Regional
IMPHAL, SATURDAY 10 JANUARY, 2015
NDFB-S militants accused of
Assam killings arrested
Press Trust of India
GUWAHATI, Jan 9: Two
dreaded
NDFB-Songbijit
militant leaders responsible for
the massacres of Adivasis have
been arrested along with four of
their associates and a large
quantity of arms seized from
their possession, a senior police
officer said on Friday.
"NDFB-S Kokrajhar platoon 'second-in-command'
Mithinga and Khuren along
with their four associates
were arrested from Serfunguri
in Kokrajhar district of Assam last night," IGP LR
Bishnoi told media.
They were accused of
massacre of the Adivasis at
Pakriguri in Kokrajhar district
on December 23.
The extremists led the police to the jungles in
Thaisuguri area where they
had buried a large quantity of
weapons, explosives, medicines and army uniforms,
Bishnoi said.
The recoveries include one
AK-47 rifle, an HK-33 rifle,
one M-16 rifle, six magazines, four 9 mm-pistols, four
hand grenades, 300 rounds of
ammunition, four sacks of
medicines and several battle
fatigues, he said.
Stating Mithinga and
Khuren had themselves fired
upon the people at Pakriguri,
the IGP said their arrests
were a major success in nabbing the perpetrators of the
December 23 killings.
At least 81 people, mostly
Adivasis, were killed in
Kokrajhar, Sonitpur, and
Chirang districts by heavilyarmed militants belonging to
the Songbijit faction of National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB).
Union Home Minister
Rajnath Singh had announced
while visiting Assam after the
killing that NIA would probe
into the carnage and the
agency has started their investigation.
BJP to move EC against Rs 1.4
crore donation to TMC
KOLKATA, Jan 9
BJP on Thursday said it will
demand a probe by Election
Commission (EC) into funds
received by Trinamool
Congress. BJP alleged that the
ruling party used small
companies to divert chit fund
money to fund its campaign for
the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
BJP national secretary
Sidharth Nath Singh said that
BJP will lodge a complaint
with EC soon and submit all
relevant documents.
A number of political parties recently submitted their
annual reports of donations
over Rs 20,000 received by
them, as stipulated under Section
29C
of
the
Representation of the People
Act, 1951. The act enables
recognized political parties to
get tax exemptions on this
income.
According to the report
filed by Trinamool national
secretary Mukul Roy on September 25, Rs 1.4 crore had
been donated by Trinetra
Consultant Private Limited —
a British Indian Street company — to it. This is
Trinamool's only external donation over Rs 20,000.
Singh said, "The audit report and the balance sheet of
the company show that in
2011-12 its revenue was just
Rs 19,000, in 2012-13 it was
Rs 16,000 and it was Rs
33,000 in 2013-14. How can
such a company donate such
amounts? According to company rule, only 5% of the
average net profit can be donated. The papers have Mukul
Roy's signature. He should
explain how he received the
money. We think it is chit
fund money, which was
routed through such companies."
Singh also said that one of
13,000 persons held in Dec for
violating railways law
PATNA, Jan 9 : The Railway Protection Force (RPF) launched a
vigorous drive against miscreants under all five divisions of East
Central Railway (ECR) in December and arrested about 13,000
persons for allegedly violating various provisions of law. A sum
of Rs 48.8 lakh was also realized from them as fine, said ECR
CPRO Arvind Rajak.
In a major crackdown on the miscreants, RPF sleuths
arrested 671 persons in December alone from different places
falling under ECR for creating nuisance on railway platforms
or running trains.
Altogether 247 persons were detained under RPF Act for
trespassing railway premises while 20 were arrested for their
alleged involvement in obstructing train movements under
different divisions of ECR, the CPRO said adding 342 persons were penalized by RPF men for smoking on railway
platforms.
Alarm chain pulling (ACP) continues to a major bottleneck
in the smooth movement of trains in ECR. RPF personnel
arrested more than 200 persons for their involvement in ACP
incidents as well as carrying luggage on trains without booking, the CPRO said adding a sum of Rs 2.6 lakh was realized
as fine from them.
Total 10,522 persons were arrested in December for travelling without tickets, ECR CPRO Arvind Rajak said adding
RPF drive was continuing in January.
