north east online - north east india news: Dec 14, 2009

Monday, December 14, 2009

Nine killed in accidents in Assam

At least nine persons, including a family of five, were killed and another injured in road accidents in Assam on Monday.

A car with the family driving from Guwahati to Nagaon hit a divider at Phuloguri in Nagaon district and burst into flames, charring the five occupants including two children, official sources said. The bodies were yet to be indentified.

Three persons were killed in an autorickshaw-truck collision at Bonda area here, the sources said.

Another person, Qutubuddin Ahmed, was killed in a road accident at Gorukhuti near Koliabor in Nagaon district. His wife Sofia Begum was seriously injured and admitted to hospital, the sources added.

Only 1025 mld capacity sewage treatment available along Ganga River: Centre

New Delhi, Dec 14 (ANI): The Union Government on Monday revealed that sewage treatment capacity of 1025 mld is available against the requirement of about 3000 mld being generated in towns along the River Ganga.

To address this gap, the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) resolved that by the year 2020, it would be ensured that no untreated municipal sewage or industrial effluent flows into the Ganga.

The Centre constituted the NGRBA in September as an empowered planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating authority for conservation of the Ganga River with a holistic river basin approach.

Union Environment and Forests Ministry said : "The investment required to create the necessary treatment and sewerage infrastructure will be shared suitably between Centre and States after consultation with the States Governments."

Water quality monitoring carried out by reputed institutions indicated that, water quality of the river Ganga conforms to the prescribed standards in terms of key indicators, namely, Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) at most of the locations, except in the stretch between Kannauj and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

However, the levels of fecal coliforms are reported to be exceeding the maximum permissible limit at a number of monitoring stations along the river Ganga.

The ministry has stated that action has been initiated for preparation of a comprehensive Ganga river basin management plan which will form the basis for formulation of projects.

Respective State Governments have been requested to prepare priority projects for critical pollution hotspots and major towns on Ganga and fast track the implementation of ongoing projects.

According to the fourth assessment report of the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change, the Himalayan Glaciers are receding faster than in any part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the earth keeps getting warmer at the current rate.

A National Action Plan on Climate Change was launched in June 2008 which envisages the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system amongst its eight national missions. The mission would seek to understand weather and the extent to which the Himalayan glaciers are in recession and how the problem could be addressed.

A new research centre on Himalayan Glaciology has been established at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun. Guidelines and best practices for the governance for sustaining Himalayan Eco-system has been developed and shared with all State Governments in the Himalayan region, the ministry stated.

Cleaning of Ganga started in 1985 with the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) Phase I. GAP is a centrally funded scheme with the objective of improving the water quality of the Ganga.

Various pollution abatement works
like interception and diversion of sewage, setting up of sewage treatment plants, low cost sanitation works, crematoria works, etc. were taken up.

GAP Phase - II included the major tributaries of Ganga namely, Yamuna, Gomti, Damodar and Mahananda, besides Ganga. GAP Phase II was merged with the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) in December, 1996. (ANI)

