north east online - north east india news: Oct 9, 2009

Friday, October 9, 2009

Chidambaram talks tough, asks Maoists to abjure violence

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nion Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday urged the Naxals to lay down arms and come to the negotiation table for the speedier resolution of their problems. Maoist guerrillas should give up their "armed liberation struggle" to pave the way for dialogue and the development of violence-hit states, home minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday, a day after the decapitated body of a Jharkhand police officer who had been abducted by guerrillas was found. Addressing a press conference, Chidambaram also made it clear that the government does not view the confrontation with the Naxalites as a war. The home minister said the governments of states affected by Maoist violence had been asked to discuss the issues of development, neglect, deprivation and government structure in case they give up arms. Chidambaram said surrendering arms was a must as the government and the Maoists could claim to represent the same group of people. Chidambaram's comments come a day after Jharkhand police inspector Francis Induwar, who had been abducted on Sep 30, was found killed on the Ranchi-Jamshedpur highway.

Palatial CM residence

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hether the promises of development of the state is fulfilled or not is but a secondary matter, in the democracy of our country, but the leaders must stay in palatial buildings. It is true in the case of Arunachal Pradesh, which would be electing its new Chief Minister after the October 13 election. Whether Khandu will retain his chair or someone else is appointed, a mammoth construction is in progress for the Chief Minister’s residence. Development is yet to light the land of the Rising Sun, Arunachal Pradesh, one of the remotest and most backward states of India. Given the geographical terrain, the pace of development has been slow as well, and the tribals there are yet to seen economic development. But not the lives of the leaders. The construction of a colossal structure has been going on since 2007 in Itanagar. This eye-catching palatial building, said to be the official residence of the state’s Chief Minister. Artisans and workers have especially been hired from states like West Bengal, Rajasthan and Delhi to beautify the inside of the structure with marble stone. People in and around the capital Itanagar have been talking about the palatial building. They say it is meant for Dorjee Khandu. The CM’s palace, built on a sprawling 4 acre land, contains huge spacious rooms…some of which are the size of a single house. And the contractor, Tesi Kasho, is a politician, and is contesting this election on an NCP ticket from Itanagar…According to reports, he was vying for a congress ticket but had to had to go to NCP, after the ruling party favoured a BJP-turned-Congress leader Kipa Babu. Extensive care and research, vastu Shastra, have gone into the construction of the building and till now about 12 crores have been spent on it. Another 25 days to go, whether it is Dorjee Khandu or someone else that will reside and rule from this colossal palace, the newly elected MLAs will decide.

Indo-Bangla border well demarcated, says Bangladesh official

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aintaining that the indo-Bangladesh was “well demarcated”, a top Bangladesh government official today said the instances of trespassing and encroachment along the international boundary are “willful” and not due to ignorance. The demarcation of the Indo-Bangla border is completed and both India and Bangladesh have strip maps of the exact boundary now. Director of Bangladesh’s Survey department Rafiqul Islam said after the conclusion of the three-day Indo-Bangla boundary conference in Meghalaya capital, Shillong. The Bangladesh official said that trespasses across the International boundary are done willfully and not due to ignorance. Pointing to the repeated instances of trespassing and encroachments, the Bangladesh official said the local villagers are well aware of the actual boundary even as he underlined the need to create more awareness on issues related to the problems along international boundary among them. Meghalaya sector alone has 79 strip maps which clearly show the actual boundary and copies of it are available with both India and Bangladesh. The director informed that though initially both the sides had decided to erect pillars at the “bents” and “corners” of the boundary line, now they are considering to erect them in more areas to fill in the gaps. In this three day conference both sides agreed to commence re-construction of damaged pillars in the South Garo Hills, West Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills districts of Meghalaya from November 16 next. Islam admitted that the boundary pillars were often dismantled by miscreants or damaged by elephants and rainfall, a problem that has prompted both sides to mull construction of specially designed RCC pillars with proper height that can withstand natural calamities. Maintenance of the boundary pillars was also another issue discussed during the 129th Indo-Bangla boundary conference. The conference reviewed the works (of boundary pillar) done in 2008-09 and drew up the programme to be taken up in the next year, Commissioner and Secretary of Meghalaya’s Revenue department PW Ingty, who led the Meghalaya side, said. Meghalaya shares about 443 km international border with Bangladesh and non-erection of boundary pillars in vast stretches of the porous border has reportedly created confusion and tension among the villagers on the Indian side. Reports said absence of proper boundary pillars has fomented encroachment by miscreants from Bangladesh side along the border areas. BSF sources indicated that the miscreants often damage the pillars, remove the iron plates in them and also erase the numbers, ostensibly to abet encroachment. It may be mentioned that erection and maintenance of the even numbered pillars is done by the Indian side, while the odd numbered ones by Bangladesh.

Money is new ‘saline gold’ in Arunachal

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ime was when salt helped win elections in Arunachal Pradesh. Villagers would not settle for anything less than a bag of the highly prized commodity to cast their votes.

