2
VOL. XXVI NO. 133! RNI REGD. NO. 40948/90
SHILLONG ! TUESDAY ! MAY 19, 2015
Now, GNLA
support to bandh
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
TURA, MAY 18: The two-day Garo Hills
bandh from tomorrow called by a leastknown organization “All Achik Youth Federation (AAYF)” and already supported by
National People’s Party (NPP) was today supported by banned Garo National
Liberation Army (GNLA).
The outfit warned the West Garo Hills
district administration, which had issued
a stern warning to government employees to attend office on the bandh days,
for allegedly acting against interests of
the (Garo) community.
In a release sent by the joint publicity
secretary of the outfit, Garo Mandei Ch
Marak, the outfit stated that the bandh
call was the need of the hour and asked
for support of the people, asking them to
look for the motive behind the call.
The AAYF called "non-cooperation
movement" and night blockade on May
19 and 20 in protest against repeated
extension of the term of Congress-ruled
Garo Hills Autonomous District Council
(GHADC).
“The bandh call is in favour of Garo Hills
and its people and we support it,” said
Marak.
The outfit stated that it would stand by
the bandh call by the AAYF as part of the
Garo community.
“We would urge and request the people to observe the bandh gracefully and
hereby warn that the DCs and government servants not to go against the interest of the people especially the Garo
sentiment,” threatened Marak.
It may be mentioned that the “indefinite
bandh” called by the GNLA since March
9 in Ampati, the constituency of chief minister Mukul Sangma, fizzled out with people defying it attending to offices and
businesses after a few weeks amid time
to time warning from the outfit that they
were yet to withdraw the bandh
" New KHADC EC
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
NONGSTOIN, 18: Two students of Seng Khasi College, Shillong died on the
spot when the bike they
were riding collided head
on with a dumper truck at
Wahlakhaw
on
Nongstoin-Shillong road
around 3.30 pm today.
The deceased students
have been identified as
Lapoiskhem Synrem (20)
from Mawjrong, Sohra and
Iaiborlang Thabah (18)
from Sohioh village here.
Police said the accident
took place as the dumper
(AS-25BC 1925) skidded
off the road and ran over
the bike.
The truck driver was arrested.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL
Modi’s synergy
with Mongolia
CITY WEATHER
Yesterday’s Recording
Temperature Humidity
Max 22.8 C Morning 75%
Min 14.7 C
Evening 96%
Rainfall
NIL
Online edition: http://mg.glpublications.in
Total Pages: 12 Rs. 5.00
" No outfit claimed responsibility for kidnapping of 70-year-old teacher
Tura students rally for abducted teacher
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
TURA, MAY 18: The kidnapping of
a
70-year-old
teacher,
Gaganendra Sanyal, on May 9 is
fast turning out to be one of the
talking points of the region.
Sanyal, who was kidnapped
from his house at gun point from
in front of his family, is widely regarded for his contribution to the
student community and his kidnapping has led to widespread
appeals from various sections of
society, across religions.
Around 6,000 students from
more than 30 schools from the
town of Tura took part in what is
one of the biggest rallies ever to
take place in the Garo Hills region,
all demanding and appealing for
the safe release of the teacher
they fondly remember as ‘Sir
Sanyal’.
The rally started from the Don
Bosco School groun, where
Sanyal was a teacher and ended
at the Tura Parade Ground.
Sanyal was an eminent educationist within the region and had
also
been
awarded
the
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
2 students
die in road
mishap
Federer, Sharapova
wins in Rome
Students take out a rally demanding for release of abducted teacher
Gaganendra Sanyal in Tura on Monday. Guardian photo
President’s and Governor’s Award
Janaurius Sangma, the principal
for his contribution to the teaching
of Don Bosco School, where
profession.
Sanyal was a teacher.
“He was also my teacher and we
The rally was attended by school
only have fond memories of Sir
students as well as NGOs from
Sanyal. The peace rally today is
the town of Tura, including the
not to demand but to appeal to the
NESO, GSU, Bengalee Associaabductors of our teacher for his
tion, Nepali Association among
unconditional release,” said Fr
others.
No outfit from the region has
taken responsibility for the kidnapping of the 70-year-old though
sources revealed that talks are on
between the family and abductors
to seek a safe release of Sanyal.
“He has been an architect of
many a life of the Garo Hills region and was still contributing to
another school when he was kidnapped from his house by four
persons in front of his wife,” said
the principal.
A startling revelation has also
come forth that some teachers are
being demanded money from
outfits on a monthly basis and had
to comply to ensure their own
safety.
He further appealed for the safe
release from captivity of the veteran teacher stating that his contribution itself should have been
reason enough for those that have
kidnapped him to release Sanyal.
“We are a part of the rally today
to appeal for the safe release of
Sir Sanyal. Being a student of his,
there are things that he did to
change my (Contd. on P-10)
India, Bangla to sign internet pact
3 defectors
among list
of EMs
SHILLONG, MAY 18: Newly elected Chief Executive
Member (CEM) of Khasi
Hills Autonomous District
Council (KHADC) Pynshngainlang N Syiem on
Monday submitted the list
of the executive members
(EMs) of the new Executive Committee (EC) led by
(Contd. on P-10)
Boat crisis:
Thailand arrests
suspected trafficker
a single farmer's ...
" Two-day bandh begins in Garo Hills today
11Djokovic over-runs
10
travels abroad,
9 PMhasn't
visited
India, Korea
sign revised
DTAA
Former KHADC CEM Adelbert Nongrum coming out
from the place where he was holding his ongoing indefinite hunger strike, to appear before the High Court
on Monday. Guardian Photo
SHILLONG, MAY 18: India and Bangladesh would soon sign an agreement for internet connectivity through
the ‘International-Gateway’ within
this month, officials said here.
