Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Aizawl to follow strict building laws

Aizawl, Apr 23 : Building regulations will strictly come in force in the Mizoram capital from May two next as part of the effort to streamline construction activities in the burgeoning city, Vice Chairman of the Aizawl Development Authority (ADA) Lalfakzuala said here today.

The Former Chief Secretary told reporters that with strict enforcing of the Building Regulations Act 2005, it would become mandatory for anyone intending to construct a new building or make an extension to obtain prior permission from the ADA.

As part of the plan, the entire Aizawl will be divided into four zones with a site office soon coming up manned by technical people.

To a question about how the ADA would function when the municipality was commissioned, he said even though the 74th constitution amendment called for a merger of the ADA with the civic board, in bigger cities it was the usual practice that development bodies functioned side by side municipalities.

PTI

Rat menace may hit Mizoram

Aizawl, Apr 22 : Village elders used to predict that, while the year 2007 would be ‘A seh zawh kum’ or peak of the ‘Mautam,’ a local term for gregarious bamboo flowering, 2008 would be the year of harvest boom, the prediction may prove to be wrong this time, says James Lalsiamliana, an expert on pest control.

Lalsiamliana’s worst fears are based on reports that ‘Dendrocalamus Hamiltoni,’ locally known as ‘Phulrua’ flowered in the last quarter of last year and the seeds are on the ground now even as ‘melocanna baccifera’ or ‘Mautak’ has completed flowering.

“As happened in the late 1950s the rodents that caused so much destruction to the cultivation area during 2007 were expected to die en masse due to liver disease as they would not find anything to eat during January to April,” he said, adding that now they found food in the form of the seeds of ‘Phulua’.

He said that even wild boars and jungle fowls devoured the seeds of Phulrua and many villagers reported increase of wild boar and jungle fowl population in their areas after Phulrua flowered.

“Phulrua flowered sporadically since 2000 but this year it is gregarious flowering,” Lalsiamliana said, adding that the species is found almost everywhere in the river valleys.

However, C Ramhluna, the state Principal Chief conservator of forests does not believe that the flowering of Phulua would lead to repetition of rat menace.

“No study has revealed that rats ate Dendrocalamus Hamiltoni and even if it is so, the population of this bamboo species is too small to re-trigger rodent menace,” he said.

But Lalsiamliana maintains that the rats eating the seeds of Phulrua can be seen even now in Seling area near Aizwal at dusk and he had documented the scene with his camera.

“I know that this kind of bamboo constituted only around five percent of the total bamboo population in the state, but the effects of its gregarious flowering can be disastrous, because it can mean the survival of the rats” he says.

He is worried that there have not been reports of rodents dying but there are reports rats still in the jungles, might be savouring the seeds of Phulrua.

Besides those killed with mass poisoning with rode rodenticides before and during paddy harvest last year, no reports have been received from any village that indicated mass death of rats as reported in earlier ‘Mautams,’ he said.

Mautam affected 1,41,825 agrarian families in Mizoram and as per the estimate of the state government destroyed Rs 67,201.98 lakh worth of crops during 2006-2008.

The state government spent Rs 29.65 lakh for purchasing rodent tails, which failed to effectively mitigate the destruction caused by the periodic ‘Mautam’ famine.

Mautam is a strange ecological phenomenon, which occurred in this tiny hilly northeastern state in a cycle of every 48 years causing immense hardship to the agrarian tribals.

Official estimates said that there are around 20 different bamboo species in the state which covered an area of around 6,446 sq km (about 31 percent of the state’s total area).

Mautak or melocanna baccifera, which began to flower in the state since 2006 and climaxed in 2007 comprised of around 95 percent of the total bamboo population in the state.

Mizo elders, speaking after experiencing earlier Mautam famine, named the year after the climax of Mautam as ‘A V R Kum’ or a year of boom in harvest, but it is yet to be seen whether the traditional prediction comes true this time.

