GUWAHATI, Dec 10: At least eight persons including the brother of a United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militant and one surrendered National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) man were killed in different parts of Assam since last night.

The Superintendent of Police of Darrang district, Sri P Bhattacharya said that suspected NDFB militants shot dead their former colleague along with his father and sister at Nizkahibari village under Paneri police station last night.

Giving details of the incident, Sri Bhattacharya said that a four member group of NDFB militants tried to drag away Putu Boro, a surrendered militant, from his residence at around 9.30 pm last night. The family members tried to prevent the militants from doing so, when the militants opened fire, killing Putu Boro and his father Nripendra Boro on the spot. Putu's sister Anima Boro, who received bullet injuries, died on way to the hospital, while, the surrendered militant's wife, Kanika Boro, who was also injured in the incident, has been shifted to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital for treatment.

Sri Bhattachrya said that Putu Boro surrendered on April 14 last year and there were reports that he was indulging in extortions in the area. He was also reported to be maintaining links with the Army and on occasions assisted the army in operations.

In another incident, under Rongjuli police station in Goalpara district, Sri Lakhan Rabha, brother of hardcore ULFA militant Satrughna Rabha was killed by unidentified assailants. Lakhan hails from the Dhupdhara area of the district. The miscreants also burnt down the house of hardcore ULFA militant Monoj Rabha alias Drishti Rajkhowa in the same area at around 1.30 am last night.

Meanwhile, police sources said here that Tapan Das, a truck driver was shot dead by suspected Kuki militants near Singajan in Karbi Anglong district last night.

An agency report said that bullet ridden bodies of Rabiram Brahma and Achinta Brahma were recovered by police at Kachibari in Kokrajhar district.

Our Nalbari correspondent adds: A fisherman Md Matleb Ali (42) of Bardhap village under Mukalmua PS of the district was killed at around 2 am late last night when an Army patrol fired at him and his colleagues. Another fisherman, Majjam Ali (50) was also injured in the shoot-out.

According to eyewitness accounts, Matleb Ali was guarding his fishery alongwith five other fishermen when the Army patrol party arrived at the spot. On seeing the Armymen, the fishermen tried to escape. The Army resorted to indiscriminate firing killing Matleb on the spot and injuring Majjam. The other fishermen managed to escape unhurt. Later, the Army handed over the body of Matleb to the police this morning.

The police sources here informed that a big group of ULFA militants had taken shelter in the house of Matleb a few days ago.

DHING, Dec 10: Two unemployed youths of Batadrawa area, became bankrupt by running a PCO at their locality, informed a local source. The incident has revealed the hollow claims of the Telecommunications Department about its rapid expansion and contribution to self employment in the country.

The source said that responding to the long standing demands of the people in Batadrawa area, a telephone exchange was established at Batadrawa in 1998 and telephone connection to 90 houses were given by the department. Just at that time two local youths, Chandramani Bhuyan and Arati Bora, instead of seeking jobs, opened a PCO to get themselves employed in their own place. But they could not earn the income expected by them due to the poor performance of the department. It is learned from the source that the Batadrawa exchange is of the lowest capacity and almost always remains out of order throughout the year. If by chance a channel works, the false bills and false connections cause heavy loss to the PCOs.

The PCO owners had to quarrel with the customers due to mismangement of the Telecom Department. Moreover, they have been harassed by the rules introduced by the department. According to the new rules, the PCO owners must deposit Rs 1,620 at the end of every month. But the monthly income of the PCO is much less than Rs 1,620, as for 25 days in a month, the channels don't work. The unemployed youths had to close their PCO. They had to pay the arrear amount to the department by selling all their landed property and have now become paupers.

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.

It is learnt that the corporation was set up with an authorised share capital of Rs 1 crore and later it was raised to Rs 3 crore in order to speed up development. But, due to lack of funds, the corporation is facing a problems in delivering the goods.

Facing an uphill task, to carry out developmental activities in the tribal areas, the employees of the corporation have been launching a series of agitation to put pressure on the State Government to release the share capital but to no avail.

The corporation is also facing hardships in disbursing the regular salaries of the employees due to the prevailing financial crisis.

According to official statistics an amount of Rs 1.56 crore is required annually to meet the salaries of the employees.

