State BJP unit tours Eastern Nagaland to assess separate State demand

DIMAPUR, April 16: Bharatiya Janata Party, Nagaland State unit, along with BJP North East general secretary (org), P Chandrashekar Rao, toured Eastern Nagaland regions including Mon, Tuensang and Longleng districts in the second week of April.

State BJP media cell in a press release said that the tour was per the central BJP’s directive to assess the situation in Eastern Nagaland following Eastern Nagaland People’s Organization’s (ENPO) memorandum to the party on demand for separate Statehood (Frontier Nagaland) comprising of the four eastern districts.

During the tour, the BJP leaders held interactions with frontal organizations and leaders of the eastern regions.

In Longleng, leaders of local organizations including the Phom Council and Phom GB Association expressed “uncertainty” at the region’s participation in the forthcoming Assembly polls.

“The Phom Council President Shri Pukyong, besides ex-MLAs and president of the Phom GB Association in Longleng, expressed the uncertainty of participating in the next Assembly elections if there be no progress in the ENPO demand,” the BJP said.

In Tuensang, the Joint Tribal Councils of Chang, Khiamnungan, Yimchunger and Sangtam expressed deep resentment at the alleged “disparities” in development and that the Eastern Nagas intend to “voice their anguish” by closing down public offices if the ENPO demand “made no progress,” the party said. Further, the Konyak Union, ENPO State demand Steering Committee and leaders of other political parties and youth leaders also gave justifications to the demand of “Frontier Nagaland” with the local leaders claiming that people of the four backward districts were being “shortchanged in the actual fund allocation.”

Chandrashekar Rao highlighted the National Democratic Alliance’s role during the coalition’s government in India as well as its role as the current main opposition in the country. The BJP leader assured the local leaders that he would pass on the message as requested by the leaders of the tribal Councils.

State BJP president, M Chuba, and other State party leaders also expressed concern over what they called the “large scale underdevelopment of the ENPO region” but at the same time asked the Eastern Nagas to have faith in the BJP’s concern for the people in every nook and corner of the country.

“The disparity of development between ENPO region and the other parts of the State could be in the ratio 2:6 or 2:8. And it is a question whether this disparity is in consonance with the actual allocation of funds in the same ratio,” the Nagaland BJP said. The party also observed the “poor infrastructural sights” in the visited areas and that the roads in Aboi, Longleng and Tuensang sectors “don’t fit within the description of roads.”

Murderer of 40-year-old woman arrested

From our Special Correspondent

IMPHAL, April 16: The Thoubal district police have earned kudos from the people in general and the agitating womenfolk in particular by solving the rape-cum-brutal murder of Keisham Premila (43), by an insurgent who has been out on bail. However, the women continue to launch sit-in and demand death penalty to the main suspect in the most gruesome murder Manipur has witnessed so far.

The Thoubal district police superintendent K Jayanta told reporters that the main accused Mayangllambam Kheledro, an insurgent on bail has been arrested along with the incriminating evidence. He has reportedly confessed to the murder. The accused has been remanded to police custody till April 24. Since he was drugged and had short spells of faints as a result of drug abuse shortly before he was nabbed, the police could not continue to interrogate him and recovered some incriminating materials.

Jayanta said that the bailed out insurgent, who had been arrested at least three times had befriended with Premila. On March 26, the suspect had lured out the girl on the pretext of eloping. After taking her to some place, she was eventually led to a mountain at Kakching in the same district where she was raped and then beheaded and burnt to conceal her identity. Some days later, the charred body was recovered by some village urchins.

The family members had initially the impression that she had eloped. But, when there was no news, a complaint was lodged. Police recovered the ring she wore and her clothes. Though it has been conclusively proved that the body was that of the missing girl, the family members and women agitationists insisted on a DNA testing to firmly confirm it. They fear that somehow the culprit might escape through the legal bolt holes in the law court.

Jayanta said that the mobile handset of the dead girl was recovered from the accused. Though the SIM had been destroyed, there are tell-tale traces which trapped the accused. Besides, the police have been intercepting the mobile calls made by the murderer. The SP informed that during preliminary interrogations, the accused had confessed to the murder. However, during the interrogation he had fainted due to the excessive dose of drugs. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment. Once discharged from the hospital, he was formally arrested. The duty magistrate has ordered his detention in the police custody till April 24 for further interrogation.

On hearing the news of the arrest, the irate mob destroyed his house. There were sit-ins at various places, demanding death penalty to the suspect. There is no parallel of this  murder in Manipur. Once he is fit to speak to the police, it is likely that the police will come out with a full account of the horrendous cime.