Bureau Report

Most Mizo villages have access to drinking water

Aizawl, Apr 22 : Most of the villages in Mizoram now have access to pure drinking water owing to the collective efforts of officials in the PHE department, state Public Health Engineering (PHE) Minister Tawnluia said.

The Minister was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the UN’s International Year of Sanitation on Monday.

Mr Tawnluia said as many as 471 villages in Mizoram had been provided with pure drinking water, adding that efforts were on to cover another 219 villages this year.

”Besides, most of the water in Mizoram is spring water and therefore, high in mineral content,” officials said.

Following the UN’s declaration of the year 2008 as International Year of Sanitation, the state PHE department organised a meeting with the theme ”Sanitation Promoting Health and Hygiene for All.”

The Minister urged the gathering, students and department officials concerned to render all possible service to achieve sanitation and health.

”Whereas villages have maintained proper sanitation, the city dwellers are living in unhygienic conditions due to improper planning,” the officilas said.

Official reports highlighted that the PHE department had launched total sanitation campaigns, distributed toilet materials free to 47,593 BPL families and constructed 727 anganwadi toilets and 123 units of community sanitary complexes to promote hygeinic living conditions in rural areas.

PTI

Mizoram to host NE CommonWealth parliamentarians meet

Aizawl, Apr 22 : Mizoram will host the 11th North Eastern Region Commonwealth Parliamentary Association during May for the second time.

A preview meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Zoramthanga, according to an official source. Mizoram Assembly Speaker Lalchamliana said the NERCPA had been established in tune with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association formed by former colonies of the British Empire.

Speakers, deputy speakers and three MLAs each, besides concerned officials from the northeast states, are expected to attend the four-day conference beginning May 27. Five MLAs are expected from Asom, which is the largest state in the region. The source said Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Secretary General V K Agnihotri have confirmed their participation.

UNI

Northeast overtakes Kashmir in terror deaths

Guwahati, Apr 23 : Terrorist attacks are claiming more civilian lives in India’s northeast than in Jammu and Kashmir. The region is also witnessing more insurgency-linked violence.

According to latest central home ministry figures, there were 1,489 incidents of violent incidents in the northeast in 2007 compared to about 1,000 in Jammu and Kashmir.

‘Civilian casualties in the northeast during the same period stood at 498 as against 158 civilian in Jammu and Kashmir,’ said the home ministry report titled ‘Status Paper on Naxal Activities’ released Tuesday.

Of the 498 civilian casualties in the northeast, 287 cases were reported from Assam alone.

‘This is a really dangerous trend with Assam now witnessing a new form of terrorism where militants or terrorists are striking innocuous civilian targets to get maximum mileage without really confronting the Indian security forces,’ Nani Gopal Mahanta, coordinator of the Peace and Conflict Studies department at Gauhati University said.

Assam witnessed more than 100 explosions last year, most of them in crowded marketplaces, besides organised attacks against non-Assamese people, particularly Hindi-speaking migrants.

Police blame the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland since 1979, for the continuing violence the state.

The home ministry report on the internal security was confined to the insurgency-hit states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura.

The impact of terror on the region’s already beleaguered economy has doubled, with investors shying away from setting up businesses in the states coupled with flight of capital.

‘Security is the single most important issue for investors, besides poor infrastructure facilities in the northeast,’ Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh told journalists here recently.

‘Any investor would like to have a safe security environment and should not be bothered about bomb blasts and other such things,’ he said.

‘This is the general perception that many investors have about the northeast, although not all the states are affected by insurgency. This mindset needs to be addressed,’ the minister said.

There are about 30-odd militant groups active in the northeast with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy.

Another disturbing fact is that Assam has ranked fourth among Indian states with the highest number of custodial deaths last year with 14 people dying while in police custody.

Out of 188 custodial deaths in 2007, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 32 deaths, followed by Maharasthra (25) and Gujarat (16), according to the report.