Developing countries block UN climate talks

COPENHAGEN -China, India and other developing nations blocked U.N. climate talks on Monday, bringing negotiations to a halt with their demand that rich countries discuss much deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions.
Representatives from developing countries — a bloc of 135 nations — said they refused to participate in any working groups at the 192-nation summit until the issue was resolved.
The move was a setback for the Copenhagen talks, which were already faltering over long-running disputes between rich and poor nations over emissions cuts and financing for developing countries to deal with climate change.
The dispute came as the conference entered its second week, and only days before over 100 world leaders including President Barack Obama were scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen.
"Nothing is happening at this moment," Zia Hoque Mukta, a delegate from Bangladesh, told The Associated Press. He said developing countries have demanded that conference president Connie Hedegaard bring the industrial nations' emissions targets to the top of the agenda before talks can resume.
Poor countries, supported by China, say Hedegaard had raised suspicion that the conference was likely to kill the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which limited carbon emissions by wealthy countries and imposed penalties for failing to meet those targets.
Poor countries want to extend that treaty because it commits rich nations to emissions cuts but doesn't make any legally binding requirements on developing countries. The United States would never support that, since it balked at signing Kyoto in the first place over concerns that China, India and other major greenhouse gas emitters were not required to take action.
"Trust is a major issue. We have lost faith," in Hedegaard, Mukta said.
An African delegate said developing countries decided to block the negotiations at a meeting hours before the conference was to resume. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was held behind closed doors. He said applause broke out every time China, India or another country supported the proposal to stall the talks.
U.N. climate chief Yvo De Boer said Hedegaard was holding informal consultations with delegates "to get things going."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said he would arrive in Copenhagen on Tuesday — two days earlier than previously planned — in an attempt to inject momentum into the climate talks.
"His view is that these negotiations can't wait until the last minute. He believes that we have learnt the lessons from the G-20, that it takes leadership to get involved and try to pull together what is required as soon as possible," Brown's spokesman Simon Lewis told reporters in London.
Lewis denied that Brown — facing a national election by June — was seeking to personal credit if a deal is struck. "He is not seeking to push himself forward, but he has taken a personal view that it is important that, if world leaders can, they should get there early," the spokesman said.
Earlier Monday, British Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said it's up to him and his counterparts in Copenhagen to help bridge that gap between rich and poor countries and "not to leave everything" to the 100 world leaders — including President Barack Obama — who start arriving Wednesday.
"There are still difficult issues of process and substance that we have to overcome in the coming days," Miliband said. "Can we get the emission cuts we need? We need higher ambition from others and we will be pushing for that."

Delhi buses catch fire: Govt fines Tata

Delhi government on Monday imposed a hefty fine of Rs four crore on Tata Motors for "not properly" maintaining the low-floor buses it manufactured, after six of them caught fire in a span of three weeks.

The government has also decided to withhold a payment of Rs 150 crore to the Tatas and warned of legal action if corrective steps were not taken by the automobile giant.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the government had "strongly warned" the Tata officials to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.

"We will take very strong action against them if they fail to ensure proper maintenance of these buses. They are responsible for the maintenance of the buses and we will not tolerate any sort of negligence on their part," she said.

So far, six low-floor buses of Tata's latest fleet have caught fire, raising concerns about passenger safety.

Announcing the fine on Tata Motors, Delhi Transport Minister Lovely said government has the option of filing criminal cases against them in future.

Replying to a calling attention motion in Delhi Assembly, Lovely said the government has also decided to withhold the payment of Rs 150 crore payable to the company for supply of 300 buses for the time being.

Unidentified militant killed in Manipur encounter

An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with Assam Rifles personnel in Manipur's Chandel district, police sources said today.

Personnel of 29th Assam Rifles battalion during patrolling in the interior hilly Semang village area in Chandel district were fired upon by some suspected militants yesterday, the sources said.

During exchange of fire, a militant suspected to be member of banned People's Liberation Army (PLA) was killed, sources said adding that one 9 mm pistol along with some live rounds was recovered from the spot.

The body has been sent to Regional Institute of Medical Science and Hospital here for post mortem.

Over 450 people have so far been killed in militancy related crimes in Manipur this year.

Bangladeshis held at Manipur-Myanmar border

Three Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested by Assam Rifles personnel for not posessing valid travel documents from a place near Manipur-Myanmar border in Chandel district, official reports said on Sunday.

The reports said personnel of 26th Assam Rifles battalion intercepted a bus travelling from Imphal to the border town of Moreh, about 120 Kms south east of here, on December 10 at Tengnoupal area near the town on December 10 last.

During checking of passengers, the three Bangladeshis -identified as Rohul Amin (30), Jema (19) and Fatima Begum (40) were arrested.

The three hailed from Cox bazar in Bangladesh.

Two Bangladeshi nationals had been arrested three weeks ago following reports from the border that some Bangladeshis had earlier helped militants to cross to and from Myanmar and later to Bangladesh via the sea.

Congress in for statehood storm in NE

The Congress in the Northeast is facing the statehood music the UPA government composed on Telengana last week. The party is expecting the opening notes - marathon bandhs across tribal councils in Assam beginning Monday - to be jarring.

The statehood cacophony has hit Congress-ruled Meghalaya too, with the nod for Telengana having stoked the Garoland fire that the Ministry of Home Affairs had almost doused during a meeting with separatist militants this September.