Star Cement Spreads warmth
at relief camps
GUWAHATI, Jan 9: Star Cement, the Premier Cement Brand of
North-East & East India, distributed over thousands blankets at
relief camps in BTC area. Hoping to warm bodies and warm hearts,
a motorcade lead by Star Cement officials stopped at Hamukjuli
LP School relief camp, Hamukjuli Church relief camp and
Tinikhuti Madhya English School relief camp to bring a smile and
a blanket for people staying there after Bodo bloodshed.
Shri Agarwal said that the winter months are especially
harsh and blankets make all the difference.
The initiative was triggered by reports of dearth of blankets
in these relief camps which housed those who were seeking
shelter post the violence in Bodo area.
the directors of the company
was a director of at least 61
other companies. "We fear
that chit fund money is being
channelized to the party
through this mechanism,"
Singh said.
Roy was unavailable for
comment and party spokesperson Derek O Brien said he
couldn't comment on the matter until he knew the details.
Singh also mocked the
Bengal Global Business
Summit, saying that it should
have been named 'Central Aid
Summit' as most of the investments that the state
claimed to have received were
from the central government
organizations. "The chief minister claimed that the state has
received investments worth
Rs 93,000 crore. Out of this,
Rs 78,700 crore has come
from the central government
and its enterprises," he
claimed.
-TNN
In Jharkhand, sterilisation operations
done under torchlight
JHARKHAND, Jan 9
At a state-run health clinic,
guided by torchlight, surgeons
in Jharkhand sterilised nearly
40 women because there was
no power on Wednesday night.
The women were then moved
out of the operating theatre and
made to lie down or sit on the
ground in a corridor. There
were no stretchers or blankets;
no attendants to offer any postoperative care.
An inquiry has been
launched to determine who is
responsible for the negligence
that was filmed by a local
journalist in the Chatra dis-
trict.
"The lights had gone out at
the operation theatre. But the
torches were only being used
for dressing. we have ordered
an enquiry regarding the bad
arrangements," said Dr C P
Singh, senior government
doctor.
Savitri Devi, who brought
her daughter-in-law for the
surgery from a nearby village
said, " There are no arrangements at all. No medicines,
we are being treated like animals."
In November, 13 women
died after attending a sterilisation camp in Chhattisgarh -
they were among 80 women
who were operated on by the
same surgical team in a single
stretch. Tablets linked to the
deaths of some of the women
were found to have contained
a chemical compound commonly used in rat poison.
India is the world's top
steriliser of women, and efforts to rein in population
growth have been described
as the most draconian after
China. Sterilisation is popular
because it is cheap and effective, and sidesteps cultural
resistance to and problems
with distribution of other
types of contraception in rural
areas.
The government offers
cash incentives to health
workers and women who
sign up for the procedure.
Government officials are set
targets for how many
sterilizations must be performed every year; critics
says that drives them to ignore basic safety rules and
guidelines.
Health officials in Chatra
claim their sterilisation target
for this month for the entire
district is 3000 surgeries, and
that 25 percent of that target
has already been met.
Gauhati HC stays Centre’s food subsidy order
GUWAHATI, Jan 9
Assam Chief Minister Tarun
Gogoi on Thursday welcomed
the decision of the Gauhati
High court to stay an order of
the Centre to stop supply of
foodgrains from the state's
allotment to tea garden
managements for distribution
among workers from
December 31, 2014.
The State Government
Order to act against Indian
insurgents in B'desh: Delegate
AGARTALA, Jan 9
Instructions have been given to launch operation against
Indian insurgents using the soil of Bangladesh for
carrying out "subversive" activities in India, a delegate
for the ongoing two-day Indo-Bangla Joint Border
Conference said today.
"We were instructed to launch operations if any
Indian insurgents use the soil of Bangladesh for
causing subversive activities in Indian side. We
have also conducted a number of operations against
them," Director of 54 Border Guard Battalion of
Bangladesh Lt Colonel Kazi Mahamudunnabi said.
Bangladesh has decided to set up five more
border outposts in the Chittagong Hill Tract areas
bordering Dhalai district of Tripura for better vigil
and stop cross border movement of insurgents, he
said.