Bureau Report

Guwahati: flourishing arms bazaar for northeast rebels

Assam’s main city of Guwahati is turning out to be a flourishing bazaar for trading arms and explosives with frontline separatist groups from the northeast offering a ready market to scores of gunrunners, officials said.

Police and intelligence officials say weapons syndicates have of late stepped up their activities by using Guwahati to smuggle arms and explosives to at least 30-odd rebel armies operating in the region.

The reports got credence when police Sunday seized 10 Programmable Time Explosive Devices (PTED) from a cargo counter of a private transport operator in the heart of Guwahati city.

‘The PTEDs were meant for the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) and was headed to Kakopathar in eastern Assam through the Network Travels cargo,’ said city police spokesman Debojit Deuri.

The explosive devices were stacked in a packet and booked through the Network Travels cargo section under the guise of sending a parcel containing consumables.

A police official investigating the case said gunrunners brought in the explosive devices from Bangladesh via Meghalaya to Guwahati en route to eastern Assam.

‘In recent months we had seized a large cache of weapons and other explosives in and around Guwahati. While some of the seized weapons were for the ULFA, there are possibilities that some of the consignments could be for other militant outfits active in the northeast,’ an intelligence official said requesting anonymity.

The porous international borders, thick with forests, along the northeastern states of Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura have been used by the illegal weapons syndicate to smuggle small and medium arms and ammunition, besides explosives, to northeastern militant groups.

‘Gunrunners are very much active and busy along the border areas with militant groups from the northeastern region being the main buyers,’ an army commander engaged in counter-insurgency operations in the northeast told IANS requesting anonymity.

India and Bangladesh share a 4,095-km-long border, of which the northeastern states account for more than half. Over 70 percent of the border is unfenced with concrete pillars separating the two countries.

India shares a 1,600-km unfenced border with Myanmar.

‘We are now working for greater synergy between the police forces in the northeastern states to curb such activities of the gunrunners,’ a senior Assam police official said.

The region’s separatist groups have long purchased arms from the port town of Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh police in 2006 seized a huge cache of weapons from the Chittagong Hill Tracts with both Indian and Bangladeshi authorities suspecting the consignment was meant for at least four separatist groups in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland.

Bangladeshi authorities said the seizures were estimated between $4.5 million and $7 million and included around 20,000 automatic and semi automatic rifles, among them Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, hand grenades and other small arms.

‘Almost all the underground groups in the northeast purchase weapons at a very cheap price from gunrunners in the border areas, especially Bangladesh. You can buy everything including missiles,’ Kughalo Mulatonu, a senior rebel leader of the S.S. Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), told IANS by telephone from somewhere in Nagaland.

‘Some of the big underground groups often act as brokers between smaller outfits and the gunrunners for finalising arms’ deals.’

Most of the weapons, including AK-47 and AK-56 assault rifles, mortars, 40mm rocket launchers, pistols, revolvers and grenades come via the Arakans - a mountainous area in Myanmar - from parts of Thailand and Cambodia.

The arms consignments are often routed by sea through the Bay of Bengal to its destination in the Arakan forest in Myanmar, which is across Mizoram, before making their way to a myriad of rebel armies active in the northeast.

The area is controlled by Arakan insurgent groups opposed to the military junta in Yangon. Intelligence officials in the region have confirmed the presence of sophisticated range of weapons with militant groups in the northeast, including surface-to-air missile.

IANS

Naga clashes rock Dimapur

Kohima, Apr 23 : Dimapur erupted in internecine violence once again today as gun-toting Naga militants fought pitched battles in the commercial hub of Nagaland.

Four militants died — shot dead, burnt alive and executed in gory fratricidal killings — as any remnants of truce between the warring groups were thrown to the winds.

Three of them died in clashes between the Isak-Muivah and Unification groups of the NSCN at three different places under Diphupar police station this afternoon. The dead have been identified as Atovi Chishi and Hukheto Yepto of Unification and N. Thokcham of the Isak-Muivah group.

Another Isak-Muivah cadre sustained bullet injuries in one of the clashes.

