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                     Vol.2,  No.1  [*] April 2, 1997
                     -------------------------------

1  ASSAM OPPOSE CONG-LED GOVERNMENT	        	[PTI:1-APR-97]
   --------------------------------
  
   In a significant  development,  Chief  Ministers  of  three  regional
   party-ruled  States rules out support to a Congress Government at the
   Centre and change of leadership.  Hardening  their  attitude  against
   the  Congress,  Chief  Ministers  of  Tamil  Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and
   Assam, whose parties account for 39 MPs in the Lok  Sabha,  met  this
   evening in New Delhi and decided that DMK, Telegu Desam and AGP would
   rather face elections than support a Congress-led Government or enter
   into coalition with that party.
   

2  VEHICLES STIR AFFECTS LIFE		        	[S:2-APR-97]
   --------------------------
   
   Except  for  the  Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) buses, all
   the private buses,  trucks,  autorickshaws  remained  off  the  roads
   throughout  the  State as the indefinite countrywide strike called by
   the All India Motor Transport Association began on April 1 to protest
   against the imposition of five per cent service tax on road transport
   in the 1997-98 Central Budget and a steep increase in motor insurance
   premium by the insurance companies.
   
   In Guwahati, attendance in Government offices was thin.  People  were
   seen  travelling  clinging  to whatever they could in the ASTC buses.
   Rickshaw-pullers had a field day and they  reaped  most  out  of  the
   situation.   Some  bus  passengers complained of increasing number of
   pickpocket in the overcrowded buses.
   
   Taking advantage of the situation,  ASTC  authorities  suspended  the
   Gauhati  University  bus  services  to put pressure on the university
   authority to  clear  dues  up  to  the  tune  of  Rs.650,000  to  the
   Corporation.   Sources said that even though the university authority
   has been collecting fees against bus services regularly, it has spent
   the funds for some other purposes ignoring the liabilities  with  the
   ASTC entailing  such a situation. 
   
   University students  reacted  sharply  to the ASTC move.  Most of the
   students  failed  to  attend  their  classes  as  a  result  of   the
   transportation problem.    The  students  has since been pressing the
   university authority to resolve the crises.
   

3  POLICEMEN GUNNED DOWN IN KARBI ANGLONG		[S:29-MAR-97]
   --------------------------------------
   
   A group of armed extremists set afire two night super buses, a Maruti
   car besides killing two policemen at Garakhia Pukhuri under Howraghat
   police  station in Karbi Anglong district at around 11:15 pm on March
   27.  Two other  persons  were  also  injured  in  the  attack.    The
   miscreants  looted  a  9  mm carbine with 30 rounds of ammunition and
   four .303 rifles  with  68  rounds  belonging  to  the  police  party
   escorting the  buses.   The miscreants, before leaving the scene said
   these terror tactics will continue until and unless  their  'demands'
   were met.    (UNI  report  in  Guwahati said the miscreants were Bodo
   ultras).

4  NE ULTRAS' LINK WITH TAMIL TIGERS EXPOSED	       [PTI:26-MAR-97]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   The  Royal  Thai Navy recently seized an illegal arms shipment of the
   People's Liberation Army (PLA), of Manipur confirming  the  nexus  of
   Naga,  Manipuri,  Assamese  rebel groups as well as Sri Lanka's Tamil
   Tigers gunrunning through Bangladesh ports.
   
   The  Jane's  Defence  Weekly  said  that the southern Thai seaport of
   Ranong to Cox's Bazar  port  in  Bangladesh  was  a  well-established
   gunrunning route also used by United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA),
   the  Khaplang and Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of
   Nagaland (NSCN) as well as Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers.
   

5  FAKE CURRENCY RACKET: EX-AGP MLA DOLEY ARRESTED	[S:30-MAR-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
   
   Former AGP MLA from Majuli, Mr Padmeswar Doley, who later joined  the
   Congress,  was  arrested  by Dispur police from his Upper Hengerabari
   house on the morning of March 29 on charges of being the main accused
   in a fake currency racket.  He was produced in a court which remanded
   him to judicial custody.
   
   With the arrest of Doley, the total number of arrested  in  the  case
   has  now  risen  to  15. The other 14 arrested during the period from
   July, 1994 till date include Bhaben Sarma,  an  ASI  in  the  Special
   Branch  of  police,  Gopinath  Bora,  an assistant in the DPI office,
   Guwahati and a woman, Rumi Das.