Md Hasanujjamad Kallol, Deputy Commissioner
of Comilla said, "We want proper sharing of water
from the Gomati, which flows through Comilla."
The 30-member Bangladesh team leader District
Magistrate of Feni Humayan Kabir Khanderkar said,
"We work at the district level and face various
border-related issues and such meetings will help us
to address them through dialogues."
The Bangladeshi team comprises five district
magistrates, representatives of police, paramilitary
forces and border guards.
From the Indian side, Dr Prashant Kumar Goyal,
District Magistrate of Sipahijala said "We have
discussed issues like joint border management,
border smuggling, human trafficking, border crimes,
infiltration and cross border movements of insurgents or terrorists."
"We pledged to cooperate with each other in this
regard. Both side attached importance for better
coordination ingrassroots level to address the issues
and improve relations between the two countries,"
he said.
had objected to the Centre's
order on the ground that it
was a pre-Independence
practice to facilitate
distribution of foodgrains at
highly subsidized rates to
tea garden workers. Under
the system, tea garden
owners purchase rice from
the state's allocation at Rs
8.30 per kg and distribute
the same to garden workers
at 50p per kg.
Gogoi also wrote to
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi to review the
decision, but there was no
response from the PM's
office. Assam Chah
Mazdoor Sangha, the trade
union body of tea garden
workers, had moved the
high court with a writ
petition seeking a stay on
this order.
-PTI
BSF nabs 8
Bangladeshi
criminals
WBYouth Congress
demands CM
resignation
SHILLONG, Jan 9: Eight
Bangladeshi criminals were apprehended by the Border
Security Force for allegedly
crossing the international border in Meghalaya's South Garo
Hills district, BSF officials said
today.
These criminals were
caught after a long and
strenuous operation by the
BSF at the border last
evening, the official said.
According to the BSF
spokesperson here, the criminals hailing from opposite
Mymensing district were involved in kidnapping and
extortion in villages along the
border.
They were identified as
Ashraf Md, 19, Abu Hanifa,
18, Md Abul Hossain,
Rafiqul, 20, Abdul Rahim,
30, Suruj Miya, 25, Md
Sadiqul, 25, and Nazmul
Hasen, 25. A 7.65 mm pistol
with magazine, 1 round and 1
Khukuri and 2 mobile phones
were recovered from their
possession, the BSF said.
BSF also apprehended 2
Indians and 5 Bangladeshi nationals on Meghalaya border
during the past week and also
seized 224 Wooden logs, 529
bottles of Liquor, 9 boats, 50
bottles of phensedyl, 31 cattle
and other contraband items,
worth over Rs 18 lakh.
KOLKATA, Jan 9: The youth
organization that groomed
Mamata Banerjee and helped
her walk into Writers' in 2011
has demanded her resignation.
West Bengal Youth Congress
(YC) supporters walked from
Vidhan Bhavan to Rani
Rashmoni Avenue on Thursday demanding that the chief
minister step down.
"The rally is a continuation
of our statewide protests
against the alleged involvement of senior Trinamool
leaders in the Saradha scam.
The CM has come in the way
of the CBI probe and
hassupported tainted leaders.
Mamata has no right to rule
the state anymore, said YC
state president Arindam
Bhattacharya.
This rally comes days after
YC put up a blockade on the
same demand. However, on
Thursday, it voiced its opposition to issues other than the
Saradha scam. -TNN
CISF head constable
killed by subordinate
SHILLONG, Jan 9: A head
constable of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was
stabbed to death by his junior
colleague at the Airport near
here and the accused was arrested, police said Thursday.
Amal Raj hailing from
Tamil Nadu was stabbed at
the back of his head and
found dead last evening while
on duty. A case was registered and after initial
investigation, constable B K
Singh hailing from Uttar
Pradesh, was arrested, Reddy
said, adding, personal issues
may have been the cause of
the murder. -PTI
DISTRICT DIGEST
Jiribam, Jan 9
Photo exibition
Dr Harmit Singh Pahuja, Additional
Deputy
Commissioner, Jiribam inaugurated the first photo
exhibition by an individual artiste today at Jiribam Higher
Secondary School auditorium
hall, reports Jiri News Network. The programme is
jointly organised by Jiri News
Network (JNN)and Lens
Film, Imphal.