The fourth militant who died belonged to the Isak-Muivah group and was executed by Unification cadres. He had been held captive with another member of his group for the past two weeks.

“We have executed a Tangkhul cadre,” Unification spokesperson Hokato Sumi said from the group’s Vihokhu camp, 20km from Dimapur, adding that another NSCN (I-M) cadre had escaped from their custody this afternoon. He did not disclose the identities of the cadres.

Sumi said their main target were the Tangkhuls, who were opposed to unification of the Naga groups.

Police quoted eyewitnesses as saying that one of the two Unification militants killed in the clashes was burnt alive when the vehicle he was travelling in was set on fire by the rival faction near Sovima.

The clashes started at Purana Bazaar in Dimapur in the afternoon and spread to 7th Mile, Sovima and Diphupar. Police said there was sporadic exchange of fire at 5th Mile till late in the evening.

The Naga groups have renewed their feud in recent times, notwithstanding the unprecedented security in and around Dimapur and despite the truce signed between them in December last year.

The ceasefire had been declared in Kohima on December 7 during a joint meeting sponsored by goanburas and dubashis (chiefs of Naga customary laws).

There have been several killings since, with the Isak-Muivah, Unification and Khaplang groups accusing each other of violating the truce.

The Isak-Muivah and Unification factions had clashed not even a week ago with the former gunning down two activists of the latter in Dimapur on the afternoon of April 17.

The attack by Isak-Muivah was suspected to be a revenge killing as the Unification group had attacked two of its activists that morning. The clashes had taken place just a day after NSCN (I-M) discussed its rival with Delhi during a round of peace talks.

Following the latest incidents, the Khaplang group has called an emergency meeting at Mon on Thursday. It will be attended by all the top functionaries of the outfit.

Several Naga organisations, Church leaders and state government have appealed to the factions to restrain themselves in the larger interest of the Naga people.

Telegraph India

NE CMs to oppose abolition of DoNER

Shillong, Apr 22 : The Chief Ministers of the North Eastern states would make a concerted effort to thwart the Centre’s move to abolish the DoNER ministry during the North Eastern Council (NEC) meeting in Agartala on May 12.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Donkupar Roy told the State Assembly that the State government would oppose the move to abolish the ministry and would in fact urge the Centre to strengthen it.

The Chief Ministers of the North East would take up the issue on their agenda to thwart the Centre’s decision to abolish the ministry.

Roy said, “the next conclave of North East Chief Ministers will jointly pass a resolution to show our protest”.

The second Administrative Reforms Commission while submitting its report to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommended the closing down of the ministry and responsibility restored to the Home Ministry.

The report also recommended that all funds from the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) be routed through the NEC from henceforth and not DoNER.

Roy said the ministry is of immense help towards development of the region and its closing down would adversely affect the economy of the North East.

“The Centre should think in terms of strengthening the ministry instead of closing it down,” the Chief Minister told reporters.

AT

Grassroots governance to be back in hill districts

Imphal, Apr 23 : The feeling of alienation of the hill people for nearly two decades in the absence of grassroots governance will be finally over with the Cabinet decision of promulgation of an ordinance on Autonomous District Councils to replace the Manipur (Hill Area) District Council Act, 1971.

Imphal, Apr 23 : The objective of the state government is otherwise only to prevent violation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, an act of the Centre which is also extended in the state for implementation of the National Rural Employment Scheme.

Under the NREGs guidelines it is required to include non-official members representing Panchayati Raj Institutions or its equivalent grassroots governance in the various stages of implementation of the scheme.

But even though in Manipur the scheme was implemented in Tamenglong district after inclusion of the same district among the most backward districts of the state, it has been implemented without the elected representatives of the people as there was no election of the ADC, the local self government in the hill areas.

If the state government was not compelled to do so, the question of promulgation of the ordinance may not arise as the amendment of the ADC Act remains pending.