The Garos, one of the three major matrilineal tribes of Meghalaya, have been demanding a separate Garoland comprising the western half of the cloud-kissed state. Like the other statehood demands in the Northeast, militants hijacked the Garoland demand.

In Assam, the newly formed United Democratic Peoples' Front (UDPF) - it is backed by Congress' ruling ally Bodoland Peoples' Front - has called for a two-day statewide shutdown from Monday. The Indigenous Tribal Peoples' Front has supported the bandh..

"There can be no alternative to Bodoland state, not after Telengana," said UDPF general secretary Bhraman Baglary. "If the Centre can honour the demands of separatists in a mainland state, it must also not ignore similar demands from the fringes of the country."

The Bodoland issue, which had its origin in the demand for Udayachal in 1967, was calmed in 2003 with the creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in areas dominated by the Bodos, the largest plains tribal group in the region.

BTC is spread across 8970 sq km of northern and western Assam comprising Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baska and Udalguri districts. The last three were carved out of Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup and Darrang districts.

Almost simultaneously, the Left-leaning Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) has called for a bandh in Assam's two hill districts - Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills - on Tuesday. Not to be outdone, other organizations including the CPI (M-L) have sought shutdowns thereafter.

Both these districts, together measuring 15,322 sq km, were made autonomous in February 1970 under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. "We have been seeking the elevation of these districts to autonomous states under Article 244 (A) of the Constitution. If New Delhi does not listen, we will be forced to go for a separate state," said ASDC general secretary Elwin Teron.

In Meghalaya, the militant A'chik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) has revived its demand for statehood for the Garos. "The creation of Garoland was the basis of our struggle in 1995, and with Telengana on the cards, we will give it all to get our self-rule territory," said Artist Sangma, ANVC's publicity secretary.

Both the Assam and Meghalaya governments have negated bifurcation of their respective states.

ULFA apologises for 2004 I-day parade attack

The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on Sunday sought public apology and forgiveness for triggering an explosion at an Independence Day parade ground in 2004 that killed 14 people, most of them schoolchildren.

On Aug 15, 2004, a powerful bomb went off minutes before the Independence Day parade took place in the eastern town of Dhemaji, about 400 km from Guwahati, killing 14 people and wounding scores more.

Police then blamed the ULFA for the attack, but the outfit continued to deny their involvement.

"We have now realised that our statement of disowning the blast (in 2004) was not true and hence we seek an apology from the people of Assam. The Dhemaji explosion is a dark chapter in our freedom struggle and till today we are deeply anguished," ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah said in an e-mailed statement.

The rebel leader admitted that the ULFA leadership was being misled by some of their cadre and junior leaders about the blast.

"At that time, those who executed the blast told our leadership that the attack was triggered by government forces. We believed them and then issued a statement saying the ULFA was not involved in that bomb blast," the rebel statement said.

The elusive ULFA leader was forced to seek an apology following angry reactions from the Dhemaji blast victims' families in recent days seeking severe punishment for the arrested rebel leaders, including ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa.

"Some of them (ULFA leaders) carried out the attack in collaboration with our enemies to defame the outfit without any instructions from the top leadership. We admit we failed to identify the main culprits at that time, but later identified those involved in the bombing and expelled them from the outfit," Baruah said.

Three Cong ministers had given money to ULFA: Mahanta

Former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on Sunday alleged that three Congress ministers had given money to the banned ULFA.

Without naming the ministers, Mahanta alleged at a press meet in Guwahati that instead of accusing him, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should look within his cabinet in which there were three members who have given money to the ULFA.

Mahanta was reacting to the Chief Minister's allegation on December 10 that the AGP and ULFA are very close by saying that both are "actually cousin brothers".

"The chief minister is a two-faced person who says something in the morning and something else at night," he added.

Reacting to Gogoi's statement that his government was dealing with the "secret killings" that rocked the state in 2000 as a "political issue", Mahanta said, "Yes, the Congress always deals with the issue during elections for political mileage".

The former chief minister demanded that if the state government was really interested to get to the bottom of the issue of secret killings, then it should investigate all cases of killings since 1991.

The secret killing is attributed to the series of killings of family members of ULFA leaders and cadres by suspected surrendered ULFA (SULFA) members in 2000 allegedly at the behest of then AGP government led by Mahanta.

