes and embezzled a huge sum of money amounting to Rs 10 lakh. Mr Hazarika had defrauded the tax authorities to the tune of Rs 3 lakh by using false chalans since April 1, 1997. Mr Hazarika has been absconding. [S]

Asia's biggest dry fish market facing closure

GUWAHATI, Sept 8: Asia's biggest dry fish market located at Jagiroad is on the verge of closure with the sales dropping alarmingly following imposition of eight per cent sales tax by the Assam Government. [AT]

Asia's biggest dry fish market at Jagiroad. The Assam Tribune photo.

Gunmen loot Rs 2,11,000 from bank

KOHIMA, Sept 8 (UNI): Unidentified gunmen looted Rs 2,11,000 from the PWD cashier last afternoon. Police said the cashier, after withdrawing the amount from a bank, was going to office in a jeep without any police escort, when three gunmen attacked him when he stopped at a petrol pump to refuel the vehicle and snatched away the money. [S]

One killed in Tripura, trader freed

AGARTALA, Sept 14: A tribal supporter of the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura was shot dead last night. In separate incidents, security forces rescued an abducted Bengali trader and arrested six militants. [TT]

Chinese tassar yarn posing threat to muga

GUWAHATI, Sept 14: Chinese tassar yarn is fast replacing traditional Assamese muga in Sualkuchi -- Asia's largest silk village, posing a serious threat to the existence of unique golden thread of Assam. Unscrupulous yarn suppliers of places like Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Calcutta and Bhagalpur are pumping in tassar yarn (silk yarn) imported from China which is inferior in quality to muga silk, to traders in Sualkuchi, a section of whom are, in turn, producing artificial muga fabric by applying golden colour to make it look alike. [AT]

Shillong violence leaves 4 dead

SHILLONG, Sept 18: In a gruesome incident unidentified miscreants stabbed to death two people and strangled a minor girl at Nongmynsong area here on Sunday, reports UNI. According to police, assailants entered the residence of a grocery shop owner and stabbed him to death following an altercation. His 12-year-old niece who rushed on hearing the commontion was strangled to death. A relative who had come to the house was also stabbed. Local people nabbed one of the killers but the others fled.
Unknown gunmen killed a local businessman on September 15 in Barabazar here and injured three others. No arrest had been made so far in this connection. [AT]

SULFA demand hits jute procurement too

GUWAHATI, Sept 20: The arm-twisting methods of the surrendered ULFA militants in cornering lucrative business for themselves has, as its latest victim, affected jute procurement in the State at a time when falling prices are presenting jute growers in the State with an uncertain future. [AT]

Miscreants gun down one

DIBRUGARH, Sept 21: Unidentified miscreants gunned down a small tea grower -- Tankeswar Moran -- at Amguri village near Philobari under Doomdooma police station this morning. [S]

Businessman shot dead

DIBRUGARH, Sept 22: Two armed youths on Wednesday shot dead grocery shop owner at Kunworigaon under Naharkatia police station. The victim, Suresh Agarwalla, died on the spot while another was injured in the shootout.
Meanwhile, the two decomposed bodies recovered near Mohanaghat here are yet to be identified. The bodies were found yesterday morning floating on the Brahmaputra. It is estimated that both the persons were in the 40 to 50 age group. On the other hand, the Tinsukia police too are yet to apprehend the miscreants who robbed the Makum branch of the United Bank of India on Tuesday. In that incident the miscreants decamped after looting Rs 16 lakh from the banks vault. [AT]

Border trade in NE region
India losing crores of rupees due to illegal deals

GUWAHATI, Sept 23: A very 'cosy' arrangement between exporters, importers and the officials manning the international border of the North-east States with countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar is resulting in huge losses of revenue to the government. While official records show exports from this region amounting to a few hundred crores of rupees, actual exports are worth several times more. [AT]

Bank employees hold rally

GUWAHATI, Sept 23: A protest rally was taken out by the bank employees of Guwahati on Saturday under the banner of Assam Provincial Bank Employees' Association (APBEA) against privatisation of banks and introduction of voluntary retirement scheme in the banks, a press release said. [AT]

Financial anomalies detected in Nagaland depts

KOHIMA, Sept 24: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has detected a number of financial irregularities such as fund diversion, misappropriation, doubtful purchases, fiscal benefits to bogus farms in various government departments in Nagaland, reports PTI. The latest CAG report tabled in the State Assembly on Thursday observed that the public distribution system (PDS) in the State was quite inefficient, depriving below poverty line (BPL) families from subsidised foodgrains. [AT]

Small tea growers to launch mass movement

GUWAHATI, Sept 24: For the small tea growers of the State, the problems do not seem to end. After the sudden fall in green leaf prices, the small growers are now facing 'fresh threats' from the tea giants. Over 25,000 small growers who are scattered throughout the State are worried over the prevailing situation as they have invested a huge sum of money in their respective gardens. Disappointed by the action of the major tea groups, the All Assam Small tea Growers are united to launch a united movement. [AT]