The long delay in holding elections in the district councils in the hill districts was due to the demand for the extension of Sixth Schedule status to the hill areas and it has made the people of the hill areas feel a sense of alienation even as district councils effectively reverted to direct administration under the deputy commissioners.

The feeling of alienation has been further heightened with the departments which hitherto worked through their district offices increasingly becoming centralized with almost all development schemes being formulated and implemented from Imphal, the capital of Manipur. Though the panchayati raj system is apparently present in the valley districts, it has limited resources and manpower at its command.

But the long hold up in elections in the district council has resulted in discontinuation and breakdown of the traditional system and the absence of participative grassroots democracy in the hill areas.

To recall, the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in the hills area were introduced in the state in 1973 under the Manipur (Hill Area) District Council Act, 1971 with an objective of participation of the people belonging to the tribal and backward classes in the hill areas in development. Six ADCs were set up, one each in Tamenglong, Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel, Churachandpur and Sadar Hill (Kangpokpi).

Even as in normal circumstances the election of members to the ADCs are to be held before or after the expiry of their term, election in five ADCs of Sadar Hills, Tamenglong, Churachandpur, Chandel and Ukhrul could not be held in time due to the revision of electoral rolls all over the state following the amendments in the voting age of electors.

The terms for the said five ADCs expired on February 28, 1989. In 1990 the Hill Areas Committee of the Manipur legislative Assembly adopted a resolution not to hold election to the ADCs until the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution is extended to the present district councils.

The Hills Areas Committee reviewed the 1990 resolution and adopted a resolution urging the state government to take initiative for the election of the ADCs observing that the present Act and rules relating to the district councils needed to be reviewed and amended before the elections were held.

At the same time, the committee retained its previous recommendation for extension of the Sixth Schedule to the hill districts. Afterwards, the Manipur Legislative Assembly passed the Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Council Act, 2000.

The act gives the ADCs legislation, executive and judicial powers on the lines of what is contained in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Under the same act, the ADCs will also have the power to set up village and town committees, which addressed the point made by the Chief Minister`s Social policy Advisory Committee that the Manipur (Hill Area) District Council Act, 1971 did not provide for structural or functional linkages between the district councils and village-level bodies.

However, a challenge in the court on a provision in the act which stated that only persons who have been schedule tribe residents of a district for at least five years can qualify to be chosen as members of the district council came up from the Nepali residents of Sadar Hills under Senapati district.

The rules under the provisions of the Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Councils Act 2000 have been framed and are being vetted by the law department.On the other hand, the demand of the tribal people for the extension of the Sixth Schedule to the hill areas could not be subdued by the enactment of the Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Council Act, 2000.

The Sixth Schedule Demand Committee, Manipur has been pressurizing for the implementation of the state Cabinet decision on the recommendation to the Centre on the extension of the Sixth Schedule.

While the proposal came up from the state government the Union government has been seeking clarification of the term “with certain local adjustments and amendments” included in the Cabinet decision.

To examine the matter, a Cabinet sub-committee was constituted and the state government is still waiting for the recommendation of the sub-committee. In the light of this, devolution of powers to the district council has been held in abeyance.

It is also pertinent to mention that the traditional village councils still exist in Manipur, though they have been legally replaced by the Manipur (Village Authorities in Hill Areas) Act, 1956.

The act merely imposes a modern structure on the traditional system.

Under this act the village authority is responsible for maintaining law and order and two village members function as village court. Every village with 20 or more tax paying houses must have a village authority, with the number of members depending on the number of tax paying houses, with a three-year term. By and large, village authorities are elected bodies.

However, these bodies are not truly representative of the people, though there is a semblance of democracy.

Since the SPF government came to power in 2002 for the first time under the leadership of chief minister O Ibobi, at many instances, the amendment to the Manipur Hill Areas Autonomous District Council Act was discussed but no conscious agreement came till the final introduction of the amendment bill in the recently concluded Assembly session.

Despite hectic efforts of the state government to pass the amendment bill, it could not be passed and hence the bill was withdrawn from the House.