Official sources said that since 1997, the State Government had released only Rs 12.24 crore against the allotment of Rs 28.04 crore under Special Central Assistance (SCA) for which ongoing schemes are severely affected.

The Family Oriented Income Generating Scheme (FOIGS) has also suffered a major setback due to the State Government's failure in releasing the funds in time.

Concerned over the State Government's inaction in extending financial assistance to the corporation, the general secretary of the APTDCEA Makhan Chandra Doley alleged that despite repeated demands, it is yet to release Rs 15.79 crore and as a result of which the corporation is facing problems in carrying out its schemes.

"Our main problem is that a huge Central assistance meant for the development of the tribal people has been diverted by the State Government", he said and appealed to the State Government to release the amount as early as possible.

The general secretary, however, infomed that to overcome the grim financial position, the corporation has laid emphasis on recovering the loans granted to the unemployed youths.

Asked what steps were initiated to revamp the corporation, he revealed that employees had demanded the Centre to sanction funds directly to the corporation so that the ongoing schemes are not hindered.

"The State Government should release the funds as early as possible keeping in view the grim financial position of the APTDC", Sri Doley added.

BARPETA ROAD, Dec 11: Historically famous for literary and cultural activities of Assam, the Sorbhog Assembly constituency in the northern part of Barpeta district is now a neglected area. Many places of ancient historical importance are now in a sorry state. The people of Sorbhog have alleged that just before election time, the leaders and workers of various political parties visit the area and shed crocodile tears.

They make several false promises to win votes. After the election, these leaders forget to meet the residents of Sorbhog, which is known to be a hyper-sensitive area of the terrorist-infested northern Barpeta. The area is facing many problems and development works have been stalled.

EROSION BY BEKI RIVER: Cultivable land amounting to several hundred bighas have been eroded and have disappeared into the Beki river during the last three decades. The evergreen villages with lovely paddy fields have been destroyed by the continuous erosion taking place every year. Many peasant families are being forced to go without food for days on end. These ill-fated villagers have somehow managed to subsist by the side of the road to the Manas National Park. Small thatched cottages are their shelter. Some of the worst-affected villages are Katajhar Pathar, Safa Kamargaon, Nijara Gaon, Khudanabari, etc. Several villages of Kharija Bijni Mouza are in the grip of endowed the erosion.

These villages were abundantly endowed with varied agricultural products, fisheries and poultries. The local people are highly aggrieved at the uncaring attitude of the Government.

The conscious citizens have demanded a long-term scheme by the department concerned to prevent such erosion.

DEPLORABLE ROAD COMMUNICATION: The Sorbhog area possesses a very bad communication system. Barpeta Road is known as the gateway of the northern Barpeta district. The Manas Road, connecting Barpeta town and Barpeta Road, is worn out and at places, very badly damaged. The motor vehicles, two wheelers, rickshaws and thelas move at a snailfs pace due to the big pot-holes. There is every likelihood of accidents occurring in this dilapidated road.

AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS: Ninety per cent of the people of this area are cultivators. The peasants of Sorbhog area were earlier known as the richest cultivators in Barpeta district. But the condition of these once-rich peasants is now deplorable. They have been deprived of irrigation facilities, high yielding seeds, agricultural loans, manures, pesticides etc. for several years now. The Agriculture Extension Officers, gram sevaks etc. do not go to the villages out of fear of the extremists.

LACK OF PROPER MEDICAL FACILITIES: Many patients in Sorbhog die for want of proper medical treatment. There is a hospital at Limua, an interior village of Sorbhog area. But medicines are not available in sufficient quantities and there are no medical equipment for clinical tests. The people of the locality do not prefer to go to the dilapidated and dirty hospital. The thelas and bullock carts are used as ambulances by the people to carry their patients to and from the hospital.

NO ACADEMIC ATMOSPHERE: The education system in the area is going from bad to worse. The academic atmosphere has been vitiated by the terrorist activities in Sorbhog. Many learned teachers, brilliant students, specially the non-Bodos, have to leave the area for lack of security. Although there are several reputed schools and colleges in the area, the institutions are not in a position to impart education and run regular classes necessary for good results.

LACK OF POTABLE WATER: The people of the area are forced to use the unhygienic water of tanks, rivers and ditches since the Public Health Department has not provided any water supply system. The villagers often suffer from diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, malaria and jaundice. On the other hand, there is no provision for electricity in the remote area. There, people depend on kerosene lamps and lanterns.