Meghalaya’s Garo tribe wants to go separate

The Congress in the Northeast is facing the statehood music the UPA government composed on Telangana last week. And the party is expecting the opening notes — marathon shutdowns across tribal councils in Assam beginning Monday — to be jarring.

The statehood chorus has hit Congress-ruled Meghalaya too, with the nod for Telangana having stoked the Garoland fire that the Home Ministry had almost doused during a meeting with separatist militants this September.

The Garos, one of the three major matrilineal tribes of Meghalaya, have been demanding a separate Garoland comprising the western half of the cloud-kissed state. Like the other statehood demands in the Northeast, militants hijacked the demand for Garoland, comprising three districts: the South Garo Hills, East Garo Hills and West Garo Hills.

In Assam, the newly-formed United Democratic Peoples’ Front (UDPF), backed by Congress ally Bodoland Peoples’ Front, has called for a two-day state shutdown from Monday. The Indigenous Tribal Peoples’ Front has supported the call.

“There can be no alternative to Bodoland, not after Telengana,” said UDPF general secretary Bhraman Baglary. “If the Centre can honour the demands of separatists in a mainland state, it must not ignore similar demands from the country’s fringes.”

GJM strike disrupts traffic in Darjeeling Hills

A 96-hour shutdown called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling Hills and adjoining areas today to demand a separate state disrupted traffic between Sikkim and the rest of the country.

Only army vehicles and those of other emergency services were plying on the national highway, which is the lifeline of the mountain state, a police official at the inter-state border checkpost at Rangpo told PTI.
The GJM leaders had earlier announced in Darjeeling that vehicles carrying tourists and passengers boarding trains from New Jalpaiguri will be allowed to cross the highway.

The GJM has demanded that the Centre immediately table a bill in Parliament for creation of Gorkhaland.GJM strike disrupts traffic in Darjeeling Hills

Gangtok, Dec 14 (PTI) A 96-hour shutdown called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling Hills and adjoining areas today to demand a separate state disrupted traffic between Sikkim and the rest of the country.

Only army vehicles and those of other emergency services were plying on the national highway, which is the lifeline of the mountain state, a police official at the inter-state border checkpost at Rangpo told PTI.

The GJM leaders had earlier announced in Darjeeling that vehicles carrying tourists and passengers boarding trains from New Jalpaiguri will be allowed to cross the highway.

The GJM has demanded that the Centre immediately table a bill in Parliament for creation of Gorkhaland.

Manipur assembly session on January 13

The next session of the Manipur legislative assembly would be held from January 13 next year , official sources said on Saturday.

The decision to hold the session was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister O Ibobi Singh here on Friday, the sources said.

Official communication would be sent to governor Gurbachan Jagat for issuing notification in this regard.

The sources said several issues including deteriorating law and order situation would come up for discussion during the session.

Indian Navy test fires Dhanush missile

Chandipur, (Orissa), Dec 13 (ANI): ''Dhanush'', the naval version of India''s indigenously developed surface-to-surface Prithvi missile system was test fired from a naval ship about 40 nautical miles from here inside the Bay of Bengal today.

A naval team and the scientists of the DRDO jointly conducted the mission, claimed an official from the Department of Defence.

The missile was flight tested from a naval ship in the Bay of Bengal at about 11:30 A.M, according to Defence sources.

Dhanush missile is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads. It is a single stage missile with liquid propellant and can hit both sea as well as shore based targets of 350 km range with 500kg payload.

The missile in its initial test of development stage on April 11, 2000 had failed due to some technical snags developed during the blast-off phase. But, in it''s range and pay load capabilities the missile was a success.

The last trial of Dhanush missile was successfully conducted on March 30,2007 from a naval ship off Orissa coast. (ANI)

Mayawati writes to PM, demands Purvanchal

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Dec 13 (ANI): The Centre''s decision to initiate the process for the formation of the Telangana state has stirred up a hornet''s nest, with people from different regions coming forward to demand a separate states.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has written her third letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this morning, demanding a separate Purvanchal State.

On Saturday, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said in Kolkata that the nod for Telangana did not mean that new states could be created everywhere.

Mukherjee had said, "The demand for Telangana was old and it does not mean that everywhere new states are to be created."