AFP

Central team to visit epidemic hit Manipur

Churachandpur, Apr 23 : The Central Emergency Medical Relief team is to tour epidemic-hit Manipur’s Hmarram area (Parbung-sub division) of Churachandpur district, during this week.

This was informed by Delhi Hmar Welfare Association’s secretary Mr Darsuothang after the Famine Relief Committee (FRC) several representations to the Union Health and Family Ministry in New Delhi on Tuesday.

“In response to the numerous representations submitted by the FRC to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry asking the Central’s Emergency Medical Relief to tour epidemic-hit Hmarram area of Manipur, the Chief Medical Officer of the Directorate General of Health Services has assured us that a central team, which includes epidemiologist, pediatrician, micro-biologist and host of other doctors will be visiting Manipur during this week if everything goes as planned,” Mr Darsuothang said over phone from New Delhi.

So far 29 children have died in Hmarram area of Parbung sub-division. Official sources believed that the disease could be some kind of respiratory disease realted to pneumonia. However, it is yet to be ascertained, said state health officials who are camping in the area.

“We met the CMO several times during the last two weeks. Today (Tuesday), he personally stated that the Centre was concerned about the recent deaths and was also keeping track of the measures taken by the state government,” Mr Darsuothang claimed.

In a big embarrassment to the Manipur government, Mr Darsuothang said, the CMO told them that Manipur was not doing enough to check the spread of the disease as compared to Mizoram government which he said was way ahead in providing relief works to epidemic and Mautam victims.

“He also told us that the World Health Organization was informed about the developments in Manipur,” the Hmar leader claimed.

Meanwhile, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences director Dr. L Fimate has directed a team of 8 doctors to treat the sick. On Tuesday the team which includes pediatric, gynaecologist, ENT specialist, physicians and micro-biologist reached Parbung, the sub-divisional headquarters of the affected area. The team is equipped with a laboratory, set up in three Sumos, for on the spot study of the deadly virus. The medical team is expected to tour almost all villages in Hmarram area in the coming weeks.

48-hr bandh against killing

Imphal, Apr 22 : A 48-hour bandh began along Imphal-Churachandpur Road today in protest against the government’s failure to investigate the killing of a youth by Assam Rifles in January.

The bandh was called by the joint action committee of Moirang in Bishnupur district.

Troops of the Assam Rifles gunned down Sandham Raju from Moirang at Salem Veng in Churachandpur district on January 21. The troops said the man was killed in an encounter and a pistol was recovered from him.

Claiming that Raju was innocent, residents of Moirang formed a joint action committee and submitted a memorandum to chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who promised to look into the incident and take “necessary action”.

Transport services were disrupted because of the bandh. Business in Moirang market was also hit.

Five persons were killed either by the Assam Rifles or unidentified gunmen in separate incidents since January.

Today’s bandh comes at a time when the Islamic Students Council threatened to impose an indefinite blockade along Imphal-Moreh Road in protest against the killing of two Muslim youths by the Assam Rifles a few days back.

Assam Rifles personnel gunned down Md Mustafa and Md Aziz, both in their twenties and both from Yairipok in Thoubal district, on April 18. The troops claimed to have found a carbine and a pistol on them.

Residents of Bamon Leikai, claiming that the two youths were innocent and missing since April 15 after they left together on a motorcycle, submitted a memorandum to chief minister in-charge Th. Devendra Singh the same day and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

The Islamic Students Council said it would impose a blockade along the Imphal-Moreh road from April 25 if the government failed to concede to the demands of the joint action committee.

Another student body, the Kuki Students Organisation, is preparing for an agitation over the killing of Paokholel Guite, 24, and Paominthang Guite, 19, both from Churachandpur, by unidentified persons near Keibi in Imphal East on April 19.

The relatives of the victims are yet to take home the bodies, which are lying at the mortuary of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences.