PWD (R), Morigaon steeped in financial anomalies

MORIGAON, Sept 27: Gross financial irregularities were reported in Public Work Department (PWD) (Road), Morigaon division causing widespread concern among the local people. As per information received, in the (1999-2000) financial year, Rs 63 lakh was sanctioned to PWD(R), Morigaon division as flood damage repairing (FDR), while Rs 26 lakh was given to the same division by the State Government as general repairing fund. Now, the allegation by the local people is that without utilizing the full fund the completion report has been submitted by the PWD(R), Morigaon division. [S]

Miscreants kill two, injure one

TINSUKIA, Sept 27: A gang of about 10 to 12 armed miscreants shot dead two persons -- Prafulla Gogoi (50), a businessman and Mridul Gogoi -- at Ulup under Margherita police station here last night. Later they shot and injured another person named Faujthappa. He has been admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. Police has not ruled out the involvement of the ULFA in the incident. [S]

ASCARD Bank loan defaulters go scot-free

GUWAHATI, Sept 27: The Assam State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ASCARD), which had been established for extending long-term loans to cultivators and customers related to cultivations, is on the verge of closure and the Government may declare it sick at any moment. [S]

Ultras kill tea executive, injure two

SILCHAR, Sept. 29: Suspected militants shot dead a deputy manager and a security guard of Khailu tea Estate here and injured two others last night. They also abducted another person. Details are awaited. [S]

ATTSA resents govt apathy, threatens to launch stir

GUWAHATI, Oct 9: Disappointed by the State government's inaction in taking a concrete decision regarding daily wage of the tea garden labourers, the Assam tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA) has threatened to launch a vigorous agitation soon. [AT]

Traders' memo to DC on SULFA high-handedness

TINSUKIA, Oct 10: About 70 villagers of Tengapanigaon under Lankhasi police outpost in Tinsukia district submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner urging him to take action against the surrendered ULFA activists, who have created a reign of terror in the area demanding cash from the local small traders. Three surrendered ULFA activists -- Lachit Neog, Romen Moran (both of Dimoruhola) and Lohit Duorah of Dhoka -- had gone to Garbasti of Tengapanigaon on September 21 in a Maruti van (AS 23A-2546) and demanded cash from some small traders there. [S]

Bank manager arrested

JORHAT, Oct 10: Jorhat police arrested the manager of the Shyamganj branch of the Baroda Bank, Mr Surendra Sharma, who is one of the accused in the embezzlement of Rs 15 lakh from a Jorhat-based trader by a fake company -- Lakshmi Trading Company -- which had given its fake address at Khatima in Uttar Pradesh in 1992. According to reports, the company had taken Rs 15 lakh in advance from the trader for supplying 4,200 quintals wheat. When the wheat had not reached at the scheduled time, the trader went to the railway office and found that the railway receipt which had been sent by the company was fake. [S]

Banned 500-rupee notes paid as salary

JORHAT, Oct 11: The employees of the Central Excise Department at Jorhat have been facing a tough time following the disbursement of an amount of Rs 50,000 in 500-rupee denomination whose circulation had been banned by the Reserve Bank of India last year, as salary. According to reports, the cashier of the Central Excise here had drawn Rs 4,33,638 from the RBI on September 29 which included a bundle of 500-rupee notes of the old series amounting to Rs 50,000. According to the Central Excise sources, the RBI refused to take back the banned 500-rupee notes saying that it had not paid any such bundle of notes to the Excise cashier. [S]

Abducted trader rescued, 3 SULFA arrested

MORIGAON, Oct 12: The police, in a prompt action rescued Mr Devi Prasad Mour, a businessman of Hoiborgaon in Nagaon district, who had been kidnapped at gunpoint by some Surrendered United Liberation Front of Asom (SULFA) activists while he was coming from Guwahati to Nagaon in his own car at around 8.30 p.m. yesterday, from an abandoned house at Morigaon town. The police arrested three SULFA activists -- Apurba Kumar Bordoloi alias Ratul, Ganesh Konwar alias Paneshwar and Dibbendra Nath alias Amar Barua -- at around 6.30 p.m. today. It may be mentioned that Amar Barua was the "commander" of the Kolong-Kopili Sakha of the banned outfit. [S]

Concern over crisis of coins

DIBRUGARH, Oct 12: The Eastern Assam Chambers of Commerce and Industries (EACCI)'s general secretary, Mr Bhudev Phukan, in a telegraphic message addressed to the Reserve Bank of India, has drawn the latter's attention to the acute crisis of coins and small denomination notes like Rupee 1, Rs 2 and Rs 5 here. The shortage of coins on the one hand, and the quality of small denomination notes on the other, has not only encouraged the traders and shopkeepers to adopt unethical system of providing revenue stamps, lozenges, etc, or a small round or square piece of paper with a seal of the shops instead of coins and notes to the customers, but has also forced the buyers to purchase more or less quantities of requirement of the customers. [S]

