Thursday, May 1, 2008

Violence mars MZP election

Aizawl, May 1 : Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) Southern Headquarters, Lunglei’s general election held yesterday at Saikuti Hall, Lunglei could not be completed due to violence among the candidates, said returning officer H Lalthansanga.
Students from Lunglei, Haulawng, Tawipui, Hnahthial, Chawngte, Lungsen, Tlabung , Bunghmun were to elect a new leader of MZP, Lunglei.

Voters were given credential card and were asked to cast votes which was covered with video camera. Reports said that the reason for the outbreak of violence was the presence of non-students among the candidates.

Meantime, Lunglei District Joint Students Union ( LDJSU) in a joint statement blamed the establishment and Dinsu Venglai Branch of MZP being made a voter while the MZP constitution urged that MZP leaders should be a citizen of Mizoram only.

UNI

Press Council steps on threats to NE scribes

New Delhi, May 1 : The Press Council of India (PCI) has issued fresh guidelines following threats to the mediapersons in the North-east particularly in Assam and Manipur. Concerned over the threats to newspersons in the two States, the PCI constituted an Assessment Committee for Assam, whose scope was later enlarged to include Manipur. The Council has issued guidelines based on the Committee’s report.

The Council’s action came after NE Television owned by Positiv Television Private Limited moved it, complaining of threats being received by the print and electronic media representatives in the North-east, said Information and Broadcasting Minister, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi in a Rajya Sabha reply to a question by Kumar Deepak Das.

The complaint was referred to the Chief Minister and the Ministry of Home Affairs on March 29 last year requesting all possible measures to ensure security of the print and electronic mediapersons, especially of the NE Television.

The Council also referred to the State Chief Secretary, yet another complaint by NE Television alleging discriminatory behaviour of district administration towards the channel, Dasmunshi said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of I&B is considering two more proposals from Assam-based companies to launch TV channels. One application is from Brahmaputra Tele-Production Limited, to uplink a TV channel ‘ Channel East’ and the other is from Positive Television Private Limited to uplink two TV channels ‘Hamar TV’ and ‘HY TV” from India.

“These proposals are at various stages of scrutiny in the Ministry,” said Dasmunshi.

PTI

Water scarcity hits Manipur hard

Imphal, May 1 : Disappearance of jungles in the catchment areas of Manipur’s major rivers, irregular power supply and leaking water supply pipelines are the main reasons for shortage of water in the State capital.

The greater Imphal area which has around five lakh population requires not less than 80 million litres of water daily. However, the State’s Public Health Engineering department’s urban sector could not even provide 50 per cent of required demand.

Presently, Imphalites are getting only about 40 million litres of drinking water from 13 major water supply treatment plants in the city.

“This is because of irregular power supply in the State”, B Khelchandra, Superintending Engineer(Urban) of PHE department told The Assam Tribune. An employee working in the treatment plant at Chinga water supply plant near here said, “we hardly get six to seven hours of power daily.

Besides, another 30 to 40 per cent of the water supply were going waste at various places in and around the city during the course of distribution. As per official reports received here, the State targets to provide not less than 135 litres of water for an individual living in urban area and 40 litres per capita per day in rural areas.

Further, the water level of the major rivers like Imphal and Iril which were the main water sources were reported to be low due to the report of unavailability of water sources at the catchments areas. The water level of Singda dam which plays a major role in supplying water to the Imphalites, has receded drastically because of official neglect in repairing a 1,000 mm valve damaged on October 12 last year.

The scarcity of drinking water has also hit the other parts of the State including Ukhrul, Senapati and Churachandpur district headquarters.

Reports from remote Tipaimukh in Manipur’s Churachandpur district said coupled with the global climatic change, large scale deforestation activities have resulted in acute shortage of water in the Hmar tribe dominated village.

Though the hill slopes of Tipaimukh were covered with thick forest cover not long ago, the precious trees were cut down and burnt to clear land for extensive cultivation of ginger.

Similarly, trees on the hill slopes of Ukhrul district including that of Gwaltabi village have been cut down and burnt as part of their jhum cultivation. No action has been taken up by the State authority till date.

“Villagers burnt down the forest in order to get green and fresh grass for the buffaloes”, A Shatshang,a resident of Ukhrul town said. “I think they (elders) believed that until and unless the forest is burnt their buffaloes will starve”.

Residents of these three districts have been experiencing a warm climate unlike in the past apart from not getting enough water in their respective villages.

AT

Meghalaya gets Rs. 15 bn for plan outlay

New Delhi, May 1 : The Planning Commission Wednesday approved a plan outlay of Rs.15 billion for Meghalaya for 2008-09 following a meeting between the plan panel’s Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister Donkupar Roy. After the meeting, Ahluwalia told reporters the state was showing a healthy trend of economic development and efforts should be made to accelerate development of infrastructure specially power and road connectivity.

“All possible efforts should be made to encourage private sector participation in the development of physical and social infrastructure. Meghalaya needs higher level of growth targets to catch up with the rest of the country,” he said.

Ahluwalia said the plan panel was keen to improve the implementation of the central initiatives aimed at making the process of development more inclusive and was willing to consider requests from the state for relaxing guidelines.

Roy said infrastructure constraints, particularly power shortage, were the main reason for the slow-down during the 10th Plan period (2002-07).

“To achieve a growth target of 7.3 percent for the 11th Plan, the state needs to accelerate development of infrastructure, especially power and road connectivity. Major investments will be made in the social sector during this period for which nearly 38 percent of outlay will be earmarked,” Roy said.

IANS

Tourism spice in ethnic pot

Nagaon, May 1 : On the banks of the magnificent Samaguri lake in Nagaon district, the biggest ethnic village in the state is taking shape.

A tourism project launched by the state government, the village will have representations from 16 ethnic tribes of the state, Nagaon deputy commissioner J. Balaji said.

Each of the 16 households will be equipped with all the treasures to reflect the socio-cultural as well as day-to-day lifestyle of a particular tribe. And these 16 households will also house a restaurant each where tourists will get a taste of the best ethnic cuisine of the state.

Balaji said the ethnic village project has got technical as well as financial clearance. “Communities like Mising, Dimasa, Karbi, Tiwa and Adivasis will be part of the project.”

Famous as a nesting place of a large number of migratory birds, the Samaguri lake — alongside National Highway 37 — is one of the biggest natural waterbodies in the state.

The ethnic village — to be set up on the northern bank of the lake — will be part of a tourism project, which aims at developing the waterbody into a major attraction.

Dispur will spend over Rs 3 crore on the ethnic village. Nagaon DRDA assistant project officer (technical) Mukut Moni Saikia said the ethnic village would be “designed in such a manner that tourists get the best view of the lifestyle of the tribes”.

A luxurious boat will be pressed into service to ferry tourists to the village from the main gate on the other side of the lake, which runs along the highway.

Villagers representing the communities would be there to serve the guests, Saikia added.

Once threatened by massive encroachment and lack of maintenance, Samaguri lake was revived from a hyacinth-filled waterbody at the initiative of local MLA and forest minister Rockybul Hussain.

The tourism project on the southern bank includes a park, a bird-watching tower, a floating restaurant and some paddle boats.

Telegraph India