The opening ceremony of
the exhibition had Dr Harmit Singh Pahuja, Sarat Thokchom,
JNN president, N Tombiraj, AMWJU advisor, L Ranjit
Kumar Singh, Principal, Jiribam Higher Secondary School
and Nilotpol Choudhury, Editor, Manipur Chronicle as chief
guest, functional president, guest of honour and special
guest of honour respectively.
JNN, Jiribam general secretary Romeo Moirangthem delivered the welcome address during the opening ceremony.
Delivering the key-note address, Bijoy Kakchingtabam,
former president, AMWJU encouraged photographers of
Jiribam to take up photo jounalism as an occupation.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Harmit Singh Pahuja said
photo jounalism is a tough occupation to opt for. The photos
which are being put up in the exhibition relates the achievements of the photograher during his career.
Senapati, Jan 9
Karong youth shot, injured
by suspected NSCN-IM man
A youth was shot and injured by a suspected NSCN-IM cadre at
Khabung Karong yesterday at around 6.45 pm, reports The
Hornbill Express.
According to sources, the victim identified as Saloni(
25), s/o Panii of Purul Akutpa presently residing at Karong
was returning with a friend after participating at the village
annual sports meet when they came across a local youth on
a bike quarelling with three persons in a white
Bolero(registration number MN-05A-2867).
Intending to pacify the situation, the victim intervened but
was shot by one of the occupants of the Bolero which was
stated to be driven by another local lad. After the gun fire,
the Bolero took a U-turn and fled towards Senapati DHQs.
The victim was rushed to Senapati District Hospital where
he was treated for thigh injury and is stated to be out of
danger. The victim is an engineering student and came home
for vacation. Agitated locals turned out in huge number and
gathered at the main Karong bazar to identify the vehicle
which they managed to locate and identify the occupants of
the Bolero. However, sources stated that, the culprit identified as NSCN-IM self styled Captain R Huimai Remai
alias Solomon fled towards DHQ town areas leaving the
two at Senapati-Phaibung road. Till the time filing this
report, the Karong villagers in large number also met the
victim at the hospital and descended upon the house of the
accused located at Viewland colony.
Sources informed that, some vehicles have been dispatched towards SP road to nab the culprit. The situation at
Karong area is tense as a mob has turned out in large
number to demand that the culprit be booked. More details
are awaited. No case has been registered at Senapati police
station till the time of filing this report.
Hail storm damages houses
A heavy hail storm damaged at least 50 houses at Kharam Pallen
village under Saitu Assembly Constituency, Senapati district between 10 pm and 1 am today. Kharam Union, in a statement
issued to the press today said that they saw at least 20 houses
destroyed which need to be reconstructed. A number of domestic animals including chickens and ducks were found dead. Some
birds were also found killed. The vegetables and houses in the
area were found covered with hail. The banana farm, measuring
about 30 hectares and which served as the main production of the
village was also found destroyed in the hail storm. At the moment, members of 20 houses have been rendered homeless said
the Kharam Union, Manipur and appealed to the department
concerned to extend whatever help it can to the affected people.
Thoubal, Jan 9
Youth camp concludes
A three-day Youth Leadership Residential Camp held by All
Thoubal District United Clubs Organisation (ATDUCO) under the aegis of All Manipur United Club’s Organisation
(AMUCO) from January 7 at Universal College, Yairipok concluded today with a small closing ceremony.
The closing event was attended by DD-News Imphal
assistant news editor Chabungbam Birendra, ATDUCO advisor L Subhaschandra Singh and AMUCO advisor KT
Rahaman, AMUCO vice-president W Gonendro Singh and
Ph Devan as chief guest, functional president and guest of
honour respectively.
Resource persons Keisham Ingocha, lecturer, Kha
Manipur College, Kakching and Nonibala Narengbam, convenor, Women in Governance (WinG), Manipur spoke on
the topics of ‘HIV/AIDS and Gender’ and ‘Women Empowerment and Causes and Prevention of Crime Against
Women in Manipur’ during the event respectively.
The three-day Youth Leadership Residential Camp was
attended by a total of 200 youths from Thoubal district.
Participation certificate was also handed over to the campers during the closing ceremony today.