Trader shot dead in Manipur

IMPHAL, Oct 13: A 35-year-old businessman was shot dead by unidentified armed activists in the heart of Imphal city on Friday morning, reports PTI. Official sources said that two armed activists came to the shop of Trilo Agrawal (35) on GM Avenue, near city police station and shot him from close range at around 5.25 am. [AT]

Killing of businessman
Imphal traders keep shutters down for 2nd day

IMPHAL, Oct 14: Imphal traders kept the shutters down for the second day today to protest against the murder of a fellow businessman, reports UNI. A motor parts dealer, Trilok Agarwal, was shot dead yesterday by unidentified gunmen at his shop. [AT]

4-day trade bandh at Imphal begins

IMPHAL, Oct 15: The Chamber of Commerce called a four-day trade bandh in Imphal town from today in protest against the killing of two traders, one on October 2 and the other on October 13. The Chamber of Commerce also alleged that the police failed utterly to check the collection of road tax by as many as 15 underground organizations in the State. [S]

BJP leader shot at, businessman abducted by ULFA at Golokganj

GOLOKGANJ, Oct 15: A businessman of Golokganj, Mr Premsukh Sethia, who is a local leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was shot at and injured by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants at Golokganj Bazar at around 7.15 p.m. yesterday. The militants kidnapped another businessman, Mr Nitai Seal, who is also a member of the BJP, last night. [S]

Teachers, businessmen face extortion

NALBARI, Oct 17: A good number of businessmen and school teachers have of late received demand notes for huge sums of money by unidentified miscreants in the locality of Anandapur C-Block under Barbari Police Station. Letters were issued to a few teachers and businessmen in the Barbari area too, a report said. [S]

Agrani Bank closed down, people allege conspiracy

NALBARI, Oct 17: People of Masalpur area are highly agitated over the UCO Bank's decision to close down the Agrani Bank of Nalbari District, Masalpur Branch. The people allege that it is the victim of a well hatched conspiracy. Prior to this, four more branches of the bank in the district were shifted on various grounds, but no branch was closed down. [S]

tea gardens facing extinction threat

GUWAHATI, Oct 18: Even as the mighty Brahmaputra river shows tendency to change its course between Dholla in Tinsukia district and Dibrugarh, a number of prized tea estates in the tea heartland face threat of extinction due to continuous erosion by the channel of the river towards south of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. [AT]

NSCN collects 'tax' from Assam traders

GOLAGHAT, Oct 19: A great deal of sensation prevails at Merapani in Sector 'D' along the Assam-Nagaland border in Golaghat following the collection of "tax" by a group of armed NSCN militants from the business establishments today. The district and the police administrations, when contacted, said that they were not aware of the incident. [S]

AAIDC employees remain unpaid

DIBRUGARH, Oct 19: Resentment is brewing among the employees of Assam-Agro-Industries Development Corporation here for non-receipt of salary, since eleven months. The situation got momentum when one of their colleague, Tanu Khaklari died on October 12, without any medical treatment. [S]

EAS suffers due to non-holding of panchayat polls

GUWAHATI, Oct 22: The Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) in Assam is likely to die an unnatural death since the Centre has curtailed substantial funds earmarked for the scheme in view of the non-holding of panchayat elections, and the 11th Finance Commission having expressed its reservations about allocating more funds under it to the State. [S]

4 people shot dead by NLFT ultras

AGARTALA, Oct 22: Banned National Liberation Front of Tri-pura (NLFT) guerillas stepped up their violent activities after a brief lull killing four people, including three of a family, here on Saturday, reports Agencies. The ultras also abducted four people, including three small traders, from North Tripura and Dhalai districts.
Meanwhile, tribal villagers in an organised move hacked to death a militant at Sibnagar under Sona-mura police station in West Tripura on Saturday. The villagers or-ganised themselves when the five militants came to the village to collect subscription at gun-point. Four militants, however, managed to escape. [AT]

3-yr-old boy among 5 killed at Naharkotia

DIBRUGARH, Oct 22: In a tragic incident a businessman, a three-year-old boy and three others lost their lives when three armed youths entered the business establishment of one Mr Radhe Shyam Agarwal at Naokholia Bazar near Naharkatia under Joipur police station here at around 5.40 p.m. today. The armed youths came with an intention of extortion and in the process created a terror by killing Mr Radhe Shyam Agarwal on the spot after a brief altercation and later fired at the crowd who assembled at the Naokholia Bazar. According to eye-witness accounts, the miscreants fired at the crowd just to flee from the spot. A three-year-old boy died on the spot after he received bullet injuries on his stomach. The other three, who also had received bullet injuries, died on their way to the OIL Hospital. The five injured were admitted to the OIL hospital. The four of the five deceased are yet to be identified. [S]

