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                     Vol.2, No.30  [*] July 14, 1997
                     -------------------------------

          There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives
              that are hard to come by.  - Annie Dillard
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   

1  ATLANTA PEACE MEET: NSCN(IM) REJECTS INVITATION	 [AT:14-JUL-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
   
   The proposed 'peace conference' at Atlanta in USA on July 28 to bring
   together the three major  militant  outfits  in  Nagaland,  viz,  the
   NSCN(IM),  NSCN(K)  and  NNC,  has  floundered following the NSCN(IM)
   rejecting the  invitation  extended to  it to  attend the meeting.
   
   The  NSCN(IM)  faction,  in  a  statement received at Shillong on the
   night of July 12, said, 'we have heard about the peace  meeting  only
   through  media  sources'  implying  that  they  have not received any
   invitation to attend the meeting. The statement also said  that  they
   have  heard  that  Mr  S.C.Jamir,  the  'puppet'  Chief  Minister  of
   'Nagaland state' has said that Isak Chisi Swu  and  Th.  Muivah,  the
   chairman  and  general  secretary of the NSCN are to attend the peace
   meeting.
   
   The statement dated, The Hague, 11th July  and  signed  by  the  NSCN
   Chairman  clarified  that they are not attending any meeting anywhere
   to meet these 'puppets of all shades who have betrayed the  cause  of
   the Nagas.'  It  further alleged 'it is a total lie and baseless.  We
   believe this has been intentionally spread to deceive the Naga public
   and the world around.'
   
   The  eight-day  peace  meeting  organised  by the North America-based
   Baptist Peace Fellowship is scheduled between July 28 and August 4 at
   the Martin Luther King Centre at Atlanta. Chief  Minister  Jamir  and
   two MPs from Nagaland are expected to participate at the conference.


2  AGPLP MEET LASHES OUT AT BHRIGU PHUKAN		  [S:14-JUL-97]
   --------------------------------------
   
   Reacting  to  an exclusive interview of Mr Bhrigu Phukan published in
   The Sentinel issue of July 13,  the  AGP  Legislature  Party  (AGPLP)
   meeting  which was chaired by the party president and Chief Minister,
   Mr Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, maintained that there was no schism within
   the party and that members remained as united as ever.  It reaffirmed
   its faith in the leadership of Mr Mahanta.
   
   It may be  mentioned  that  Mr  Bhrigu  Kumar  Phukan,  in  the  said
   interview  demanded  the  resignation of Mr Prafulla Kumar Mahanta as
   the Chief Minister for the latter's failure in almost all the fronts.
   

3  FREE SANJOY, APPEALS MOTHER TERESA		          [S:12-JUL-97]
   ----------------------------------
   
   Nobel Laureate and Angel of Compassion,  Mother  Teresa  and  Amnesty
   International   were   among   a  host  of  NGOs  and  social  sector
   organisations to appeal for the release of Sanjoy Ghose, Secretary of
   the AVARD-NE, abducted by suspected  ULFA  activists  on  July  4  in
   Majuli.  The  AVRAD-NE  commune on Majuli and the office at Jorhat is
   yet to hear directly from the underground outfit.
   
   Mother Teresa in a brief fax message from Rome said she had  come  to
   know  Sanjoy  had  been  abducted, she felt 'he should be immediately
   released so that he can continue doing the good work for the people.'
   She signed off with a characteristic 'God Bless You.'
   
   The Amnesty International (AI) News Service which put out an index on
   July 10, said 'The ULFA should immediately release Sanjoy  Ghose  ...
   detained on 4 July.' Describing Sanjoy as a 'prisoner of conscience,'
   the  AI  appeal  said  he 'was detained simply because he was working
   with the local community in Majuli.' It called for his 'unconditional
   and immediate release.' The AI  appeal  was  faxed  from  its  Easton
   Street international secretariat in London.
   

4  NOTICE TO STATE HOSPITALS BY POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD   [S:13-JUL-97]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   
   The  Pollution  Control Board, Assam (PCBA), for the first time since
   its inception in 1975 has locked horns with its own  funding  agency,
   the  State  Government  by  serving  a  notice  on  all the State-run
   hospitals and health care centres in Assam to clean up their  act  or
   face the  consequences.    According  to the Chairman of the PCBA, Mr
   R.Choudhury, the PCBA has given the hospitals a month's time in which
   to apply for consents to run each of these institutions.
   
   In identical letters to the Director of Health Services who heads the
   hospitals, primary health centres and other health facilities in  the
   state, and the Director of Medical Education, who is in-charge of the
   three  medical  colleges  of  Assam,  the PCBA Chairman observed that
   hospitals including those attached to  the  three  medical  colleges,
   dispensaries  and  primary  health centres had been 'generating solid
   and liquid wastes,' which were of a hazardous nature and were causing
   serious harm to the community.

5  STATE FLOOD SITUATION STILL GRIM		        [UNI:13-JUL-97]
   --------------------------------
   
   Massive relief and rescue operations with the  assistance  of  troops
   continued even as the flood situation in the State remained grim with
   lakhs of people reeling under water in both the Brahmaputra and Barak
   valleys.  Official  reports  said  surface  communication  was  badly
   disrupted as the surging  water  of  the  rivers  damaged  roads  and
   bridges  in  different  parts  of the State. The rivers also breached
   their embankments at several points.
   
   A Silchar report said the situation in Cachar district was grave  and
   road  link  between Silchar with the rest of the State was snapped as
   the   National   Highway-53   was   submerged   at   Salchapara   and
   Silchar-Halflong  road  at Bijoypur village. Altogether 11 districts,
   including Cachar and Hailakandi, have been affected  in  the  current
   wave of devastating flood which claimed three lives so far and caused
   extensive damage to standing crops.
   

6  MAJOR PLANS FOR FLOOD CONTROL IN THE PIPELINE	  [S:13-JUL-97]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   The government of India has cleared the 264-metre Subansiri dam to be
   located at village Minga,  the  213-metre  Kamala  river  dam  to  be
   located  at  3.5  km upstream of Tamen and the 116-metre Subansiri at
   Gerukamukh to produce 7,300 MW of power and  moderate  flood  in  the
   downstream  areas  of Assam. The investigation and preparation of the
   detailed project report would be completed in the Ninth Plan  period.
   This  was  informed  by  the  Minister  of  State,  Water  Resources,
   Government of India, Mr Sis Ram Ola, to Assam Flood Control  Minister
   Promode Gogoi in a letter on July 1.
   

7  DEVDAS KAKATI TAKES OVER AS NEW VC OF DU	          [S:13-JUL-97]
   ----------------------------------------
   
   Dr  Devdas Kakati on July 12 took over as the seventh Vice-Chancellor
   of the Dibrugarh University. He  succeeds  Professor  Mukunda  Madhab
   Sarma. Prior to his new assignment Dr Kakati was working as Professor
   and  Dean  of  Administration  at the Indian Institute of Technology,
   Guwahati. 

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________