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                     Vol.2, No.47 [*] October 27, 1997
                     ---------------------------------

                   A truth that's told with bad intent 
                    Beats all the lies you can invent.

                     - Blake, Auguries of Innocence
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  GAUHATI HIGH COURT TO DEAL WITH ULFA-FUNDING CASES    [PTI:25-OCT-97]
   --------------------------------------------------
  
   The Supreme Court on October 24 prohibited all courts, including High
   Courts, in the country from entertaining any matter relating  to  the
   funding  of  the  ULFA  militants,  including  the Tata Tea case, and
   directed the Gauhati High Court to set up a special bench to consider
   afresh the grant of anticipatory bail to four Tata Tea executives.
   
   In their  verdict in the Tata Tea case, a division  bench set aside a
   Mumbai High Court order granting anticipatory bail to the  executives
   in  a  case  of  alleged  funding  of  militants. The bench, however,
   ordered the continuation of the bail already granted till November  7
   to enable the special bench of the Gauhati High Court to consider the
   matter afresh on November 4.
   

2  TATA TEA TO FULLY COOPERATE WITH STATE, CENTRE	   [S:27-OCT-97]
   ----------------------------------------------
   
   The  Tata  Tea  Limited,  in a fax press release on October 26, while
   categorically stating  that  'it  had  never  and  will  never'  fund
   militant  activities  in  Assam,  extended unequivocal support to the
   State and the  Central  Government  in  their  initiative  to  combat
   insurgency within  the  State.    This clarification was necessitated
   since  recent  press  reports,  gave  the  impression  that  the  tea
   companies  in Assam have not unequivacally stated their position with
   regard to insurgency in Assam, the release added.

3  23 BUSINESS HOUSES RAIDED BY I-T IN GUWAHATI	          [AT:25-OCT-97]
   --------------------------------------------
   
   In a sweeping operation sleuths of the Income Tax raided as  many  as
   23  business  premises  in  Guwahati  city  on  October 23 and 24 and
   recovered about Rs.340,000 in cash and  other  valuables  and  seized
   incriminating documents.  Sources said that the raid was conducted by
   a  team  of  144  personnel  from  Calcutta  office of the department
   following reports of tax evasion by certain privately-run leasing and
   financial companies, houses  of  filmmakers  and  several  hotels  at
   G.S.Road, Maligaon, Paltanbazar, Christianbasti and Rehabari areas of
   the city.

4  PROBE ORDERED INTO DEATH OF JUNIOR ENGINEER		   [S:26-OCT-97]
   ------------------------------------------
   
   An irresponsible policeman and the  strike  in  the  Gauhati  Medical
   College   Hospital  were  responsible  for  the  tragic  death  of  a
   29-year-old Kalyan Sarma, a junior  engineer  of  the  Assam  Tourism
   Development Corporation, in Guwahati on the night of October 24.
   
   According to eyewitnesses account, a police constable posted to guard
   the Guwahati Doordarshan Kendra opened unprovoked  firing  at  around
   9:15 pm after he had a quarrel with the persons manning the petty tea
   stalls located in front of the Guwahati Doordarshan Kendra, seriously
   injuring  Mr Sarma, who was talking with four other youths across the
   road.  Mr Sarma was rushed to the GMC,  but  the  doctor-on-duty  had
   refused  admission  due  to the ongoing strike in the GMCH, and later
   died on the way to the Down Town Hospital.
   
   Meanwhile, the policeman  responsible  for  the  incident,  tried  to
   commit   suicide  immediately  after  the  incident  and  he  is  now
   undergoing treatment in the GMCH.  The people of  the  locality  said
   that  the  petty  shops in front of the DD Kendra have become dens of
   petty criminals.  Meanwhile, an irate mob burnt down these  shops  on
   October 25.    The youths helping Mr Sarma said that timely treatment
   could have saved the life of the junior engineer.
   
   The State Health Minister Dr Kamala Kalita said that  the  Government
   has  decided  to  institute  an  inquiry  into  the  refusal  of  the
   doctor-on-duty of the GMCH to admit Mr Sarma into the hospital.
   

