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                     Vol.I, No.102 [*] March 21, 1997
                     --------------------------------

1  ULTRAS' INFLUX ISSUE RAISED IN PARLIAMENT		[PTI:19-MAR-97]
   -----------------------------------------
  
   Congress member Mr Santosh Mohan Dev demanded that strict measures be
   taken  to  seal  the  Indo-Bangladesh  border  in  Assam   to   check
   infiltration  and  said  that  nearly 150 terrorists armed with AK-47
   rifles  had  recently  entered  his   constituency   (Silchar)   from
   Bangladesh.   Raising  the matter in the Lok Sabha on March 19 during
   the Zero Hour, Mr Dev said the Chief Minister of Assam  had  admitted
   on  the  floor  of  the  State  Assembly  that terrorists had entered
   Silchar.
   

2  GOALPARA DFO SHOT DEAD				[AT:20-MAR-97]
   ----------------------
   
   Two suspected ULFA militants shot dead the Divisional Forest  Officer
   of the Goalpara Range, Mr Altaf Ahmed inside his office of the Social
   Forestry department  on  March 19 at around 11:45 am.  Police sources
   said that the militants who came on a motor cycle, used AK-47  rifles
   in the  incident.  The police have also not ruled out the involvement
   of an employee of the office in the incident.
   

3  HUGE ARMS, AMMO CACHE RECOVERED			[S:21-MAR-97]
   -------------------------------
   
   The  Army  recovered  a huge cache of arms and ammunition hidden in a
   dense forest near Thaijal village in Karbi Anglong district on  March
   19.   The  haul  include  a  German automatic rifle, two LMGs made in
   Myanmar, two .303 rifles, four single-barrel guns,  seven  magazines,
   LMG ammunition and other ammunition.
   

4  ULFA THREATENS ATTACK ON ECONOMIC TARGETS		[AT:21-MAR-97]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   The ULFA threatened to destroy all the oil installations in the State
   if the killings, rape, atrocities and  suppression  of  the  Assamese
   people are  not stopped immediately.  The ULFA has also threatened to
   launch similar attack on the economic  sectors  responsible  for  the
   exploitation of Assam.
   
   In a release on March 20 at  Guwahati,  the  ULFA  central  publicity
   secretary  Mithinga  Daimari  said  that the Army operations in Assam
   should be stopped immediately and warned that if  the  harassment  of
   the Assamese people continues, they would be forced to retaliate.
   

5  ASSETS OF 6 TEs SEIZED				[S:20-MAR-97]
   ----------------------
   
   The  Jorhat  district  administration has confiscated movable assets,
   mainly vehicles and machinery, worth about Rs.150,000  from  six  tea
   gardens  for  their having defaulted on their provident fund deposits
   to the tune of Rs.10 million.  The assets, confiscated in  connection
   with  bakijai  cases,  will  be  auctioned  off  if  the  tea  garden
   managements failed  to  deposit  the  amount  dues  within  15  days.
   According  to  official reports, the tea gardens include Thengalbari,
   Bosabari, Madhavpur, Haroosarai, Syedbari and Nagajanka.
   

6  CENTRE SANCTIONS RS.70 MILLION FOR NE TOURISM 	[AT:20-MAR-97]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   The  Union  Tourism  Ministry  has  announced  sanction of over Rs.70
   million during the current financial year for development of  tourism
   in the  north-eastern  region.    This  was  disclosed  by  the Union
   Minister for Tourism Mr Srikant Jena who was replying to  a  question
   tabled by AGP MP Dr Arun Sarma.
   

7  ASEB SIGNS MOU WITH NTPC FOR ADDITIONAL POWER	[S:20-MAR-97]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   The Assam State Electricity Board is now able to draw about 100 MW of
   power during the peak hours between 5pm and 10pm and 50 MW during the
   rest   of   the   day  following  the  signing  of  a  memorandum  of
   understanding between the National Thermal Power Corporation and ASEB
   on March 7.  This was announced  by  Chief  Minister  Prafulla  Kumar
   Mahanta  on  March  19  in  the  Assembly,  who  also holds the Power
   portfolio.
   

8  ROHINI BARUA AWARD TO DR C M SARMA			[AT:20-MAR-97]
   ----------------------------------
   
   Dr C.M.Sarma,  Professor  of  Botany,  Gauhati  University  has  been
   selected  by  a  high-level expert committee for the most prestigious
   Rohini Kanta Barua Award instituted by the Assam Science Society  for
   his outstanding contribution towards natural science.
   
   The  award  carries  a  gold  medal, an amount of money in cash and a
   citation.  Dr Sarma has also been recently elected  'Fellow'  of  the
   Linnean  Society of London (FLS), Indian Society for Plant Physiology
   (FISSP) and International Society for  the  Conservation  of  Natural
   Resources   (FNRS)  for  his  original  contributions  towards  Plant
   Physiology  and  plant  tissue  culture  aimed  at   conserving   the
   threatened species of the Northeast India.
   

9  KATHA AWARD						[AT:19-MAR-97]
   -----------
   
   The Assamese literary magazine 'Gariyoshi' was awarded the prize  for
   excellence  in  literary  journalism  in the All India 'Katha' prizes
   awarded to eminent writers, translators and literary magazines  at  a
   function held  in  New  Delhi on March 16.  Mr Chandra Prasad Saikia,
   Editor of 'Gariyoshi', received the prize.
   
   Mr  Jayanta  Kumar  Chakravarty, eminent Assamese short-story writer,
   received the  award  for  creative  literature  for  his  short-story
   'Sangamat   Esator'  which  was  published  in  'Gariyoshi'  and  was
   translated into English by Ms Mitra Phukan.    Mr  Dhruba  Phukan,  a
   noted  Assamese  short-story  writer, also received the prize for his
   short-story, translated into English by Ms Mitra Phukan.
   

______________________________[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://piglet.uccs.edu/~kalita/assam/news/news-from-assam-index.html
________________________________________________________________________