His comments came a day after Chief Minister Mayawati demanded the formation of the separate states of Purvanchal and Bundelkhand.

Mayawati even made up her mind to raise the issue in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, once a reply from the Central Government was received.

Purvanchal comprises chiefly of three divisions-the eastern-Awadhi region in the west, the western-Bhojpuri region in the east and the northern-Baghelkhand region in the south.

Purvanchal includes the districts of Varanasi, Chandoli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh, Mau, Maharajganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharth Nagar and Ballia.

Bundelkhand region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lying in the latter.

The major towns are Jhansi, Datia, Lalitpur, Sagar, Damoh, Orai, Panna, Mahoba, Banda Narsinghpur and Chhatarpur. However, the cities of Gwalior, Jabalpur and even Bhopal are under close cultural influence of Bundelkhand, especially lingustically. (ANI)

Ministry of Corporate Affairs to observe ''India Corporate Week'' from today

New Delhi, Dec 14 (ANI): The Ministry of Corporate Affairs will observe an ''India Corporate Week'' from today.

The theme for ''India Corporate Week'', 2009, is ''Corporate Sector and Inclusive Growth'', under which the Ministry expects the corporate sector to reaffirm its commitment to the concept of ''Inclusive Growth''.

To this end the Ministry has joined hands with various business chambers and the three professional institutes: CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chambers, Bombay Chambers, ICSI, ICAI, ICWAI, IICA and NFCG for reaching out to the stakeholders including the general public to showcase the contribution of corporate sector and to highlight the need for converting this growth as an aid for social development.

Given the theme of the corporate week, three focal areas have been allotted: Corporate Governance to CII; Corporate Social Responsibility to FICCI; and Corporate Governance in SMEs to ASSOCHAM.

These chambers will focus on these areas specifically. The three Institutes would be focusing on the investors'' issues besides showcasing the contribution of their respective professions towards corporate development.

To mark the culmination of the ''India Corporate Week'', the Ministry has decided to organize a concluding event on December 21. (ANI)

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha calls for four-day shutdown, demands Gorkhaland

Darjeeling, Dec 14 (ANI): The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has called for a four-day shutdown in Darjeeling this morning.

The members of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha are leading an agitation demanding for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

The shutdown will be in force in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong, as well as the other regions in the foothills.

The shutdown has been called days after the Centre''s nod to initiate the process for the formation of the Telangana state.

No vehicles will be allowed to move during the shutdown, except that of the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police, said the members of the Morcha.

The Morcha added that it would not disturb the traffic heading towards the neighbouring state of Sikkim.

Earlier on Friday (December 11), the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) party workers called for a 96-hour shutdown demanding a separate State of Gorkhaland.

Highly inspired by the success received to the Telangana cause, 21 members each from Darjeeling, Kursiong, Kalimpong and Siliguri had made up their minds to go on an indefinite fast beginning from Friday.

The GJM wants a separate state carved out of the districts on the northern border of West Bengal. The proposed new state will include the popular hill stations of West Bengal -Darjeeling, Siliguri, Kurseong and Kalimpong. (ANI)

Demand for a separate Vidharbha state begins in Nagpur

Nagpur, Dec 14 (ANI): Highly inspired by the success received to the Telangana region people, the virus of a separate state of Vidharbha has gained momentum.

The activists supporting the cause have disrupted the rail services in Nagpur after stopping the Mumbai-Nagpur express.

The agitation was led by a Vidharbha based youth organisation, which stopped the train for around thirty minutes when the train was approaching Nagpur.

Around 1000 activists, who assembled in demand for a separate Vidharbha state, blocked the rail traffic causing delays of several other trains plying in the same route.

Senior Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday, demanding a separate Vidharbha state.

Vilas Muttemwar had earlier said, "A section of leadership is against the (bifurcation) demands but has anyone thought of 7000 farmers suicide in Vidharbha from year 2004 and the backwardness of region has hindered the development of the state."

Blaming the Shiv Sena activists for playing with the emotions of the people over Marathi language issue, Muttemwar said Vidharbha lies in a Hindi belt and was merged with Maharashtra, when the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru asked the people residing in Central Province and Berar to join Maharashtra. (ANI)

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