TEZPUR, Dec 13: Although the Sonitpur district administration has failed to protect the lives and properties of the common people from the menace of the wild tuskers in Sonitpur district during the last few months but it is heart-rending to note that at least 21 wild tuskers died in the district during the past one year due to scarcity of food and inhuman torture by the people. According to sources, two pregnant wild tuskers along with two baby tuskers died at Tarajuli tea estate near Ranagapara and at Kalamati area under Chariduar reserve forest respectively in Sonitpur district during the last one week.

Denundation of the forest by the timber smugglers and paddy cultivation resulted in the elephants coming down in herds in the district in search of food thereby destroying the property which resulted in the villagers to kill the tuskers by poisoning the local countrymade liquor.

GUWAHATI, Dec 13: The stipulations in the service rules for government officials that they must submit to the government details of their income from all sources every year, and that they must seek sanction from the government before they purchase a vehicle, land or build a house or acquire any such movable and immovable property, have degenerated into a total farce over the years, because neither the officials will submit the details about their incomes, nor the government will care to ask for explanation from the officials who do not comply with the rules.

According to sources in Janata Bhavan, the rules even stipulate that an officer cannot take a telephone in his house without informing the government. If these stipulations are strictly enforced, over 50 per cent of corrupt practices by the government officers and employees could be well taken care of, sources said, adding however that unless the authorities who are to ensure that the rules are strictly followed, themselves act and behave above board, it would always be the proverbial situation of one having to bell the cat.

Sources said, leave alone high officials, even third and fourth grade employees today are acquiring movable and immovable property in Guwahati which can be a matter of envy for any urban middle class family. A section of Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS officers, is however, regularly submitting their income details, etc. to the government. Even if some of these officers, who are permanent residents of Assam and Meghalaya, acquire property in some one else's name, the government can easily detect the fraud if it wants to. But this becomes difficult in the case of those officials who are not permanent residents of the State but who have to spend most of their service tenure in Assam. Sources said, an IAS officer from UP, who was in charge of a crucial department here, is building a palatial mansion in his ancestral place in UP. Another officer is running a flourishing business in private school in Madhya Pradesh in the name of his wife, sources said, adding that it is the duty of the government to investigate how and from where the officials could acquire such property.

AGARTALA, Dec 13: The State-level conference of the Jamatia Hoda, the highest body of the community, has decided to ban payment of all kind of tax to the militants. They also decided to carry on the struggle against the insurgents, specially against the National Liberation Front of Tripura, who are interfering with the religious and social affairs of the community.

The 410th conference of the Hoda, which the leaders claim was established in 1,590 also resolved unanimously that the Jamatia are Hindus and they will continue with this identity. Two Akra's (leader) of the community Bikram Bahadur Jamatia and Hari Charan Jamatia were re-elected in their posts.

The conference held at Hadupa village under Teliamura Police Station in West Tripura district assumed special significance in view of the present onslaught against the Hindu tribals by the NLFT. They were forcing the tribals to convert into Christianity and also was preventing them from performing their traditional rituals.

The Jamatias, the most organized tribal community in the State first revolted when the NLFT issued notification imposing ban of performing ofd Garia Puja and Durga Puja, last year. The Jamatia Hoda decided to defy the ban and performed both the festivals.

Since then, the two Akra's are organizing a massive agitation against the militancy. They also organized volunteer forces to resist the entry of militants in Jamatia dominated villages. The two-day conference on December 9 and 10 has approved it and decided to further intensify the agitation.

GUWAHATI, Dec 13: What can be more touching than a mother planning to give a fatal dose to her only kid! Well, this is happening in Assam. Rumi Begum, widow of ASTC driver Mohd. Shahid Ali, have threatened to kill herself and her nine-year-old daughter Rani by next week if the government fails to break the ASTC impasse immediately.

Rumi's husband died in last February due to lack of money for proper medical attention. After all the possible steps to divert government's attention to the ASTC deadlock fail to yield any positive result, Rumi on Wednesday said that she would give poison to Rani, a fifth standard student, and kill herself by next week if the year-old impasse is not resolved immediately.