6  RS.100-CRORE PLAN FOR TEZPUR CENTRAL UNIVERSITY	[S:24-MAR-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
  
   An amount of Rs.100 crore would be spent within a span of 20 years to
   convert the Tezpur  Central  University  (TCU)  into  a  full-fledged
   institution,  according  to  its  founder Vice-chancellor, Dr Kishori
   Mohan Pathak.  As a first step,  the  present  TCU  complex  will  be
   completely shifted from its temporary buildings to its permanent site
   at Napam near Tezpur within this year.
   

7  THE SENTINEL LENSMAN BAGS NATIONAL AWARD		[S:24-MAR-97]
   ----------------------------------------
  
   Mr Rajib Bhattacharjee, staff photographer of The Sentinel has bagged
   the third prize in the news category at the All India Photo  Contest,
   1997, organized by the Press Association of India. Mr Bhattacharjee's
   photograph  of  police  in  action  against  ULFA  militants  in  the
   Kumarpara area of Guwahati on December 20,  1996,  published  in  The
   Sentinel group of newspapers next day got him the coveted award.

8  EIMPA AWARDS PRESENTED				[AT:30-MAR-97]
   ----------------------
  
   Governor  Lok  Nath  Misra gave away the 1988-89 Eastern India Motion
   Picture Association (EIMPA) awards for regional films of the State at
   a function in Guwahati on March 29. 
   
   For  1988,  Dr Bahbendra Nath Saikia's 'Kolahol' received four awards
   while 'Bhai Bhai' received  six  awards.    Dr  Bhupen  Hazarika  was
   adjudged  the  best  music  director and male playback singer for his
   performance in 'Siraj'.  Sangeeta Kakoti  received  the  best  female
   playback  singer's  award  for  her  performance  in  'Aai Mor Janame
   Janame'.
   
   While Runu Devi Thakur was adjudged  as  the  best  actress  for  her
   performance  in  'Kolahol',  late Thaneswar Sarma was adjudged as the
   best actor for his performance in 'Ajala Kakai' and  Proloy  Seal  as
   the best child artist for his performance in 'Bhai Bhai'.
   
   For 1989,  Gautam  Bora's  'Wosobipu' received five awards.  The best
   photography award went to Indu Kalpa Hazarika for 'Tothapio Nadi' and
   best  actress  award  to  Mridula  Baruah  for  her  performance   in
   'Bordoichilla'.   Gayatri Kakati bagged the best supporting award for
   her  performance  in  'Tothapio  Nadi'  and  Hemen  Chowdhury,   best
   supporting actor in 'Wosobipu'.  Babul Terang received the best child
   artist award  for  his  performance  in 'Wosobipu'.  Ariful Haque and
   Munmi Bora bagged the best male and female playback  singer's  awards
   respectively for their performance in 'Abhiman'.
   

9  VIDEO-ENDOSCOPY-ASSISTED MICRO SURGERY PERFORMED	[S:29-MAR-97]
   ------------------------------------------------
   
   For the first time in the northeast,  video-endoscopy-assisted  micro
   surgery  for pituitary tumour was performed successfully at Down Town
   Hospital, Guwahati recently on a  37  year-old  woman.    This  woman
   complained  of  headache  for  one  year with progressive blurring of
   vision and became blind in the right eye for  the  last  six  months.
   The  tumour was completely removed in an eight-hour long surgery by a
   team led by neurosurgeon  Dr.M.L.A.Rahman,  assisted  by  Dr.R.K.Das,
   Dr.S.Dutta and Dr.M.Saikia.

10 IN-DEPTH REPORTS ON ULFA ACTIVITY
   --------------------------------
   
   The Sentinel carried in-depth reports of things as they really are in
   the standoff between the  security  forces  and  the  ULFA  from  the
   Indo-Bhutan border  and  inside  the  Himalayan  kingdom itself.  The
   front-page headline reports were published in the 26th, 27th and 28th
   March issues of the newspaper.  The reports  will  be  covered  in  a
   special issue of Assam Online sometime next week.
   

11 BIJIT GOGOI BAGS MR SARAIGHAT TITLE			[AT:2-APR-97]
   -----------------------------------
   
   Bijit  Gogoi  of  Assam won the coveted Mr Saraighat '97 title in the
   recently-concluded All India Open Prizemoney Bodybuilding Competition
   organised by Nabodaya Sports and Cultural Association of Maligaon  in
   Guwahati.   Over  100 bodybuilders from different states took part in
   the competition.  S.Ashok Singh of Andhra Pradesh was the runner-up.

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________