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                     Vol.2, No.52 [*] November 10, 1997
                     ---------------------------------

                   He drew a circle that shut me out -- 
                   Herectic, rebel, a thing to flout.
                   But Love and I had the wit to win. 
                   We drew a circle that took him in.
     
                            - Edwin Markham 
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------


1  MAHANTA ALREADY EXAMINED SAYS CBI DIRECTOR	          [AT:10-NOV-97]
   ------------------------------------------
  
   The  CBI  has already 'examined' the Chief Minister Mr P.K.Mahanta in
   connection with the Letter of Credit (LOC)  scam  in  the  Veterinary
   Department  of  Assam, said the Director of the central investigating
   agency, Mr.R.C.Sarma.  The Director, however, refused to go into  the
   details  of  the  case and said 'it would be premature for me to give
   any comments as I am appearing in the  Court  to  give  my  statement
   tomorrow.'
   
   The CBI Director along with the Additional Attorney General of India,
   Mr S.K.Bhat and the DIG of the CBI, Mr N.P.Singh arrived Guwahati  on
   November  9  from  New  Delhi  in  response  to summons issued by the
   Gauhati High Court directing him  to  personally  appear  before  the
   court  to  explain  the delay in filing the final charge-sheet of the
   LOC scam pertaining to the Demow treasury case where a sum of  Rs.400
   million  had been siphoned off through fake LOCs by a select group of
   suppliers, government officials at the behest of some top politicians
   of the State.
   

2  HC RESERVES RULING ON TATA EXECUTIVES BAIL PLEA	    [S:8-NOV-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
   
   The special division bench of the Gauhati High Court  on  November  7
   reserved its order on the anticipatory bail case of Tata Tea managing
   director  R.K.Krishna  Kumar, and two other executives, Mr S.M.Kidwai
   and Mr K.Sridhar till November 10, while also extending the period of
   anticipatory bails granted to them by  the  Mumbai  High  Court  till
   then.   All  the three accused executives of the company were present
   in the court in response to the November 4 order of the bench  asking
   them to appear personally.

3  BHUTAN PULLS BACK TROOPS FROM DEOTHANG		    [S:8-NOV-97]
   --------------------------------------
   
   Even as both India and Bhutan  have  reached  an  understanding  over
   imposition  of  curfew  on  a  10  km  belt  along  the  270  km-long
   Indo-Bhutan border 'to check the movements of Assam  militants',  the
   Intelligence  sources  in  Guwahati  said  that  the  Royal Bhutanese
   authority had reportedly withdrawn troops of the  Bhutan  Royal  Task
   Force  from  western  Deothang of eastern Bhutan, which is known as a
   stronghold of the Assam militants.   It  was  followed  by  a  secret
   meeting  of  the  Bhutan  king  Jigme  Singye  Wanchuk  with the ULFA
   'C-in-C', Mr Paresh Barua somewhere in western Deothang.
   

4  SAKP ASKED TO SHOW CAUSE: GOVT MOVE TO DERECOGNIZE 	    [S:9-NOV-97]
   --------------------------------------------------
   
   The  Government  of Assam has issued a show-cause notice to the Sadou
   Asam Kramachari Parishad (SAKP) notifying the employees' organization
   that the recognition granted to it by the Government on July 23, 1986
   would be withdrawn unless the SAKP replies  to  the  charges  in  the
   notice within seven days.
   
   The   Government  charged  the  SAKP  with  indulging  in  activities
   inconsistent with the objective prescribed by  its  own  constitution
   and participating  in party politics.  The notice cited several press
   statements given by the SAKP from time  to  time  that  violated  its
   memorandum.
   
   Meanwhile, the SAKP while condemning the State Government's threat to
   derecognize the organization has termed the move as 'act of treason.'