SULFA violence leaves one dead, 8 hurt

GOALPARA, Oct 22: After failing to collect "goonda tax" from the fishermen at Balbala Bazar near here, armed SULFA activists resorted to indiscriminate firing leading to the death of one and injury to eight other fishermen on October 16. According to information available, a group of armed SULFA men arrived in a Maruti Gypsy on the day of the incident at about 7 a.m. at Balbala Bazar and demanded 25 per cent "revenue" on sale of fish from the fishermen. [AT]

Gross violation of rules by PMRY beneficiaries, DIC

NAGAON, Oct 22: The Sentinel, which had published news items on the gross violation of rules and regulations by the Prime Ministerfs Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) beneficiaries in Nagaon district and the Nagaon DIC on June 20 and July 19, and for which the United Bank of India (UBI) and the UCO Bank had had to reject all the PMRY proposals forwarded by the Nagaon DIC during the fiscal 1999-2000, once again highlighted the malfunctioning in the DIC. [S]

Concern over circulation of Bhutanese notes

GHOGRAPAR, Oct 23: Large-scale circulation of Bhutanese currency in and around Ghograpar and Tamulpur circle has posed a threat to Indian economy. Like on many earlier occasions, once again the matter was brought to notice of the authorities concerned for stopping such illegal exchange of foreign currency in the market. Bhutanese currency in the denominations of Rs 1, Rs 2, Rs 5 and Rs 10 are in free circulation in the market. [AT]

tea garden manager arrested

TINSUKIA, Oct 23: The Tinsukia Police arrested the Manager of Daisajuri tea Estate near Doomdooma for storing crude oil in underground container and registered a case under Section 71 (A) of EC Act. [S]

Businessman shot dead by NDFB ultras

BISWANATH CHARIALI, Oct 27: A businessmen was shot dead and his son injured by NDFB militants yesterday under Behali police station in Sonitpur district. According to police NDFB militants walked into the shop and started firing indiscriminately. They gunned down Bhagirath Sharma while his son Bhola Sharma sustained bullet injuries and was later admitted to Tezpur Kanaklata Civil Hospital. Sources said Bhagirath Sharma was killed since he refused to comply with their demand of Rs 5 lakh. [S]

'Assam, Meghalaya govts patronising extortionists'

SHILLONG, Oct 27: The Guwahati-Shillong national highway has become a paradise for well-organised and armedgangs of extortionists who have turned it into a lucrative business by fleecing truckers under the very nose of the police and civil administration. [AT]

Coin crisis continues in Manipur

IMPHAL, Oct 29: Despite the arrival of coins at the two main branches of the State Bank of India (SBI), Imphal two weeks back from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Guwahati Regional Office, the circulation of the coins in the State is yet to take wings. The people of this coin-starved State have expressed relief when a total of 70 boxes of coins of Re 1, Rs 2 and 5 amounting to Rs 14.90 lakh arrived here on October 12 for immediate circulation. Deputy Manager (Accounts) of SBI made it clear that unlike other NE States, Manipur faces crisis in circulation of coins due to certain factors including the authorities' inability to supply the coins in time and use of smaller denomination coins in most the traditional ceremonies like shradh and marriages etc. [AT]

Scarcity of coins at Bokakhat

BOKAKHAT, Oct 29: Coin scarcity has created great problems at Bokakhat since a long time. The main bank of Bokakhat is a UBI branch. But the branch has not supplied coins to the customers. As a result, in business transactions both the sellers and the buyers have to suffer a great deal. [S]

Bokakhat STATFED in its death throes

BOKAKHAT, Oct 30: The employees of all the STATFED centres of Assam have not got 18 months' salary till November, 2000. Bokakhat STATFED centre which earlier had business transaction of more than Rs 10,00,000 per month now wears a desolate look. Nothing is seen inside the shop for sale. The centre is even unwilling to lift the rice meant for fair price shops as its price has gone up than the price in the open market. [S]

Chakka bandh in Barak valley today

SILCHAR, Nov 2: The Coordination Committee of Commercial Motor Vehicle Owners of Barak Valley called a 12-hour chakka bandh in the valley tomorrow in protest against the hike in the prices of petrol and petro products, and demanding hike in passengers' fare. [S]

Local business, traders lobby against outside investors: Gunin

GUWAHATI, Nov 4: The State Industries and Commerce Minister, Mr Gunin Hazarika today expressed grave concern that a section of local traders and businessmen who have been running their trades in Assam as their monopolies since the past several decades, are today crying hoarse against the State Government's relentless efforts to bring in investors and businessmen from outside the State to set up industries here and the successes that it has achieved in its pursuit. [S]