Telegraph India

NE tourism infrastructure adequate

Guwahati, Apr 23 : The myth that the North East region of India has not been able to attract foreign tourists to the desired extent despite having abundance of potential because of lack of proper infrastructure has been exploded when the Ambassador of Czech Republic to India Dr Hynek Kmonicek made it clear that the facilities available here should be adequate to attract foreign tourists. During a recent visit to the region, Dr Kmonicek told The Assam Tribune that the North East has abundance of potential to attract adventure tourists, particularly between the age group of 20 to 35 years and suggested that proper marketing is necessary to attract tourists. He pointed out that the Czech Republic with a population of only 10 million people could attract around six million tourists a year because of aggressive marketing.

The Czech Republic Ambassador said that on an average, around 20,000 tourists from his country visit India every year, but at the same time, he admitted that very few of them visit the North East. He expressed the view that the tour operators of the North East should get in touch with the Association of Czech Travel Agencies to attract tourists from that country to this region. Replying to a question on whether the Czech Embassy in India would be able to help the North East in bringing in tourists from that country, Dr Kmonicek replied “ it is the duty of Indian Embassies in other countries to market the tourism potential in India. Of course, we can only extend our help whenever necessary.”

The Czech Ambassador, who visited the North East twice within the last one year, expressed the view that the region has abundance of potential to attract tourists from European countries. He said that the young tourists, particularly those from the Czech Republic are “adventurous travellers” and they do not look for five star hotels. The Czech youths like to travel outdoors and they like wildlife, hills, rafting etc, which the North East has in abundance. He said that the cultural

heritage of the ethnic groups of the North East can also attract tourists from abroad, but the information about those should be marketed properly.

When pointed out that lack of Five Star hotels and other facilities is said to be one of the major hurdles in the way of attracting foreign tourists to the North East, the Czech Ambassador expressed the view that the infrastructure available should be adequate to cater to the requirements of majority of the tourists. He pointed out that only a small section of foreign tourists coming to India could be termed as “luxury tourists” and majority of the tourists do not look for Five Star comforts and they want to see places by spending reasonable amounts.

AT

Drive to stamp out militants

Silchar, Apr 23 : Security forces have turned the heat on militants in North Cachar Hills and Hailakandi districts of Lower Assam.

A senior police official said Dispur, after consulting Delhi, had asked the security forces and police to step up their drive against United Liberation Front of Barak Valley (ULFBV) and the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) — the two major groups operating in south Assam.

He said the impact of the fresh operations was evident in the recent spate of killings and arrests made by security forces in the area, considered to be the most backward in the state. Two top DHD (Jewel) commanders Daniel Gorlosa and Frankie Dimasa were arrested in Guwahati last month on the basis of correct intelligence inputs. Two commanders of the outfit were killed in a raid at Umrangshu in North Cachar Hills on April 10.

In Hailakandi district, contingents drawn from the police, the CRPF and the India Reserve Battalion organised raids on ULFBV hideouts in Katlicherra block on the Assam-Mizoram border this month. They also swooped down on the house of Pauchau Ram Reang, the chairman of the five-year-old outfit.

At least 21 activists of this Reang tribal outfit were trapped and two of its cadres killed in encounters recently. The security forces also rescued at least four persons from the outfit’s hideouts on Hailakandi’s border with Mizoram last month.

Telegraph India

India declares Assam disturbed area

New Delhi, Apr 23 : India has declared insurgency-hit Assam state a disturbed area to check militancy, junior Interior Minister V. Radhika Selvi said Tuesday.

She told Parliament that concerted and sustained counterinsurgency operations in Assam have been increased to flush out insurgent groups active in the state, including the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam.

She said the entire state has been declared a disturbed area under federal legislation.

The minister said in a written statement that additional central paramilitary forces have been provided to the state government to assist the state police in counterinsurgency offensives.

“Deployment of security forces and army formations for conduct of counterinsurgency operations in the state has been done on the operational requirements of establishing a grid in various sectors,” she said.

UPI