5  UPLIFT BARAK VALLEY:  BUSAM			            [S:8-NOV-97]
   ---------------------------
   
   The  newly  floated  Barak  Upatyaka  Sangram Aikya Manch, (BUSAM), a
   conglomerate of  various  youth  and  student  organizations,  in  an
   identical  memorandum  submitted  to  the Chief Minister of Assam, Mr
   P.K.Mahanta, on November 4 through the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar,
   Karimganj and Hailakandi  has  demanded  that  the  State  Government
   should  take effective measures so that educated unemployed youths of
   Barak valley get preference in appointment  in  tea  gardens  of  the
   valley  and demanded that the tea gardens invest 20 per cent of their
   profit in the economic development of this valley.    The  Manch  has
   insisted on, amongst others, transport facilities through Bangladesh,
   to  upgrade  Hilakandi-Silchar  road to national highways in order to
   give a boost to economic development in the region.
   

6  TATA TEA MAY LEAVE ASSAM: JETHMALINI		           [AT:8-NOV-97]
   ------------------------------------
   
   Senior  counsel Mr Ram Jethmalini while arguing on behalf of the Tata
   Tea Limited before the special bench of the Gauhati High Court,  said
   that  his  client  was being unnecessarily harassed by the Government
   and if the exercise continued further the company would be left  with
   no other option but to move out of Assam -- lock, stock and barrel.
   
   The  senior  lawyer  said, 'If Tata Tea does so (leave the State), it
   will not be alone as many other companies will follow suit.' However,
   the Tata Tea managing director, Mr R.K.Krishna Kumar,  while  talking
   to  newsmen outside the court room after the hearing, maintained that
   whatever Mr Jethmalini had told before the court should not construed
   as an official version of the company.
   

7  GADGET TO SAVE AIRCRAFT FROM BIRD-HITS		   [S:10-NOV-97]
   ---------------------------------------
   
   The  experts  of  the 42 Repair and Salvage Unit (RSU) of the Eastern
   Air Command, Shillong has  built  a  new  indigenous  bird  repelling
   system to  save fighter aircraft from bird-hits.  The fully automated
   mechanism produces a noise in a particular frequency  to  scare  away
   the birds flying at low altitude over the air fields.  The system has
   already  been installed at three air-bases under the EAC for testing.
   The  Indian  Air  Force  is  believed  to  have  decided  to  propose
   commercial production  of  the system.  The system is five times less
   expensive than several other bird-repelling  apparatus  available  in
   the international market.

8  VISWA HINDU PARISHAD CHIEF TO VISIT NORTHEAST	    [S:9-NOV-97]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   Mr  Ashok  Singhal,  international  working president of Vishwa Hindu
   Parishad (VHP) will  be  on  a  three-day  visit  to  Northeast  from
   November 17.  He will address public meetings at Guwahati, Imphal and
   Silchar  and  will  be closeted with VHP leaders and workers, besides
   interacting with VHP members in general of the areas.
   
   Disclosing  this  Mr  Swapan Kumar Mukherhjee organizing secretary of
   the Parishad of south Assam, said that Mr Singhal will be on 'a  sort
   of  campaign  for  the  four-year  yojana  of  VHP  to  create 10,000
   whole-time Hindu missionaries in the country.  The missionaries  will
   be  trained  at  some  selected places before they are assigned their
   tasks and sent to different areas of the country.  The  task  of  the
   missionaries will be to protect Hindu culture and religion and to put
   a   halt  to  proselytization  work  of  the  missionaries  of  other
   religions.
   

9  VISITING CHARGES IN KAZIRANGA REMAIN UNCHANGED	    [S:9-NOV-97]
   ----------------------------------------------
   
   Kaziranga National Park authorities has not increased visiting charge
   this year as it appeared in some newspapers.  The charge for elephant
   ride for Indians is Rs.100 and for foreigners Rs.525 per person while
   the entry fee is Rs.10 for Indians and Rs.175 for  foreigners.    For
   children  there is a concession of 50 per cent of the prescribed rate
   for adults.  The charge for vehicles inside the park for both  Indian
   and  foreigners  is  Rs.150  (per vehicle) and entry fee is as usual.
   The Kaziranga National Park opened for visitors on November 1.

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________
  
Email: ptahbildar@worldnet.att.net