ULFA kidnaps businessman

MORIGAON, Nov 5: Md Iqbal Patowary, a Kabuli businessman was kidnapped by United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants from Ganeshbari near Jagiroad during the last 72 hours. The matter came to light yesterday. According to police sources, the businessman was kidnapped by the ULFA when he was going to the house of one Padum Bahadur. Padum Bahadur and his two brothers have already been arrested in this connection. [S]

Insurgent outfits go on tax collection spree on NH 39

IMPHAL, Nov 10: Armed insurgents, suspected to be members of nine Nagaland based outfits, have started the collection of road, goods and passenger taxes from the vehicles plying between Imphal and Moreh along the NH 39 in a big way. Two months back the insurgents had warned the drivers of all vehicles, including those of the Tata Sumo taxis, to pay the taxes or face the dire consequences. [S]

DRDA anomalies resented

MORIGAON, Nov 11: Gross anomalies in implementation of some Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) under DRDA (District Rural Development Agency) Morigaon, were reportedly causing concern among rural people. As per records received, there is no Action Plan of Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) during 1999-2000 financial year in DRDA, Morigaon. [S]

Businessman kidnapped

GOLAGHAT, Nov 11: Suspected Naga ultras have kidnapped one businessman from 'B' sector of Nagaland border on November 5. The businessman, who is Bengali, was kidnapped from his house at Jahajigaon, adjacent to Uriamghat. [S]

Bank employees to strike work on Nov 15

GUWAHATI, Nov 13: About 15,000 officers and employees of different banks in the North-east will join the all-India bank strike on November 15 in protest against the move for privatization of banks, voluntary retirement scheme for bank employees and reduction in retirement age of bank employees. Functioning of all commercial, public sector and co-operative banks will come to a halt in the region due to the proposed country-wide strike on November 15. [S]

Ultras outfits hold shares in multi-national companies, says Pillai
'Insurgents indulging in money-making business'

TAMENGLONG (Manipur), Nov 13: The Joint Secretary to the Union Home Ministry, GK Pillai yesterday said most of the insurgency groups in the north-eastern region were indulging in money-making business and holding stakes in multi-national companies in different countries, reports PTI. Talking to newspersons here, Pillai said some of the insurgent outfits were having "shares in big multi-national companies" in foreign countries and their leaders were directors of boards of some companies. "They loot money from people and invested fund in big companies," he said. [AT]

Major financial anomalies detected in DPEP, Morigaon

MORIGAON, Nov 14: Some major financial irregularities in District Primary Education Project (DPEP), Morigaon were detected by the District Advisory Committee (DAC) to DPEP at Morigaon. [S]

ULFA abducts HPC Deputy Manager

MORIGAON, Nov 14: Mr Ujjal Moni Phukan, the Deputy Manager of the forest division of the Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC), Jagiroad was abducted by United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants from Nine Mile forest beat office under Baithalangshu police station in Karbi Anglong district on November 9, a delayed report received here today said. The banned outfit demanded a huge amount of ransom for the safe release of the HPC officer. [S]

Businessman shot dead by ultras

SORUPETA, Nov 15: One Nabin Goyari (32), the owner of Goyari Agro Centre (a seed house) was shot dead by some militants at Salbari under Barpeta Road police station last night. According to reports, a group of militants had taken Mr Goyari from a staff quarters of Salbari hospital, where he had been staying along with his wife and daughter, to an unknown place and shot him dead. His body was recovered at Salbari today. [S]

Forgery at Morigaon Treasury detected

MORIGAON, Nov 15: A forgery case was detected by Morigaon Treasury on November 9. As per records of Morigaon treasury, one Maikan Hazarika a pensioner whose bill was passed in Morigaon treasury and sent to United Bank of India (UBI), Morigaon branch on November 8, vide PPO No. 14498, for the amount of Rs 4,029, but on November 7, the UBI found the fraud bill showing the name over "Maikan" to "Ramaikanta Hazarika" showing the amount for Rs 54,029. The fraud bill was however not paid by the UBI, Morigaon due to lack of signature of treasury officer space appeared in person. However who made the forgery in the bill was not known till now. [S]

NDFB guns down tea executive

GUWAHATI, Nov 16 (PTI): National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) ultras struck in a big way killing an assistant manager of a tea estate in troubled Barpeta district of lower Assam today. The assistant manager of the Fatimabad tea Estate, Jwinsuma Basumatary, had gone for some inspection work in sector number 104 of the tea garden when NDFB militants hiding in the nearby water trenches shot him dead from close range, official sources said here. [S]

