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HIMALAYAN MIRROR
NORTHEAST
GANGTOK, THURSDAY 25 DECEMBER 2014
Gogoi to blame for Assam
violence, says opposition
Assam Police hunt for JMBsupplied explosives
Guwahati , Dec 24 :
Assam
police
have
launched a massive operation to trace about 90 such
explosive devices that are
suspected to have been
sent
by
Jamatul
Mujahideen Bangladesh
(JMB) modules from
Burdwan in West Bengal
to carry terror strikes targeting the Bodo tribe
leaders and Bodo people
in Assam to avenge killing
of Muslims in the state in
a series riot in the past.
The operation has been
launched in the wake of
recovery of 10 powerful
grenades and IEDs from
Panbari area in western
Assam on December 21
last.Following the arrest
of key JMB man in
Assam, Sahanur Alam
alias ‘doctor’, it had come
to light that the JMB had
hatched a design to target
Bodo tribe leaders in
Assam and supplied
explosive materials for the
purpose from its operation
base in Burdwan.
A
police
source
informed that plastic
explosives were used in
making the grenades and
IED
recovered
on
December 21 and similar
materials were used in the
bombs recovered from
JMB hideouts in Burdwan
in West Bengal.
Police said such explosives are hitherto not used
in bombs and grenades
used by insurgents from
the Northeast.
Guwahati,
Dec
24
(IANS) : The AGP, the
BJP and the CPI-M
Wednesday blamed the
Tarun Gogoi government
for the killing of 65 tribals
in attacks by Bodo militants.
Asom Gana Parishad
president Atul Bora
demanded the immediate
intervention of President
Pranab Mukherjee and
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi into the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
The state government
had failed to secure the
lives of the people despite
intelligence
warnings
about probable violence,
he said."Many people had
to lose their lives due to
the irresponsible attitude
of Chief Minister Tarun
Gogoi," Bora said in a letter to Mukherjee and
Modi."Similar incidents
have been occurring in the
state since 2012, and in
June this year the NDFB
anti-talk faction killed
several
people
in
Kokrajhar and Baksa districts," he said.Uddhab
Barman of the Communist
Party of India-Marxist
said: "Most victims were
women and children. The
lives and property of the
people are not secure. The
government has failed
miserably in maintaining
law and order."
He condemned the
police firing at civilians
protesting against the
Bodo killings. Three people died in the firing.
The Bharatiya Janata
Party too accused the
Gogoi government of failing on all fronts.
CM to
New metering system
inaugurate in Arunachal to curb
Kolkata
power pilferage
Centre to invest Rs.21,350
, Dec 24 : Power pilferage and non-payment of
M’laya Shillong
electricity bills in this Arunachal Pradesh capital will no
longer be a cause of concern for the state government as crore for Bengal infrastructure
House
it has introduced a unique metering system to make conShillong , Dec 24 : Chief
Minister Mukul Sangma
will formally inaugurate
the
reconstructed
Meghalaya House at
Russel Street in Kolkata
on January 12 next.
Informing this here on
Tuesday, Trade Adviser &
Director of Movements at
the Kolkata
Meghalaya House HM
Shangpliang said the
building is ready for inauguration as the furnishing
works of the rooms have
been completed.
Earlier on August 5 last
year, the State Public
Works Department (PWD)
formally took
over the newly-constructed Meghalaya House
from the construction
agency,
M/s
Asian
Housing
and
Infrastructure Pvt. Limited
(AHIPL).
The Meghalaya at
Russel Street has three
blocks, Block I which
includes a basement plus
ground plus 5
structure comprises of a
commercial block with a
total built up area of 80950
sq.ft, Block
II
which includes Ground
plus 5 structure with a
total built up area of 41364
sf.ft comprising
of the Guest House and
the Office Block.
sumers more energy conscious.
The Pre-Paid Energy Meters and AMR (Automated
Remote Metering) meters were introduced here last
month. According to power department officials, the
pre-paid meters will be fitted at the homes of about
32,000 consumers with a total cost of Rs 85 crore,
including maintenance charge for a period of five years
to be paid to the Udaipur-based Secure Energy Meter
Limited, the implementing agency.
“To check huge transmission loss and heavy losses
incurred by the department due to pilferage of electricity as well as non-payment of bills, this pilot project has
been initiated to overcome all these problems and enrich
the state coffer,” Power (Electrical) Minister Tanga
Byaling told PTI.
“If the project succeeds, it will be implemented
throughout the state in a phased manner for power to
become one of the highest revenue generating departments,” he said.