5  BODO ULTRAS CREATE HAVOC, 1 KILLED, 1 HURT		   [S:27-OCT-97]
   ------------------------------------------
   
   In  a  sudden attack by two cycle-borne Bodo youths, the owner of the
   Bata shoe store at Tangla, Mr Pranab Chakravarty  was  shot  dead  on
   October 26.    In a separate incident the same youths later seriously
   injured a teacher of Pragati Sishu Niketan school, Mr Ashim Mukherjee
   after he was shot at from close range near his home.    The  culprits
   are still at large, although the police and Army have started a joint
   operation.

6  POSSIBLE US INVESTMENT IN ASSAM DISCUSSED	          [AT:25-OCT-97]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   Mr David M.Courtis, vice-president of Unical Corporation of the US, a
   five  billion dollar, fully-integrated power, pipeline, oil refining,
   oil and gas marketing and exploration multinational company  met  the
   State  Industry  Minister,  Mr Gunin Hazarika at Dispur on October 24
   and discussed with him  possible  US  investment  in  the  industrial
   sector in  the  State.    Mr  Hazarika apprised Mr David of the areas
   where investment could be made in the State and said that some of the
   areas of possible investment in the State had already been identified
   in the 'Investors Guide on Assam' prepared  by  London-based  Coopers
   and Lybrand for the State of Assam.

7  EFFORTS TO LIFT LOCK-OUT IN TOCKLAI TEA RESEARCH       [AT:27-OCT-97]
   ------------------------------------------------
   
   Despite Jorhat District administration's keenness to have the Tocklai
   Experimental Station (TES) reopened  following  a  joint  meeting  on
   October  25,  of  the  Jorhat  Deputy  Commissioner,  the  local MLA,
   employees union and  the  management,  the  decision  to  revert  the
   lock-out  can  be  taken  only  by the Tea Research Association (TRA)
   council of management in Calcutta.    According  to  the  TES  acting
   director,  Mr Jagat Chakravarty, the lock-out was declared on October
   24 as per the decision of the management council of TRA and the local
   authority was not empowered to revert it.
   

8  SANGEET NATAK ACADEMY AWARD FOR INDIRA BORA		   [S:25-OCT-97]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   Ms Indira P.P.Bora, a renowned danseuse received  the  Sangeet  Natak
   Academy  award  for  1996  for  her  contribution  to  the growth and
   popularization of Xatriya dance form in the  traditional  dance  form
   category.   The  general  council  of the Academy in a meeting in New
   Delhi on October 22, selected 27 artists for the  honours  for  their
   distinction in diverse fields of performing arts.

9  SABHA CONFERS 'ITIHAS ACHARYA' ON DR BARPUJARI	  [AT:26-OCT-97]
   ----------------------------------------------
   
   Eminent   historian  and  former  president  of  the  Indian  History
   Congress, Dr Heremba Kumar Barpujari (85) was conferred the title  of
   'Itihas Acharya'  by  the  Asam  Sahitya  Sabha.    Dr  Barpujari was
   bestowed this rare honour by Sabha president Dr  Nagen  Saikia  at  a
   special  convocation  in  Guwahati  on  October 25, for his life-long
   contribution to the study of  history  of  Assam  and  the  Northeast
   region.
   

10 DALMIYA URGES GOVT TO CONSTRUCT CRICKET STADIUM	 [UNI:26-OCT-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
   
   The International Cricket Council (ICC) president Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya
   urged the Assam Government to construct  a  stadium  exclusively  for
   cricket  when  he  called  on the Assam Chief Minister P.K.Mahanta on
   October 26 at Guwahati. Mr Mahanta is notably the  president  of  the
   Assam Cricket Association (ACA). 
   
   Mr Dalmiya pointed out that despite Assam being the national champion
   twice  for  two consecutive years in the under-16 level, they had not
   made their presence felt in the  Ranji  level.  For  this  reason  an
   exclusive   cricket   stadium   with   indoor  facilities  should  be
   constructed to avoid the main problem of long monsoon, he said.
   
   A newsreport in The Assam Tribune has, however,  indicated  that  the
   real  reason for Dalmiya's visit to Assam is to lobby support for the
   present president of the BCCI Raj Singh Dungarpur in the next month's
   BCCI's presidential election at the Board's annual general meeting in
   Chennai.  The contest is likely to be very keen and every single vote
   is going to be crucial.

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________