Fresh orgy of violence by ULFA Seven massacred near Sivasagar JORHAT, Nov 17: In a fresh orgy of violence perpetrated by suspected ULFA militants, seven people, including one woman and two girls, were gunned down and three others critically injured when AK-47-wielding ultras swooped down on the Bihubor-based residence of a Marwari businessman under Simaluguri police outpost at around 8 pm yesterday and fired indiscriminately. [AT] ULFA gun down sven more, this time at Bihubor JORHAT, Nov 17: ULFA militants, in yet another dastardly attack, mowed down seven persons, four of them of one family, including a woman and two girls at Bihubor in Sivasagar district at around 7.45 p.m. yesterday. Three others sustained severe bullet injuries and they are undergoing treatment at the AMC Hospital, Dibrugarh. [S] 7 dead in fresh N-E carnage BIHUBOR (Sivsagar), Nov 17: In the continuing orgy of violence in Assam, seven persons -- all of them non-Assamese -- were killed and three others injured when gunmen swooped down on their settlement on the bank of Dikhow river last evening. The site of the massacre is barely 100 metres from the Bihubor police outpost. [TT]

Insurgency leads to flight of capital from Assam

SILIGURI, Nov 20: Insurgency has seriously affected the economy of Assam as it has resulted in flight of capital from the State to the North Bengal area and over the years hundreds of big and small businessmen from different parts of Assam have shifted their business to this area. [AT]

Only 30% progress achieved in ARIASP road projects

NAGAON, Nov 20: The progress report of World Bank-funded ARIASP road development projects in the State for the month of October published by the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC), an Austrailian consultancy firm appointed by the Centre to monitor the World Bank-aided projects in Assam, revealed that almost all the projects crossed the scheduled time of completion, and in most of the projects the average rate of progress of work was below 30 per cent. Whoever had gone through the progress report of the World Bank-aided projects in Assam for the month of October can guess what will be fate of the projects under the AGP-led four-party coalition Government in the State. [S]

Extortion by ULFA continues

NAGAON, Nov 24: The extortion spree of the ULFA is in full swing collecting around Rs 50 lakh from several prominent doctors, businessmen in the Nagaon town, it is learnt. According to sources, the 40-member action group of the proscribed outfit led by Suresh Bora, which has been taking shelter at Guwahati to surrender, has collected around Rs 50 lakh within the period from November 1 to 15. The money is paid to a mediator, a lady worker of a political party, at gun-point. A certain businessman of Haiborgaon who had refused to pay, later after repeated threats paid about Rs 2 lakh, the source alleged. [S]

Border trade hit by vehicle strike

MOREH (Manipur), Nov 25: Indo-Myanmar trade through this border town in Manipur's Chandel district has suffered a setback due to an indefinite strike called by the Joint Action Committee of Bus and Taxi Owners (JACOBTO) to protest against the "goods tax" imposed by several underground groups, official sources said here on Friday. [AT]

Tripura TEs to be closed down due to fund crunch

AGARTALA, Nov 27: In the face of the unprecedented financial crunch, the tea growers have decided to close down their gardens in the State indefinitely. tea Association of India's Agartala branch secretary PK Sarkar on Saturday confirmed the report and said that it was no more possible for the fund-starved planters to run their gardens, especially during the lean period. [AT]

Rebels' extortion demands halt Indo-Myanmar border business

IMPHAL, Nov 27: The Rs 34 crore annual Indo-Myanmar border trade transacted through Moreh in Manipur, has come to a grinding halt since November 6, due to a transporters' strike protesting against the extortion demands they have been subjected to by insurgents on the Imphal-Moreh stretch of National Highway 39. [NED]

Chakka bandh hits commuters

GUWAHATI, Nov 27: The commuters of Assam today suffered immense hardship as the commercial vehicles stayed off the roads in response to a 48-hour chakka bandh call given by the All Assam Motor Transport Association (AAMTA) demanding hike in the fares of commercial vehicles. [AT]

Hindi-speaking traders fleeing Nalbari: Samity
Ulfa chairman calls halt to killings, urges people to resist ATF carnage

GUWAHATI, Nov 27: Forty-eight hours after yet another massacre near Nalbari, there are reports of a massive exodus of Hindi-speaking people from the district and parts of Rangiya sub-division of Kamrup district. Sources said, a large number of people are crowding the railway stations at Nalbari and Rangiya with their baggage for catching outgoing trains. Most of them are quilt makers, barbers, cobblers, washermen and other petty traders. [NED]

Tripura TEs to be closed down due to fund crunch

AGARTALA, Nov 27: In the face of the unprecedented financial crunch, the tea growers have decided to close down their gardens in the State indefinitely. tea Association of India's Agartala branch secretary PK Sarkar on Saturday confirmed the report and said that it was no more possible for the fund-starved planters to run their gardens, especially during the lean period. [AT]

Miscreants' bid to abduct trader foiled

TEZPUR, Nov 28: A four-member gang of a Maruti van-borne armed miscreants made an attempt to abduct a trader, Mr Ashok Pande at around 6.30 p.m. on November 26 at Rangapara town in Sonitpur district. But when Mr Pande made a hue and cry the people staying near by gathered, and the miscreants, suspected to be Bodo militants, shot at and injured Mr Pande with AK-47 rifle before fleeing. Mr Pande, who received bullet injuries in the hands and the legs, has been admitted to a nursing home. Meanwhile, the police recovered the Maruti van (AS-12-1122), which had been used by the miscreants while committing the crime, in an abandoned state at Kaloni tea Estate this morning. The police picked up 10 Bodo youths for interrogation in this connection. [S]