But, Rumi is only an example of the ASTC family. Atleast 35 ASTC employees and their kin have died in the past six months in various parts of the state, due to salary non-payment of salaries for the last 10 months. (February 1, 2000- till date).

Out of the reported 35 deaths, there are atleast 12 of suicide, about 16 due to lack of medical treatment, and the rest either due to depression, cardiac arrests or starvation.

Mentionably, altogether 23 employees of the Guwahati unit of the State Transport Workers' Association (STWA) began their fast-unto-death programme on November 7 at the ASTC premises out of which all but 5 have been hospitalised due to their failing health. Ratneswar Rajbongshi, Ram Prabesh Singh, Mahendra Lahakar, Bongshidhar Kalita and Kamaleshwar Kalita are still continuing their fast.

Though not a STWA member, Rumi has planned to join the fast-unto-death from Saturday. For her, ASTC apathy was responsible for her husband's death.

She said: "My husband's pension of Rs 215 also has been stopped. I cannot feed my daughter nor can I pay her school fees. The landlord has been asking for house-rent which has not been paid for the last six months."

Naba Kishor, son of ASTC employee Nanda Kishor Sharma and Malati Sharma, died on November 3, due to lack of treatment. They could not even perform Naba's shraddha due to want of money. Her younger son, five-year old Naba Kumar--a student of God Wings' School, Christian Basti- has also failed to clear pending results.

Another touching tale is of Dhiraj Mishra, a tenth standard student of the Gorkha High School, who had been starving for the last three days, out of despair as he failed the selection test.

He said: "I always achieved ranks in class since my childhood. My father, an ASTC third grade employee, could not pay my tuition fees for seven months. My name was struck off the rolls. I had no tutor and I failed." Dhiraj is contemplating suicide, as he does not want to be a burden on his family.

Speaking to The Northeast Daily, STWA acting general secretary Khursid Alam said that the children of the association members planned to stall VIP traffic on the B Baruah Road on Wednesday.

GUWAHATI, Dec 14: The office of the Lokayukta, Assam, which was set up under the Assam Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act, 1985 in February in 1989, with a view to investigating grievances and allegations of the public against ministers, legislators and other public servants, is in a defunct state due to the State Government's reluctance to appoint a Lokayukta since the last five years. While not a single case of public grievance and allegation has been registered and investigated by the Lokayukta office, Assam since 1995, the State Government has been spending quite a substantial amount of money from its exchequer to pay salaries to other staff and officials of the Lokayukta office, even though the employees are literally doing nothing worthwhile but waiting for the arrival of a new Lokayukta.

Sources told The Sentinel here today that the State Government is not willing to appoint a Lokayukta in spite of the fact that several retired judges of the Gauhati High Court have expressed their desire to offer their services as the Lokayukta. While the role of Lokayukta has acquired great significance in other States of the country in addressing with the grievances and allegations of the public against ministers, legislators and public servants, the people of Assam do not even know the existence of a Lokayukta office in Guwahati, sources said, adding that recommendations of the Lokayukta to the Chief Minister of a State to initiate punitive action against erring ministers, legislators and public servants cannot be challenged in any court of law of the country.

Sources said that the Lokayukta acts as a watch dog and the common man can easily avail of the services of the Lokayukta by lodging a complaint after paying a nominal court fee. Barring the Chief Ministers and the Chief Secretary, public can petition before the Lokayukta for redressal of their grievances against any minister, legislator and public servant, sources said, adding that the Lokayukta can also look into corruption charges against ministers and public servants.

The State Government had appointed Justice T.C. Das as the first Lokayukta of Assam in 1989. Justice Das had been in the post for the full five-year term. After his retirement, Justice R.K. Manisena Singh had been appointed as the Lokayukta. But he had resigned from the post just after six months of his appointment and joined as the Chairman of the Journalists' Wage Board. Since then the State Government has not bothered to fill up the vacant post of the Lokayukta, sources said, adding that many of the present ministers and public servants, who are allegedly involved in rampant corruption are putting hurdles in the way of appointment of the Lokayukta obviously to avoid being hauled up by the Lokayukta as well as the public.

AGARTALA, Dec 14: A large amount of money meant for supply of relief materials to the Reang refugees which comes from Mizoram has been siphoned off from the Government exchequer and part of which had reportedly found their way into the hands of the NLFT and the BNLF militants.