Though packets of iodised ‘saline gold’ are no longer a rarity in the hills of this frontier state, any contestant worth his salt has to allegedly buy his way to victory — in cash or kind. “Money rules here,” said Itanagar-based green activist Bamang Anthony.

Money allegedly held sway in CM Dorjee Khandu’s home district Tawang. The Congress won all three Assembly constituencies here — Tawang, Lumla and Mukto — uncontested, much before the final list of candidates aspiring to be in the 60-member House was declared.

Arunachal has 7,48,557 voters this time, an average of 12,476 per constituency. This is one-tenth the average number per seat in Maharashtra and Haryana, where elections will be held simultaneously on October 13. That doesn’t mean the contest is any less intense in this northeastern state.

The stakes for the Congress, which had a clean sweep of all the 60 seats in House last time thanks to crossovers, are quite high. Its primary challenge is ironically not from archrival BJP but the NCP and Trinamool Congress, its UPA allies. The multi-cornered contests have seen unprecedented violence.

Of the 154 candidates in the fray, the Congress has fielded candidates in the remaining 57 seats. The NCP is contesting 36, the Trinamool Congress 26, BJP 18, Peoples Party of Arunachal 11, JD (U) three and Independents three. The BJP had in 2004 contested 35 seats and won nine, all of whom joined the Congress later. The Congress in the last elections won 35 seats.

Some Congress workers feel the party’s choice of candidates could go against it. The party denied tickets to 14 sitting MLAs, 10 of whom became Trinamool Congress candidates while NCP fielded two. Congress did field former chief minister Gegong Apang from his pet Tuting-Yingkiong constituency despite differences with Khandu.

Millionaires rule the roost in Arunachal elections

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ore than 40 percent of the 157 candidates for next week's assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh are millionaires, with the richest being a debutant school dropout worth more than Rs 2 billion (Rs 200 crore).

According to figures compiled by the National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) from affidavits filed by the contesting candidates, 63 candidates are millionaires.

Congress party candidate for the Palin assembly constituency, Takam Tagar, is the richest with declared assets worth Rs.2.09 billion.

Tagar, 34, is the youngest candidate and is the brother of sitting Congress Lok Sabha MP Takam Sanjay.

Elections to the 60-member legislature are scheduled for October 13, although voting would be for just 57 seats with three candidates already declared elected unopposed.

Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and two more ruling Congress members were declared elected unopposed - sitting MLA Tsewang Dhondup from Tawang constituency and debutant Jambey Tashi from the Lumla seat.

Khandu was elected unopposed from the Mukto constituency in Tawang district, bordering China, in the 1999 and 2004 assembly elections as well.

The chief minister is the third richest candidate in the list with total declared assets worth Rs.220 million, while former Rajya MP and Congress party candidate from the Doimukh assembly seat is the second richest with assets worth a little more than Rs.240 million.

An interesting feature of the list of candidates is that all political parties have given tickets to the rich - a trend that is visible from the affidavits filed by the candidates along with their nomination papers.

Of the 60 Congress candidates, 37 are millionaires.

Among the other millionaire candidates, eight are from the Nationalist Congress Party, seven from the Trinamool Congress, six from the Bharatiya Janata Party, and one is an independent.

The Janata Dal-United with three candidates is the only party not to have a millionaire in the list.

Money plays an important role in any election in Arunachal Pradesh with political parties known to host community feasting during the polls to woo voters.

3 militants gunned down in Manipur

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hree militants were killed in separate incidents in Manipur, police sources said today.

Two militants of United Kuki Liberation Council were gunned down in an encounter with Assam Rifles jawans at Gngpimual village in Churachandpur district, bordering Myanmar, last night.

In another incident, a militant was killed in a shootout with Assam Rifles personnel at a place near India-Myanmar border pillar 81 in Chandel district yesterday, sources said.

Security personnel recovered two pistols, four magazines, several rounds of live ammunition, 132 extortion demand letters, a wrist watch, draft paper, a receipt book and other documents from the two spots.

Over 300 persons have been killed in militancy-related in Manipur this year, according to reports.

NE Home Secretaries and DGPs meet in Guwahati on Friday

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o formulate effective counter-insurgency operations in the North-east, the Centre is convening a meeting of Home Secretaries and DGPs of the region in Guwahati on Friday.

The meeting will facilitate interaction between North-eastern states to coordinate in dealing with the militant groups operating in their states and formulate effective counter-insurgency operations.

"The meeting will be attended by the Home Secretaries and Directors General of Police of the region," a Home Ministry official said.

Senior Home Ministry officials will also attend the daylong meeting.

The officials would also discuss issues relating to modernisation of state police forces, rehabilitation of surrendered militants, filling up of vacancies/sanction of additional posts in the state police forces, etc.

Doctor plays Holmes, nabs gang of little four

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GARTALA: They were as elusive as Macavity, the mystery cat and stealthier thieves, giving city police the slip for weeks together. That was
until a doctor played Sherlock Holmes at his backyard and spotted "small footprints".