3 Hindi-speaking people hacked to death in Tinsukia

TINSUKIA, Nov 28: Three persons of a Bihari family were hacked to death by some unidentified miscreants at Lalmati, 3 km from Pengeri police station at around 7.30 p.m. last night. The victims were -- Ganesh Prasad (55), a local businessman, his nephew Ramanuj Prasad (37) and cousin Shankar Prasad (25). Ramanuj and Shankar had come to Tinsukia from Bihar a few days back. [S]

Miscreants' bid to abduct trader foiled

TEZPUR, Nov 28: A four-member gang of a Maruti van-borne armed miscreants made an attempt to abduct a trader, Mr Ashok Pande at around 6.30 p.m. on November 26 at Rangapara town in Sonitpur district. But when Mr Pande made a hue and cry the people staying near by gathered, and the miscreants, suspected to be Bodo militants, shot at and injured Mr Pande with AK-47 rifle before fleeing. Mr Pande, who received bullet injuries in the hands and the legs, has been admitted to a nursing home. Meanwhile, the police recovered the Maruti van (AS-12-1122), which had been used by the miscreants while committing the crime, in an abandoned state at Kaloni tea Estate this morning. The police picked up 10 Bodo youths for interrogation in this connection. [S]

ATTSA stages dharna

GUWAHATI, Dec 2: Disappointed by the State government's inaction, members of the Assam tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA) yesterday staged a dharna before Assam tea Corporation (ATC) office Thursday. Later, talking to The Assam Tribune ATTSA's president and general secretary in-charge Simanchal Dighal and Teras Gowala respectively, said that the ATC had failed to release the pending dues of the employees causing immense hardships for them. [AT]

Miscreants loot Rs 2 lakh

TEZPUR, Dec 3: A gang of unidentified miscreants snatched Rs 2 lakh from a businessman near Tulip tea Estate under Dhekiajuli police station in Sonitpur district at around 8.30 last night. According to police, a Marowari businessman and his colleagues brought the amount meant for providing loan to the garden workers. [S]

Bamboo crisis hits HPC after abduction of Phukan

JAGIROAD, Dec 6: In the aftermath of the abduction of the Assistant Manager of Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) Mill, Jagiroad, Mr Ujjalmoni Phukan by United liberation Front of Asom militants from Karbi Anglong in November, the production in the paper mill has been badly affected due to acute shortage of raw materials. With the present stock of about 600 metric tonnes bamboo the mill can continue production for six more days. [S]

ASCARD Bank issue blocks NABARD loans to PWD

GUWAHATI, Dec 7: Financial irregularities and corrupt practices committed by a coterie of officials, politicians and businessmen have not only pushed the Assam State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ASCARD) to the verge of closure, but also made the National Agriculture Bank for Rural Development (NABARD) take some hard decisions in the matter of sanctioning further loans to the ASCARD as well as other departments concerned. Dissatisfied with the delay in repaying loans by the ASCARD Bank, the NABARD has not been releasing loans under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) amounting to Rs 9 crore to the Public Works Department (PWD) since the last eight months on the plea of the ASCARD Bank's failure to repay the huge amount of loans taken from the NABARD. [S]

Tension brewing along Manipur-Assam border, insurgent attacks rising

IMPHAL, Dec 8: Tension is running high on the Manipur-Assam border following an ambush by underground militants on a convoy of India Reserve Battalion and Manipur Police on Thursday. Shops and business establishments in Jiribam bazar have downed shutters. This is the second major attack by the rebels since October 20 when the proscribed People's Liberation Army(PLA) attacked the Jiribam police station, and looted 37 sophisticated weapons from the police personnel. [NED]

Living standard of char farmers declining

GOLAKGANJ, Dec 8: Despite their great potential to contribute to the agricultural economy of the State, the Government has not taken any major step for the development of the char areas. The standard of living of the char inhabitats is very poor and they lack the basic amenities. Seasonal floods coupled with government apathy have made their life miserable. [AT]

Funds crunch hits APTDC

GUWAHATI, Dec 10: The Assam Plains Tribes Development Corporation (APTDC) is facing acute shortage of funds due to apathy of he State Government. Set up in 1975 with the objective of providing financial assistance to the tribal people for their economic development, the corporation is in doldrums as the State Government has stopped providing share capital to it for the last 16 years. [AT]

Telecom Dept's mismanagement costs PCO owners dear

Over Rs 2 lakh looted

JORHAT, Dec 13: Miscreants broke open the dicky of a scooter, looted over Rs 2 lakh and fled. A businessman from Majuli withdrew Rs 2.9 lakh from the bank and went for shopping keeping the cash in the dicky of his scooter. The police picked up a youth hailing from Nagaon in this connection. Two other youths managed to escape. [S]