The matter was revealed when the SDO, Kanchanpur conducted a head count of the refugees and the matter was reported to the State Government also. An inquiry also had been ordered but the report is yet to see the light of the day.

Amit Roy Barman, the SDO, in his report also pointed out that the former district magistrate of the North Tripura district Mr Kumar Alok in connivance with a section of the refugee leaders has helped in such a gross missappropriation of Government money which may be more than one crore.

Mr A. Chakrabarty, a BJP candidate in the Agartala Municipal council election, in a statement has alleged that the State Government remained silent over the matter as the top Left Front leaders were aware of the corruption and allowed it to earn the militants support. He also enclosed several official documents in support of his allegation.

He also demanded a CBI inquiry as the matter concerns national security and diversion of Central fund for insurgency for militant activities.

The method adopted for siphoning off of was showing an inflated number of refugees and releasing extra fund to supply relief to them. On suspicion, Mr Roy Barman, SDO,conducted a head count of refugees on June 10, 1999 which found total 20,050 refugees in six camps while in official record it was shown nearly 36,000. He adopted an unique method of applying indelible ink to eliminate the chance of over count.

But the district magistrate Mr Kumar Alok overruled the logical method and formed a committee which arbitrarily increased the number to 29,832 claiming there were new comers and left outs without going for any verification.

The number was further increased to 36,994 by the committee and the District Magistrate reduced it to 31,408 on June 18, 1999, to show that he has been strict with the counting. But according to the SDO's report it has further inflated the number of the refugees.

GUWAHATI, Dec 14: Not a single female animal of the Assam State zoo has been able to give birth to a baby for the last seven years. All efforts of the State zoo authorities have failed to motivate different species of animals either to breed or mate. However, in many cases, it has been noticed that the zoo animals, when sent outside the zoo premises, can easily be motivated to breed and mate.

Sources told The Sentinel here today that, as most of the animals of the State zoo were born and brought up within the zoo and belong to single families, it becomes difficult to motivate the males and females of different species to go for mating. But some animal species of the zoo do not even have female members, sources said, adding that all the three lions of the zoo are of hybreed species.

On the other hand, out of the four tigers of the zoo, there is only one tigress. The tigress is being looked after by the tigers as their sister and, hence she cannot be motivated to mate with the males, an animal keeper said, adding that most of the animals of the zoo are living like family members, rather than as males and females.

Sources said that nine common leopards of the State zoo are always in search of new places for mating. Keeping the leopards confined to a cage for quite long hours at the zoo is certainly not the way to motivate them to go for mating, said an official of the zoo on condition of anonymity.

An animal keeper told this reporter that some animals go for mating and the female ones also become pregnant. But there has not been a single case ofsuccessful delivery of a baby by any female animal of the zoo for the last six to seven years, he said, adding that cases of abortion, injuries to babies during pregnancy among the samber, deer and bear are more due to the fighting in the cages.

Sources said that unless the animals, which are not familiar with the zoo animals are brought into the State zoo, mating of animals within the zoo will not be possible. Animals, which have been brought up in the zoo should now be set free in the jungles, sources said, adding that motivating the animals' to breed and mate is part of modern zoo management. The Assam State zoo authorities will have to face stringent action from the Central zoo authorities as they have failed to motivate the animals to mate.

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.

Industry captains say the mood in the state was one of "despondency" and "fear" with a number of prospective business houses backing out at the last minute fearing reprisal from rebel groups.

As many as 10 industrial houses keen to set up businesses in Assam have decided not to go ahead with plans of setting up units in view of the spurt in extremist killings. There is hardly any big industrial group that has set up units in Assam apart from the traditional tea and oil sectors.

"According to information, groups like Nicco, Nirma detergents, Cadilla, Rasna, Hindustan Pilkington, Glazed Tiles, Aksh India Limited, and Jellyfield Cables, were among major industries that have more or less decided against setting up businesses in Assam," a top Assam government official told India Abroad News Service.

The above companies were expected to invest about Rs 1 billion and generate employment for some 5,000 skilled and unskilled local workers.

"As far as Assam is concerned, the level of violence unleashed by the Ulfa and a section of Bodo militants has scared off all private investments that may have been attracted," defence minister George Fernandes had said while delivering a lecture here on the region's security.

