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                     Vol.2, No.31  [*] July 19, 1997
                     --------------------------------

          One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone
              is to beat him at politeness. - Josh Billings
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  ULTRAS BLOW UP ARMY VEHICLE: 5 KILLED		[S+AT:19-JUL-97]
   -------------------------------------
   
   Five  army personnel including a Captain of the Sixth Kumaon Regiment
   were killed and six others seriously injured when a remote controlled
   explosive device blew up the Junga in which they were  travelling  at
   Bhergaon in  Darrang  district at about 6:45 am on July 18.  The army
   column was moving from Khairabari  to  Tangla.    The  blast  was  so
   powerful  that  it  threw the Junga high into the air blowing it into
   smithereens and dismembering the limbs of its occupants.  It  left  a
   crater about 10 feet in diameter on the road.
   
   Meanwhile Army sources said the base unit of  the  remote  controlled
   device  that  had  triggered  the  blast  had  been recovered at some
   distance from the site of the explosion. Two Bodo militants had  been
   identified as being responsible for the blast. Both had been released
   from  the  jail  recently,  the  sources  said  adding that two other
   persons responsible for the four blasts including this that had taken
   place in the  area  over  the  last  month  had  been  killed  in  an
   encounter. A massive combing operation has been launched by the joint
   forces of the Army and the Police to nab the culprits.
   

2  SIX MONTH EXTENSION TO UNIFIED COMMAND		[AT:19-JUL-97]
   --------------------------------------
   
   The Government  has  decided  to  extend  the  term  of  the  Unified
   Headquarter  System  for a period of six months with effect from July
   20. However, the State Government has decided to  entrust  the  Assam
   Police  with  full  responsibility  of  maintaining law and order and
   counter insurgency operations in Guwahati city and Jorhat district on
   an experimental basis. This decision was taken considering the  views
   expressed by various quarters for the withdrawal of Army operations.
   

3  FORMAL TALKS BETWEEN CENTRE, ULFA BEGIN		[AT:17-JUL-97]
   ---------------------------------------
   
   Formal negotiations between the Union Government and the banned  ULFA
   has  began in a neighnouring country, in what is being described as a
   fist  major  breakthrough  in  getting  the  reluctant  militants  to
   negotiation table.    Details  of  the  ongoing talks between the two
   sides has been kept under tight wraps with both Assam Government  and
   the Union  Government refusing to comment on it.  Significantly, even
   the Assam Government has been kept in the dark about the  negotiation
   process that began last month.
   

4  AASU CALLS 36-HR BANDH FROM JULY 21		[S:16-JUL-97]
   -----------------------------------
   
   The AASU called for a 36-hour Assam bandh from 5 am of July 21  to  5
   pm of July 22 demanding implementation of the Assam Accord, scrapping
   the  IM(DT)  Act,  permanent  solution  to  the  foreigners and flood
   problems, withdrawal of the Army operations, preparation of a correct
   voters list for the State by deleting the  names  of  foreigners  and
   other related demands.
   

5  WB-AIDED PROJECT OKAYED				[UNI:14-JUL-97]
   -----------------------
   
   The  Union Government has approved an ambitious Rs.1.21 billion World
   Bank-aided  project  for  the  development   of   Assam's   secondary
   hospitals.   According  to  official  sources,  the  project would be
   implemented over a period of five  years  and  the  State  Government
   would have to bear 10 per cent of the expenses.  The remaining 90 per
   cent  would  be  taken  as  a  loan  from the World Bank by the Union
   Government.  The implementation of the project is scheduled to  start
   from the next financial year.
   
6  CM TO LAUNCH NEW SCHEME				[S:17-JUL-97]
   -----------------------
   
   Chief  Minister  Prafulla  Kumar  Mahanta  will  inaugurate a special
   scheme on July 20 for making  rice  available  to  the  people  below
   poverty line  at  the  rate  of  Rs.3.50  a  kg.   The scheme will be
   inaugurated at a public meeting at Nagaon District Library.

7  IA TELEPHONE INQUIRIES				[S:16-JUL-97]
   ----------------------
   
   Recorded telephone inquiry has  been  commissioned  at  the  Guwahati
   Airport  on telephone number 84401. Information regarding arrival and
   departure of flights at Guwahati  can  be  had  from  this  telephone
   number by the recorded message.
   

8  NATIONAL BASKETBALL TOURNEY AT GUWAHATI		[S:19-JUL-97]
   ---------------------------------------
   
   The  24th  sub-junior  national  basketball championship for boys and
   girls will be held at the  Nehru Stadium, Guwahati from  July  24  to
   29, Mr Pulak Goswami, working chairman of the tournament told newsmen
   at a press conference in Guwahati on July 18.
   

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________