The new initiative was taken up in view of a large
number of unauthorised power consumers in Itanagar,
Naharlagun and Nirjuli areas.
“The department is unable to check these unauthorised
connections at the moment,” Power Chief Engineer
Jumtum Tato said. “Now pre-paid meters will not only
make consumers more energy conscious but these are
also known to curb wastage of power in transmission
and cut distribution losses,” he said.
With zero installation cost, a consumer can recharge
according to necessity and save power. The meters will
display remaining credit and can be recharged in accordance to this. “So far a total of 600 such meters have
been installed. We are targeting to cover 3000 consumers by March 2015,” Tato said.
He further said that the department has also launched
AMR which would be available to 30 per cent consumers of the total 32,000 planned.
The monthly power requirement for Arunachal is 130
mw and the state capital alone consumes on an average
of 32 mw. 91 per cent of the total power requirement of
the state was being fulfilled from the allocation of the
central sector share.Being predominantly run by riverbased hydro projects, power production from central
sector generating stations was seasonal and so generation drastically falls during lean season.
development
3
Tripura calls for restoration
of funds under central
schemes
Agartala, Dec 24 (IANS) : Tripura has urged the Centre
to restore the funds allocated under central schemes after
the latter curtailed funds required for the construction of
roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
(PMGSY), a Tripura minister said here Wednesday.
"The union rural development ministry was supposed
to give Rs.500 crore to construct 601 km of new roads and
the upgradation of existing roads by 60 percent during the
current financial year. But the ministry after repeated persuasion agreed to provide Rs.190 crore only," Tripura
Public Works Department Minister Badal Choudhury
said.
"After the ministry's previous approval, we have constructed roads incurring an expenditure of Rs.300 crore
and Rs.200 crore more is needed," he told reporters.
Choudhury, in a letter to the union Rural Development
Minister Birender Singh, requested that the release of
Rs.500 crore to complete the construction of roads under
the PMGSY, as approved by the central ministry earlier,
should be ensured.
The PMGSY was launched in December 2000 as a
fully-funded centrally- sponsored scheme to provide all
weather road connectivity in rural areas of the country.
The programme envisaged connecting all habitations with
a population of 500 persons and above in the plain areas
and 250 persons and above in hilly, tribal and desert areas.
The state minister said the BJP (Bharatiya Janata
Party)-led central government has also reduced central
allocation for Tripura in the MGNREGA (Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)
despite it topping all the states in the rural job scheme by
providing 87 days of work per household in the 2013-14
fiscal.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, in a separate letter, has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restore
the funds allocated under the MGNREGA rural employment scheme in the state.
"The union rural development ministry has increased
its allocation of funds under MGNREGA for Rajasthan,
West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and some other states
but reduced central allocation for Tripura," Sarkar wrote
in the letter to the prime minister.
He said that although Tripura had provided 87 days of
work per household in the 2013-14 fiscal against the
national average of 45 days, the state's allocation had
been sharply reduced.
"Tripura received Rs.943.66 crore during the last financial year (2013-14). The union rural development ministry informed that it would provide Rs.652 crore during
the current fiscal (2014-15) despite the ministry having
approved the labour budget of Rs.1,406.96 crore under
the MGNREGA for the ongoing financial year."
In his letter, Sarkar said that under MGNREGA guidelines, the central allocation would have to be released in
two instalments, but the union ministry has so far provided Rs.373 crore in three instalments.
Three injured in grenade
blasts in Kokrajhar
Shillong , Dec 24 : The
central government has
sanctioned
Rs.21,350
crore for infrastructure
development in the port
and road sector in West
Bengal, it was announced
Tuesday.Briefing media
persons after a meeting at
the
secretariat
“Nabanna”,
union
Surface Transport and
Highways and Shipping
Minister Nitin Gadkari
and state Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee said the
Kolkata Port Trust along
with the state government
would construct a port in
the Sagar Islands at an
investment of Rs.12,000
crore.“There is also a
need to construct a bridge
or an underground tunnel
for this purpose in addition to a railway line, and
a consultant will be
appointed for this,” said
Gadkari.Additional
investments of Rs.3,350
crore in the port sector
like floating storages, dry
bulk cargo handling terminal among others has
also been sanctioned.
Gadkari said Banerjee
has assured of full cooperation of the state government for the projects
which would boost its
economy.Rs.6,000 crore
have been sanctioned for
the roads sector in the
state.Banerjee said the
state government would
provide whatever support
was required and extend
full cooperation. “Politics
is politics and development is development,”
she said.