Three little children suspected to be Bangladeshi juveniles Kalam Miah (12), Taslima Akhtar (13) and Swapna Akhtar(15) were nabbed by locals on Wednesday after Subhendu Debbarma, a doctor residing at Advisor Choumuhani in the heart of the city, found small, muddy footprints on his lawn and alerted them. "The footprints indicated that the thieves could very well be children," he said.

Based on his clue, residents searched the locality and caught the quartet, but one boy managed to escape before a police party arrived. The trio was later handed over to the cops. Police said Kalam, Taslima and Swapna, along with another minor boy, had entered Tripura from Bangladesh through the Sonamura border and reached Agartala.

During interrogation, the kids not only confessed that they had committed the crime but also told cops that they were from Brahmanbariya district of Bangladesh. They had come across the border to Tripura a few weeks ago had been staying at a rented house in the Border Golchakkar area. Police recovered gold jewellery worth about Rs 1 lakh as well as some cash from their house. "We are looking for the fourth member of the gang," said Subrata Chakrabarty, West Agartala police station officer in-charge.

The little thieves had been on a robbing spree for quite a few weeks. But their luck ran out when they looted Debbarma's home. He had been on a Puja vacation outside the state. On his return, he found valuables had been stolen during his absence. Besides informing the police, Debbarma took the cue from another doctor of yesteryears Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and did some investigations of his own, which finally helped nab the culprits.

A few days ago, five Bangladeshi juvenile delinquents who had been involved in similar crimes in Agartala and its suburbs had fled from juvenile custody. Police said thieves and dacoits usually use Bangladeshi children who roam the city roads as rag pickers for identifying vulnerable houses and sneeking into them at night. "They would squeeze into the homes through ventilators or windows and then open the door for the main group waiting nearby, who would then loot the house of valuables," Chakrabarty added.

63 crorepatis in Arunachal poll fray

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TANAGAR: The poll field in Arunachal Pradesh could be one of the richest in the country. Of the 154 contestants for the October-13 Assembly
elections in this landlocked frontier state, 63 are crorepatis. Topping the chart is Lok Sabha member Takam Sanjay's brother, whose declared assets are worth about Rs 209 crore.

According to poll affidavits of candidates analyzed by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), two citizen action groups working for poll reforms, Tagar, who is contesting from the Palin constituency on a People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) ticket, is also one of the youngest among the aspiring lot at 34. He has, however, studied only up to Class X. The survey found that his business firm, M/S Reniya Enterprises, has a turnover of Rs 158 crore at the moment.

Former Rajya Sabha member Nabam Rebia and Congress nominee for the Doimukh Assembly seat is second in the crorepati list with assets worth over Rs 24 crore, closely followed by incumbent chief minister Dorjee Khandu (Rs 22 crore-plus).

Ex-minister Lechi Legi, who contested on a Congress ticket last time but lost to BJP's Kipa Babu from Itanagar, is in the fourth position with assets worth a little less than Khandu but also over Rs 22 crore. This time, he has swapped parties with Babu. Gojen Gadi of Congress, re-contesting from Basar, complete the Top-Five chart with his Rs 19 crore-plus movable and immovable property.

To put it in a descending order, those in the Top Ten list are Chowna Mein and Kameng Dolo of Congress (both Rs 18 crore-plus), Nang Sati Mein (Independent) at Rs 14 crore, James Techi Tara (NCP) at Rs 13 crore and Wangman Lowangcha commanding assets worth Rs 12 crore.

Poll debutante Tara, who hails from Papum Pare but later settled down in Lohit, is pitted against sitting MLA Chowna Mein (Congress) and three others. Missing a slot in the Top-Ten list by a whisker is Likha Saaya, the youth face of Congress, with his assets worth Rs 9.6 crore.

In the last Assembly elections, former chief minister Gegong Apang was the richest candidate with his Rs 9 crore-plus assets. But in the last five years, he has only gone poorer. According to the survey, his assets are worth Rs 7 crore and he managed to clinch the 14th position.

Like Apang, education minister Tatar Kipa, PWD minister Nabam Tuki and parliamentary secretary Takam Sorang were in the list of Top Five crorepatis in the last polls, but have gone down the chart this time.

Tuki, with his Rs 6 crore-plus assets, finished 16th in the list, while Kipa stood 22nd (Rs 3 crore-plus). Sorang, with only a plot of land at ESS Sector Itanagar worth Rs 2.5 lakh, is not even in the Top Hundred list.

Interestingly, most parties seem to have favoured crorepatis while giving them tickets to contest the polls. While Congress gave tickets to 37 crorepatis, NCP chose eight and Trinamool Congress seven. PPA has four crorepatis in its list of 11 contestants, BJP has six of its 18 nominees and of the three Independents, one is a crorepati. JD(U), which has fielded three candidates, is the only party that does not have a single crorepati in its fold.

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