LPG blackmarkets operating under government’s nose

From our Special

Correspondent

IMPHAL, April 16: One LPG cylinder booked in the agency on August 18, 2011 was supplied to the consumer on February 5,2012. In Manipur a cooking gas consumer is lucky if he or she gets LPG cylinder two times in a year. Because this has been a multi- million rupee underworld business to sell the LPG cylinders on the blackmarket.

It should not be forgotten that there is no dearth of the LPG cylinders on sale in the shops and kiosks everywhere. The authorized agents can supply just two times in a year. Long time back, the agents and their employees had learnt a valubale lesson that it is much better and financially expedient to siphon off the cylinders on the blackmarket. Though the official price of a cylinder is less than Rs 500, the blackmarketeers are sellng the same at Rs 1500 at normal times and Rs 2500 during the tribal blockades against Manipur. All the time, the government has remained a mute spectator. It is not difficult to imagine that powerful and influential officials are forced to look the other way since their palms are greased.

There is no mechanism to oversee the the sale of the LPG cylinders. In short, the haughty agents are given carte blanche to fleece the people. There is no system in Manipur for the agents to distribute the cylinders in three or four wheelers. The consumers have to queue up for long hours to get their cylinders once or twice in a year. Though there is no stock in the office, employees of the agencies are seen cruising around in three-wheelers for dropping several cylinders in a shop of kiosk. The police and local residents who are used to this kind of underworld business do not make any fuss.

Recently some students had found that some agencies have been cheating the people in the most outlandish way. They will publish the same date and stock position repeatedly. In other words, the consumers who had already purchased their cylinders will not come for the second, third or fourth round of distribution. As no consumer will come to collect the cylinders, the employees could sell the entire stock on the blackmarket. Although this was exposed in the media, the government did not lift a finger. During blockades and general strikes, the Ministers and high officials did precious nothing to ensure uninterrupted supply to the people. Instead, reports are that the Ministers and officials had vied with one another to stock more cylinders in their homes.

The LPG cylinders are lifted from Assam by the truck drivers. Most of the drivers halt at Jakhalabandha in Assam for having lunch or dinner. They do not halt the crowded hotels and eateries for obvious reasons. Instead, they halt for long hours at thatched shacks located near the paddy fields, tea gardens and forest areas. While the drivers are wining and dining, the cleaners and some other helps are busy siphoning off the gas to the empty cylinders brought from Imphal in other trucks. The method used is rather simple. A small bamboo is used to transfer about half of the gas. In other words, one truck of LPG cylinders will have two truckloads of cylinders within a few hours. The drivers and some agents become wealthier by cheating the consumers. In Manipur, there is no system of weighing the cylinders at the time of buying the same. In other words, the consumers have no way of knowing that about 5 kg of gas is cheated. Nobody has taken up the cudgels to ensure the mandatory facility to the consumers. There is no dearth of supply of LPG cylinders in Assam like petrol or diesel. Under the circumstances, there is no reason why Manipur should be in the perennial shortage of cylinders in this manner. But then, the Ministers and high officials who should have taken up some effective steps are blind, deaf and mute.

Great potential of bamboo-based products in Tripura

Agartala, April 16: Two Mumbai-based entrepreneurs have expressed interest in making bamboo-based products like handicrafts, furniture and sticks for Agarbatti (incense stick) making, official sources said.

“They have agreed to invest Rs 80 crore for setting up two industrial units at the proposed Bamboo Park at Bodhjungnagar and have already bought five acres of land from us,” Chairman of Tripura Industrial Development Corporation said.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar laid the foundation stone for the Bamboo Park on January 27 which aimed to ensure value addition to bamboo.

The Central government has sanctioned Rs 29 crore for its development, spread over 69 acres of land which is just 12 km from here.

“Now infrastructures like roads, provision for water and electricity are being built which is likely to be completed by next six to seven months,” he added.

Tripura has registered a 240 per cent absolute growth rate and 35.8 per cent compound annual growth rate in the production of bamboo-based products like handicrafts, furniture and sticks for Agarbatti-making.

Expressing satisfaction at the growth rate, State’s Forest Minister, Jitendra Chowdhury, informed Tripura Assembly last month that there had been a commensurate increase in the revenue also.

“While in 2006-07 our turn-over was Rs 28 crore, it grew more than three fold at Rs 93.05 crore this year which represents a 240 per cent absolute growth rate,” Chowdhury said.

