__  
               /  \    _____ _____ ____      _    _      
              /    \  (  __/(  __/(_   \    / \  / \
             /  __  \  \  \  \  \  / __ O N L I N E \
            (__/  \__)/____)/____)(______)(__/    \__) 
                     Vol.I, No.101 [*] March 19, 1997
                     --------------------------------

1  FOUR ULFA MEN KILLED IN STATE			[S:18-MAR-97]
   -----------------------------
   
   One  hard-core  Kachin-trained  suicide  squad  member  of  the  ULFA
   identified  by the Army as Krishna Kachari alias Abhijit Saikia alias
   Ratul Handique, was  killed    on  the  spot  and  another  militant,
   Rituparna  Dutta,  nabbed  in  an  encounter  at  Behating Industrial
   Estate, about 1 km from Dibrugarh University, at about 2 pm on  March
   17.  According  to  eyewitnesses,  the  encounter,  lasted  about  an
   hour-and-a-half. The Army recovered two motor vehicle  licences,  and
   few incriminating documents.
   
   In  Dhubri,  a suspected ULFA activist, Simanta Saikia, was killed in
   an encounter with a joint team  of  police  and  CRPF  at Dukhi-Sukhi
   village  near  Golakganj  at    around  5  am  on  March  17.  Police
   sources,  which  claimed  the  slain militant to be Bipul Mahanta, an
   area commander, said the raiding party which had received an  tip-off
   engaged  the six ultras in an encounter. Five of them escaped. People
   of the area said, the militant was killed in cold blood after he  had
   surrendered. Police recovered a 9 mm pistol, 17 live bullets and some
   documents  containing  the  names  and address of some businessmen of
   Dhubri were recovered from the slain militant.
   
   In  Nagaon,  two ULFA activists were killed and at least three others
   including an Army officer were injured in  a  shoot-out  between  the
   ultras and the Army at Bhakatgaon near Kampur on March 17.
   

2  EX GRATIA TO ULFA VICTIMS' KIN			[S:18-MAR-97]
   ------------------------------
   
   The State Government will provide an ex gratia of Rs.100,000  to  the
   families  of  each  of  those  killed by ULFA activists at Barhampur,
   Nagaon recently, and also provide employment to qualified members  of
   the bereaved  families.    Disclosing  this to newsmen at Guwahati on
   March 17, Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta also  said  that  the
   Government  would  bear the medical expense of those who were injured
   in the incident.
   

3  100 TRAINED ULTRAS POISED TO ENTER STATE		[S:19-MAR-97]
   ----------------------------------------
   
   Intelligence sources informed the State Government on March 18  about
   more than 100 armed ULFA cadres waiting their chance to cross over to
   the State on Bangladesh side of the border on Assam-Bangladesh border
   area   under   Katigarah   Assembly  constituency  in  Barak  valley.
   According to highly placed State  Government  officials,  the  ultras
   mostly 18 to 25 age group, armed with AK-47,rocket launchers etc, are
   waiting about 20 km inside Bangladesh territory and is very close  to
   Surama  river  which  they  tried  to  cross on the night of March 17
   without success due to the watchful eyes of the security personnel.
   
   It may be noted that Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar  Mahanta  admitted
   in  the  Assembly  on March 17 of around 150 ULFA ultras entering the
   State by the same route on March 14.
   

4  DRIVE AGAINST ULTRAS INTENSIFIED			[S:17-MAR-97]
   --------------------------------
   
   The Army and paramilitary forces intensified their operations against
   militants  of  banned  outfits  and  combing with door-to-door search
   operations continued at the district headquarters Tezpur and  various
   places  of  Sonitpur  district following the broad daylight murder by
   suspected  ULFA  militants  of  three  Army  personnel  including   a
   lieutenant  colonel  and  injuring the priest of the Ganesh temple at
   Tezpur on March 16.
   

5  30 TEA-DRYING FACTORIES REQUIRED IN THE STATE	[S:18-MAR-97]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   In Assam about one lakh small tea growers and  four  lakh  unemployed
   educated  youth besides 12 lakh unemployed workers are expected to be
   employed in phased plans by 2006 AD.
   
   Talking to newsmen after the annual general meeting of ABITA held  at
   Tezpur  recently, Mr Gangadhar Saikia, president, All Assam Small Tea
   Growers' Association said that the Association  in  a  phased  manner
   already  established  11,135  small tea gardens and directly employed
   246,344 educated local unemployed youth and one lakh workers in these
   gardens.  The small tea growers of the State have cultivated  282,800
   bighas  of  land and 60 million kg of raw tea leaves produced so far.
   He also said that in view of increasing production of  tea  by  small
   growers,  at  least,  30 tea drying factories will be required in the
   State.
   

6  BAILUNG REMANDED					[S:18-MAR-97]
   ----------------
   
   The surrendered ULFA man Prabin  Sarma  alias  Bailung,  detained  on
   March  16  by the police in connection with the killing of journalist
   Parag Das, was arrested on March 17. Bailung was produced in a  court
   which remanded him to seven-days police custody.
   

7  TRAINING ON MUSHROOM CULTIVATION			[AT:18-MAR-97]
   --------------------------------
   
   A 4-day training program on mushroom cultivation was held recently at
   the  regional  research  and  Training  Centre  on Indian Traditional
   Treatment, Golaghat.  Mr Gunaram Khanikar, managing director  of  the
   Institute  said  that  several  hundreds  of  participants  have been
   benefited through this training in the last two years.
   
   The training was undertaken by  40  participants  from  Golaghat  and
   Jorhat  district and it was sponsored by Voluntary Health Association
   Assam and Child relief and You (CRY), Calcutta.  The training program
   helped the rural women and  unemployed  youth  and  they  lauded  the
   activities and educative value of such programs.
   

8  HONY DOCTORATE TO FIVE PERSONS			[AT:19-MAR-97]
   ------------------------------
   
   Five  persons  were  awarded  honorary doctorate degrees by Dibrugarh
   University for their contribution  in  various  fields.    They  were
   Justice  Khagendra  Nath  Saikia  (Doctorate in Law), Prof Nava Kanta
   Barua (Doctorate in Literature), Mr Pradip Chaliha (Doctorate in  Art
   and Culture) and Dr Jyoti Prasad Medhi (Doctorate in Science).
   

9  POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP TO PRODYUT GOSWAMI	[AT:17-MAR-97]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   Dr   Prodyut   Kumar   Goswami,  Assistant  Professor  of  Electrical
   Engineering, Assam Engineering College,  Guwahati  has  been  awarded
   post-doctoral fellowship by Japan Society for promotion  of  Sciences
   to conduct research in Tokyo Metropolitan University.
   

10 LABANYA MAZUMDAR TO REPRESENT INDIA		[AT:18-MAR-97]
   -----------------------------------
   
   Ms  Labanya Mazumdar of Digboi won the gold medal in Hammer Throw and
   bronze in  Discuss  Throw  in  the  19th  National  Veteran  Athletic
   Championship '97 held at Kanpur from February 27 to March 2.  She has
   been  selected  to  represent  India  in  the  International  Veteran
   Athletic Meet to be held in South Africa.  She is wife  of  Mr  Rabin
   Mazumdar, AOD, Digboi.
   

______________________________[Mozz-BG]_________________________________
Compiled from newspaper and agency reports for private circulation only.
      [S=Sentinel, AT=Assam Tribune, Agencies = UNI, PTI, PIB]
              http://www.cyberspace.org/~mozz/aol.html  
  http://www.cs.uccs.edu/~kalita/assam/news/news-from-assam-index.html
________________________________________________________________________