“The internet connectivity through
the International-Gateway would be
signed hopefully sometime by May
27 onwards,” Chief General Manager Telecom (CGMT) NE-1 Circle DP
Singh said on the sidelines of a function organised by the BSNL here on
Monday.
He informed that the high-level
delegation from the BSNL head-
quarters will be visiting Dhaka and
they are likely to sign the agreement
to ensure that this connectivity is in
place.
The senior telecom official further
revealed that another proposal related to the ‘voice connectivity’ is
also being proposed.
“We have also proposed for voice
connectivity from Agartala-DhakaKolkata,” Singh said while pointing
out that the proposal has been lying
in cold storage.
According to him, this will ensure
that the North East region is never
disconnected from the mainland.
Meanwhile, all the BSF outposts
along the Indo-Bangla border of
would soon be equipped with hightech optical fibre network to significantly improve the connectivity.
“This scheme is under the planning phase and the survey has been
done for connectivity,” Singh said
while informing that everything has
been compiled and send to government of India for approval.
He said, “Once the money comes,
the work will start happening” adding, “It will do wonders especially in
the border areas in the sense that
people (Contd. on P-10)
Wife wants BNP leader's treatment in 'third country'
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
SHILLONG, MAY 18: Arrested
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) spokesperson Salahuddin
Ahmed’s wife Hasina Ahmed,
who met him the high security
ward of the Civil Hospital here this
evening said her husband required to be taken a “third country” for treatment.
“My husband is very sick. We
shall try through legal procedure
to take him to some third country
for better treatment,” Hasina said,
corroborating her family members
who had said that Ahmed’s health
is deteriorating.
Thanking the local government
for providing shelter and treatment to her husband, she said
they were yet to finalise on a counsel to assist the family in the court.
Hasina was accompanied by
BNP functionaries including party office secretary Abdul Latif
Johny who had arrived earlier this
week.
Ahmed was admitted at the local hospital here since May 12
after his arrest for travelling without proper documents.
(Contd. on P-10)
Police begin ‘re-verification’ of ANVC-B cadres
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
TURA, MAY 18: Re-verification of
cadres belonging to the now-disbanded Achik National Volunteer’s
Council (ANVC) (Breakaway) began
today in the Tura Police Station with
20 cadres of the outfit coming
through the verification process.
The re-verification which began
after a meeting with the Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA) is expected to
be completed by June 15 to ensure
that the rehabilitation package can
be received by both former outfits ANVC and ANVC (B), at the earliest.
The MHA had fixed until June 30
for completion of the re-verification
process of the 303 armed cadres of
the outfit.
There had been a growing fear
that the delay in the rehabilitation
process may force some members
of the disbanded outfit to go back to
the jungles, completely derailing the
efforts of the past ten years.
Explaining the hardships faced by
the disbanded group, the former
vice chairman Panpan B Marak said,
“Immediately after the disbanding,
cadres of the outfit left for home in
the hope of financial assistance to
rebuild their lives. However, the process has been slow. There has
been no support since the disband-
ing and even coming and going
from Tura has to be borne by us.”
“There has been some confusion
regarding the process after a file
with details of our cadre list went
missing. We hope this time things
will work out for good and we will be
able to move on with our lives,” said
Marak. The outfit had earlier apologised and admitted that there may
have been some anomalies.
However the former chairman of
the group, Bernard Marak had stated that the blame should not be put
on them if all cadres are unable to
appear once again due to problems
with communication.
Purno seeks BSNL 'favour' to win polls
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
SHILLONG, MAY 18: Member of
Parliament (MP) from Tura Purno
Agitok Sangma today underlined
the need for more connectivity in
the Northeast region and even
jokingly asked the BSNL to help
him win the polls by expanding
the network.
“Connectivity is important especially in a region like North East,”
Sangma said while speaking at
the Sanchar Seva Padak Award
2015 given to at least 26 employees of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited (BSNL) held in the city
here on Monday.
Stating that Northeast is sur-
rounded by foreign countries and
international borders, he said,
en connectivity, the MP said due
to the problem of connectivity, peo-
“This area needs to be looked at
differently.”
Stressing the need to strength-
ple of the state living along the
International border are using
mobile network from Bang-
ladesh.
Congratulating the efforts of
government of India towards improving connectivity in the NE region, Sangma said, “The government and the BSNL have sanctioned up to Rs 5,300 crore for
expanding the network connectivity in the region.”
Underlining the growing demand of communication, the
former Lok Sabha Speaker on
lighter note said, “Thirty years
ago when I was the member of
Parliament, whenever we go to
the people, I used to get lots of
memoranda hundreds and thousands of (Contd. on P-10)
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
SHILLONG, MAY 18: The
arrested Sordar of a village
in East Khasi Hills district
is likely to be released tomorrow, after he was sentenced to 20 days simple
imprisonment for contempt of court.
It was on April 30,
Skhembor Khongjirem,
Sordar of Wahkhen village
(Contd. on P-10)
Purno seeks end to 'illegal'
extension to GHADC
GUARDIAN NEWS BUREAU
Arrested BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed's wife Hasina after meeting the former at Shillong Hospital on Monday night. Guardian photo
NOC ROW
Sordar likely
to be released
today
SHILLONG, MAY 18:
Former
Lok
Sabha
Speaker Purno Agitok
Sangma today said the
state government should
impose Administrator’s
Rule in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council
(GHADC), since its term
was extended in an "unconstitutional" manner.
“We don’t find any justification in extending the
tenure of the GHADC,”
Sangma, also the national
president of the National
People’s Party (NPP) told
The Meghalaya Guardian
while extending full support to the bandh called by
an NGO in Garo Hills region, demanding immediate holding of elections to
the District Council.
The bandh will start tomorrow.
(Contd. on P-10)