"If the security situation does not improve we might face further reverses on the economic front in future as no outside investors would like to risk their lives," said HS Khumbhat, an industrial project consultant in Guwahati.

"What we need is a congenial security situation which could enhance the economic climate in the state," he said.

The state's economy has shown a sharp decline, falling from 2.8 per cent growth in 1997-1998 to 1.8 percent in 1998-1999. The latest figures are not available but projections indicate they would be even lower for 1999-2000. The state's per capita income too has been growing at a negative rate. "As it is the image of Assam is not good and now you have these killings on the Hindi-speaking community which definitely does not bode well for a state like ours," said Jayanta Madhab, a leading development banker.

"As such there is very little investment coming in and the recent incidents would only send wrong signals to prospective investors," Madhav told IANS.

The Assam government, meanwhile, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Federation of Industries and Commerce of Northeastern Region (FINER) for industrialization of the state.

"We want to shoulder the responsibility of promotion of investment in Assam to the catalytic agencies representing the private sector," Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said.

DEMOW, Dec 14: Sunil Basphar (32), a fourth grade employee of Sivasagar ASTC station is now running from pillar to post for a few hundred rupees to meet the expenditure of the last rites of his brother, another ASTC employee, Hiralal Basphar who died recently. Dularia, Hiralal's wife, emaciated, starved, left to suffer with her 10-year-old daughter Durga narrated how he died for want of money. Barely two months ago Sunil lost his own wife after a prolonged illness as he cold not arrange money for her treatment.

Tanteswar Rai, a mechanic, died on November 6. Jugal Das, Atul Gogoi, Jogyeswar Borgohain, Sonarm Borgohain, Hema Borah -- all died within this year due to penury and starvation following the Corporation's failure to release their salary since February last. With no means of sustenance, the families of these workers are in dire straits and the desperate employees have joined the ongoing hunger strike in Jorhat in batches as the last resort to arouses the sympathy of a seeminglyunsympathetic government.

With worn-out office buildings, dilapidated quarters and sheds Sivasagar ASTC compound wears a deserted look and only with the entry of the private buses, it has become a hub of activities much to the chagrin of the ASTC staff. Some of the employees have themselves started opening stalls and restaurants on ASTC land. It is not known how the ASTC has given them permission while there is a High Court verdict against leasing out land, said one employee.

Till about five years back, ASTC Sivasagar earned an average Rs 30,00,000 per month, said Anil Sarmah, assistant engineer. The earning from ONGCL services was Rs 2300,000 and from the regular lines the earnings was Rs 7,00,000. But now the daily income stands between Rs 2000 and Rs 3000 only. From as many as 52 regular services, 25 of which were in the ONGCL, Sivasagar ASTC has now only 10 regular services. Most of the services are non-operational due to minor mechanical defects. The ONGCL services are no longer profit-making as the standing charge per bus is only Rs 1203/- whereas the daily expenditure is around Rs 2000, said on their employee, Swabin Deka.

ASTC's income in Sivasagar nosedived to a record low as soon as four private luxury coaches started operating from the vicinity of the ASTC station during the 18-day long ASTC employees' strike in May 1998. The private buses, allegedly owned by Transport Minister Pradip Hazarika's close relatives, sent down the last nails into the coffin of Sivasagar ASTC.

TEZPUR, Dec 15: A new militant outfit called 'Hindu Liberation Army of Assam' (HLAA), have been formed somewhere here in Sonitpur district in order to protect the Hindu community from the increasing activities of Pakistan Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and other Islamic militant outfits.

Sources told The Assam Tribune that even as a large number of Hindi-speaking community people were being killed in the State by the Assam Tiger Force, the HLAA had been formed in order to prevent "Assam from turning into a Muslim State."

The HLAA has been formed with Madhujya Mandeep Baruah as its president and Mohan Koch as the commander-in-chief of the operational wing.

Although police sources ruled out the formation of the organisation, intelligence sources said that the organisation was still is infancy and unlikely to pose any immediate threat. The sources further informed that the organisation was recruiting cadres who will be sent for arms training.

The HLAA in a leaflet stated that a conspiracy was being hatched by Muslim and Christian communities to convert Hindu population in the North Eastern region and added that in Dhemaji district alone around 85,000 Hindu people were been converted by the missionaries over the past few years in the name of providing medical treatment and education.