Guwahati , Dec 24 : At
least
three
persons,
including two women,
were seriously injured in
serial grenade blasts in
lower Assam’s Kokrajhar
district where unidentified
persons
hurled
six
grenades in three places
and opened fire in two
other places on Monday,
official sources said.
Two grenades were
hurled near a chariali in
Gossaigaon town and near
a cinema hall there at
around 6.15 pm but none
was injured, the sources
said.
In the second incident,
another two grenades
were exploded at 7 pm
near a petrol pump at
Patgaon under Serfunguri
police station injuring the
three persons, the sources
said.The injured were
admitted to RNBC hospital in Kokrajhar.
The third explosion was
at 8.15 pm at Sonarpur on
NH-31 under Kokrajhar
police station when two
grenades were hurled but
no injury was reported,
they said.
HDFC Bank launches ‘Bank
Aapki Muththi Mein’
X-mas celebrations take over M’laya
Shillong , Dec 24
:Meghalaya is all decked
up to celebrate Christmas
with its picturesque capital city Shillong already
wearing a festive look.
On
the
eve
of
Christmas, thousands of
people are crowding in
downtown capital city for
last minute shopping for
clothes, cakes, pastries
and decorations to light
up their Christmas trees.
There was jubilation
around the city with children irrespective of caste
and religion singing
Christmas carols.
In Tura wherein security has been heightened,
the festivity has gained
momentum with revellers
taking part in community
dances to the beat of traditional drums to celebrate the birth of Lord
Jesus Christ.
The bedecked city
resembled a fairyland
with spectacular illumination of lights and festoons with red lights atop
the houses to symbolise
the descent of Lord Jesus
to the earth.
Christmas trees and
wreaths adorned almost
every household. All the
churches,
missionary schools and
institutions in the state
were also decorated with
colourful buntings and
lights.
Tourists from other
states of the country were
also flocking to the city to
participate in the celebrations.
All communities, irrespective of religious
faith,
joined
their
Christian brethren in this
predominantly Christian
state
to
celebrate
Christmas enthusiastically.
Central
Puja
Committee (CPC), the
apex Hindu body in the
state, has also decided to
participate
in
the
Christmas celebrations.
“This year, too, we will
join
our
Christian
brethren to mark the
arrival the messenger of
peace and love,
”
Central
Puja
Committee
general
Secretary J L Das said.
“It’s interesting to see
children of different religious background chanting Christmas hymns,”
said Ramanth
Goel a tourist from
New Delhi who is here to
celebrate Christmas with
her family.
Governor KK Paul had
joined various choir
groups at Raj Bhawan He
urged the people to
imbibe the festive spirit
within themselves. of
unity among all sections
of people.
Meanwhile, Christmas
carols could already be
heard across the state
since the past one-week,
braving the winter, chill.
All the young and old
joined Santa Claus in
Christmas carols.
All the hotels and
tourist lodges in the city
have started arranging
parties and other activities.
“This year, we have
decided to celebrate
Christmas in Shillong as
the city extended its hospitality and
goodwill to people
from all over the world
and therefore, we felt that
this is the best place to
celebrate Christmas,”
Leonardo a tourist from
Brazil, said.
Special
Christmas
cakes were being prepared in almost every
household and bakeries to
celebrate the festive
mood.
Siliguri, Dec 24: HDFC Bank Wednesday launched
‘Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein’, an offering that literally
turns a mobile phone into a bank branch. A bank
branch the size of your palm that is with you roundthe-clock, wherever you are. With over 75 transactions
-- all a touch away - it offers the customer the widest
range of transactions conceivable. These are both
financial and non-financial transactions that he needs
in his daily life for which he would have to visit a
branch, or an ATM.
Besides essential transactions such as booking fixedand recurring deposits, bill and tax payments, buying
insurance and mutual funds, the offering will also allow
customers-- for the first time in the country-- to buy
instantly all kind of loans.
"With ‘Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein’, you can do
everything other than access your locker, and deposit or
withdraw cash. Customer convenience is central to our
concept of Digital. And, there is no bigger convenience
than bringing your bank to the palm of your hand. We
are very excited to unveil our “Bank Aap Ki Muththi
Mein” offering and with it world class experience of
banking to millions of our countrymen," said Nitin
Chugh, Head – Digital Banking, HDFC Bank speaking
at the launch in Varanasi. As of September 2014, India
had over 900 million mobile users in the country but
only 40 million mobile banking customers. Today, 55%
of all transactions at HDFC Bank are conducted
through digital channels.