Assam security holds back keen investors

GUWAHATI, Dec 14: Continuing attacks by militants and the disturbed security situation in Assam have shattered the confidence of private investors, with the region's economy plummeting to an all-time low. Efforts by the beleaguered Assam government to tone its sagging economy by attracting investments has received a major setback with armed rebels going on the rampage, killing more than 120 persons in the past two months. [NED]

Ultras gun down four in Manipur

IMPHAL, Dec 18: Unidentified militants shot dead four non-Manipuris after calling them out of their homes at Sugnu Bazar in Manipur's Thoubal district, reports PTI. The militant lined up their victims, all of them small traders at Sugnu Bazar, and shot them dead one by one from close range after asking them to step out of their houses at 8 pm last night, official sources said today. [AT]

NDFB involved in timber smuggling : Army

GUWAHATI, Dec 20: Is the militant outfit National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) involved in timber smuggling? The Armymen operating in the Lower Assam districts of Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon have claimed that the militant outfit is actively involved in illegal felling of trees and they attacked only those who refused to pay 'tax' to the militants. [AT]

NSCN kidnappers release businessman

GOLAGHAT, Dec 20: Suspected Naga militants released Mr Biswanath Agarwalla on December 17. Mr Agarwalla is a businessman of Sarupathar. The militants who kidnapped him on November 23 tied him to a tree, beat and tortured him. His hands were tied with iron chain during the days of his captivity. It is learnt that a top leader of NSCN(IM) came to observe physical torture on him. The kidnappers were heavily armed with weapons like AK-47s. A source said that Mr Agarwalla was released in lieu of a huge amount of money. But family sources denied paying money to the kidnappers. [S]

Bankers take to the streets

GUWAHATI, Dec 21: Functionings of the public sector banks in the State today came to a grinding halt following the nation-wide strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) in protest against what they called the "Bank Privatization Bill 2000." More than 3,000 bank officials and employees took out a procession in the city shouting slogans to demand withdrawal of the Bill. A rally was also organized at Pan Bazar here where several local bank union leaders lambasted the 'sinister design' of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government at the Centre to privatize the public-sector banking system. [S]

Madhav predicts doomsday for Assam

GUWAHATI, Dec 22: Renowned economist and Chairman of the NEDFi Dr Jayanta Madhav today predicted doomsday for Assam if the economic growth rate, which has been on a downward slide since the last 25 years, does not take an upward trend at the earliest. He said that the growth of population in the north-eastern region has not been commensurate with the growth of the economy. [S]

Poor roads, chaotic traffic situation irk AT Road residents

GUWAHATI, Dec 22: Although the Assam Trunk Road (AT Road) area, extending from the Paltan Bazar overbridge point to Bharalumukh police point in the city, has always been one of the most important commercial hubs in the State, the authorities concerned have as yet, not taken up any steps for the overall development of the area. The area, which has seen tremendous growth of automobile shops and business establishments during the last couple of decades, however, lacks basic civic amenities due to the apathetic attitude of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and the Kamrup district administration. [S]

Bodies recovered

JALAH, Dec 25: The Jalah police recovered two bodies from Jalah area under Patacharkuchi police station recently. The bodies were initially noticed by the locals of the respective area. The first body was that of Narendra Das (35), a grocer of Jalahghat locality. His dead body was recovered by the cultivators of his village. The police recovered yet another body near Laukhata village while it was floating in the Kaldia river. The victim had later been identified as Sri Aman Ali (40) a radio dealer cum businessman of Dumni Bazar. [AT]

Trader kidnapped

KOKRAJHAR, Dec 26: Four unidentified gunmen kidnapped one Raju Patowary, a trader of Gossaigaon from Serfanguri market yesterday. [S]

Assam tea Corporation facing fund crunch

GUWAHATI, Dec 29: At a time when the State Government is encouraging the youths for tea cultivation, the fate of over 14,000 employees of the Assam tea Corporation (ATC) hangs in balance due to apathy of the authorities concerned. Set up in 1972 with 15 tea gardens, the Corporation is now facing severe financial crunch and is yet to clear the salaries of the employees for the last three months. What is more serious is that the Corporation has failed to meet the production target for the past several years. [AT]

Phytosanitary Certificates
State exporters facing Problems

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: The exporters of the State are facing problems in despatching their agriculture and forest products as they are not given Phytosanitary Certificates timely. The phytosanitary Certificate which is nowadays mandatory for export and import of agriculture and forest products under the Destructive Insects, Pest Act, 1914 to 'restrict the entry of exotic pest from one country to another.' Though it is a longstanding demand of the exporters to set up a plant quarantine station in Guwahati for arrangement of Phytosanitary Certificates, authorities seem to be indifferent for which tea export is affected. [AT]