The HLAA has already started serving extortion notices to the people especially those from the trading community.

In its extortion letters the HLAA urged the people to 'support' the organisation and has sought the financial assistance in order to 'save' the Hindus. It was learnt that in other districts, too, the organisation geared up its activities.

PATHSALA, Dec 15: Adjacent to Bajali sub-division the Balapara area of Paka mouza is a vast area of backward villages. The main source of income in this area is agriculture. But the people of Balapara have been suffering a lot due to the deteriorating road communication, public health, agriculture, education, etc, for the last four decades. Recently, a group of journalists visited the area under the aegis of Pathsala Press Club. The people of the locality described in detail about their miseries before the visiting journalists.

When the formation of Bajali Sub-division was declared, the people of Paka mouza demanded inclusion of mouza in Bajali sub-division. Accordingly there was a gazette notification including Paka mouza in Bajali sub-division. A section of politician managed to keep the mouza outside Bajali sub-division for their personal and political gain. The people of the area have been constantly demanding inclusion of Paka mouza in the Bajali sub-division for the last ten years. But the political conspirators through their strong and powerful lobby at Dispur has kept the mouza outside Bajali sub-division.

The people informed the journalists that the distance of Paka mouza from the sub-divisional headquarter of Bajali is within three to 10 kilometres only. When the construction of sub-divisional headquarter at Swahid Madan Routa will be completed, the distance between Paka mouza and newly constructed headquarter will be reduced to a minimum of one and maximum of seven kilometres. The Balapara area has close connections with Pathsala and Sariha mouza -- culturally, educationally, socially and economically. The distance of road communication between Paka and sub-divisional headquarter is within five to ten kilometres. Now the Paka mouza is in Barpeta sub-division and the distance between Barpeta town and Paka mouza is 20 to 25 km. On the otherhand the distance between Balapara and Barpeta Sadar is about 35 km via Dhumarkur-Howli road. The highly aggrieved people of the area have informed the group of journalists that if the Government do not concede to their demand, then they will be compelled to organize strong agitational programme from the next year. They further said that the Government will be responsible for any untoward incidents incourse of their agitational programme.

The students of the area have to depend on Higher Secondary school and college of Bajali for their higher education. Very few students go to newly established Ramdia and Bangaon college. The condition of the roads connecting Golibandha and Pathsala, Rajaght and Pathsala is deplorable. Buses cannot ply on these roads due to knee-deep muddy water and broken bridges. The condition of the roads connecting Paka mouza with Barpeta town via Sarthebari is also worse. People have to catch the bus at Sarthebari wading through waist-deep water.

Another misfortune of the people in the Balapara area, is the acute lack of medical facility. There is no hospital in the entire area. People have to go to Pathsala or Kaoimari hospital for treatment. The distance between Amdoh and other hospitals from Balapara is 10 to 15 km. Sometime the patients die on their way to Pathsala when carried by thela or makeshift bamboo stretchers. Ten years ago the foundation stone of Balapara hospital was laid. The foundation stone is now covered under weeds and thickets.

The cultivators of Balapara have to face immense difficulty to procure their seeds, manure and other agricultural facilities given by Government. Balapara area is under the Sorbhog agricultural sub-division. The distance is about 40 km and no Gram Sevak or Agriculture Extension Officer care to visit the remote area. There is no embankment on both sides of Kaldia river. The floods of Kaldia destroy the paddy and other crops every year. The broken sluice gate on Tihu river at Haibhanga has not been constructed since last five years. As a result of this the crop of 26,000 bighas of land in Balapara reserve remain under innundated water. The peasants of this area have been compelled to leave Balapara for Guwahati and now maintain their livelihood as part-time labourers in the city.

The electric poles were laid in the area, some 10 years ago. But no electric connection has been given even after repeated requests and prayers by the people to the ASEB. Even kerosene oil is not available in the area through fair price shops due to communication difficulties and some other reasons. The villagers go to bed just after dusk.

The price of kerosene is Rs 16 per litre in the black market. The works of rural development have not been implemented in the area for a long time. There have been serious allegations of corruption in the department. Two poor widows informed the journalists that the money given to them under "Indira Awas Yojana" was also misappropriated by the Junior Engineer.