Buoyed by the development, the State government has set an ambitious target of Rs 200 crore per annum by 2016. The minister, who also holds the industry portfolio, said the State earned 80 per cent of its profit in bamboo products by making sticks for Agarbatti which met 60 per cent of the country’s total demand for the product.

He said the State had set a target of Rs 54 crore as revenue next year, compared to Rs 30.93 crore this year, from bamboo and handicrafts alone. (PTI)

Cabinet approves project for enhancing IECT in Northeast

GUWAHATI, April 16: The Union Cabinet today approved the initiation of the project entitled ‘Development of North Eastern Region by enhancing Training and Education Capacity in the Information, Electronics and Communication Technologies (IECT) area’ to be implemented by National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), an Autonomous Society under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology. The total budget outlay of the project is Rs 388.68 crore. The Department’s contribution in the form of grants-in-aid is Rs 347.88 crore which is spread over a period of five years, stated a release.

The project would result in enhanced capacity in terms of training/education in IECT sector for the youth of north-eastern region. The availability of trained professionals in the IECT area is expected to attract entrepreneurs/industrial houses to set up industries in the region, leading to its overall socio-economic development.

The project would benefit the student community/youth, faculty members, entrepreneurs, local industry, government employees, educated employed, various disadvantaged sections of the society namely, Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes/minorities school dropouts persons with disabilities, economically weaker sections of the Northeast Region. About 45,000 students are expected to be enrolled/trained in various long-term/short term courses in five years in the proposed six upgraded centres and 12 extension centres.

The ‘North-Eastern Region Vision 2020’ documents while analyzing the population growth in many of the north-eastern States indicates that a substantial proportion of the population is below 14 years. It indicates that education would be the most critical input to empower the young people. The document also mention that human resource is the single most promising development asset of the North East.

This project aims at capacity building in the Northeast that would contribute in attracting IECT industries and generate a pool of jobs leading to overall socio-economic development of the region.

Manipur organizes familiarization tour

Imphal, April 16: The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, organized a familiarization (FAM) tour for the officers of Tourism Departments of the north-eastern States in Guwahati, Gangtok and Kolkata from 9th to 14th April, 2012. Team Manipur was led by KK Chhetry, Commissioner, Tourism, Government of Manipur along with Dr K Shyamsunder Singh, Deputy Director, Tourism and Rajeshor Thoudam, Architect of Tourism Department. All the NE States participated except for Nagaland and Tripura.

The objective of the FAM Tour was to familiarize the participants to the tourism related products, destinations, best practices of the States of Assam, Sikkim and West Bengal, and interaction with the local tour operators and the hoteliers, stated a release.

Sikkim shows improvement in several areas as per 2011 census

Gangtok, April 16: Sikkim has recorded an improvement in the coverage of drinking water, dwelling units, communication and lighting, according to the latest census report. Compared to the 2001 census, the State has become more urbanised in banking facilities and registered progress in communication and modes of transportation, Joint Director Census Operations, Sikkim, D K Dey said. The State occupies the fifth position in the country, after Chandigarh, Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh and Goa, in providing tap drinking water. Quoting figures which are part of the Housing Data collected last year, he said the number of houses in Sikkim were 1,69,022 which included 1,15,395 in rural and 53,627 in urban areas. The total number of households in the State were 1,28,131, which included 92,370 in rural and 35,761 in urban areas, he said. The data, which was released by PIB Gangtok Director C K Dorjee, has assessed the number of households and houses, their assets and amenities available in these. (PTI)

Bangladeshi jumbo triggers panic in Agartala

Agartala, April 16: An elephant, that entered the north-eastern State of Tripura from neighbouring Bangladesh, has triggered panic among people in Agartala, a senior forest official said here on Monday. The forest department is keeping a close watch on the bull elephant and efforts are on to tranquilize it, Tripura’s chief wildlife warden Sanatan Talukdar said. According to forest officials, the pachyderm entered the State’s capital city on Sunday night through the India-Bangladesh border, which is barely two km west of the city. “After travelling more than 30 km through western Tripura, the elephant has now entered a reserve forest. Our officials are keeping a close watch on it,” Talukdar said. He said the aggressive behaviour of the elephant might be due to fluctuation in its reproductive hormones, a condition known as Musth, and that the jumbo would be normal within three days. A team led by divisional forest officer (Sadar) Sushil Debbarma is observing the movements of the animal that reportedly belongs to a circus company in Bangladesh. “Border Security Force personnel are trying to contact the ‘mahout’ (elephant keeper) of the elephant,” Talukdar said, adding that the animal did not cause any damage to property in the region. (IANS)