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                   Vol.2, No.54 [*] November 17, 1997
                   ----------------------------------

              Anyone who isn't confused, doesn't really
                      understand the situation.
                           - Ed Murrow
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  PARTY REPOSES FULL FAITH ON MAHANTA'S LEADERSHIP	   [S:16-NOV-97]
   ------------------------------------------------
   
   The crucial general body meeting of  the  Asom  Gana  Parishad  (AGP)
   expressed  full  solidarity  with  the party chief and Chief Minister
   P.K.Mahanta and appealed to all AGP workers in the  State  to  remain
   vigilant  against  the machinations of the Congress, Tata Tea and the
   ULFA to create dissension within the party, weaken and finish it off.
   The meeting, convened on November 15 in Guwahati, also expressed full
   confidence in the leadership of Mr  Mahanta  and  cautioned  partymen
   against  attempts  by the Tata Tea and the Congress to pressurize the
   CBI to implicate him in the LoC scandal and implicate  ministers  and
   other AGP workers as having links with the ULFA.
   

2  TARUN GOGOI ASKS MAHANTA TO QUIT			   [S:17-NOV-97]
   --------------------------------
   
   The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president, Mr Tarun Gogoi
   said that the Chief Minister, Mr P.K.Mahanta has lost his moral right
   to  continue  in  the  office after being named by the CBI in the LoC
   scam in  the  State  Veterinary  department.    'Mr  Mahanta   should
   immediately  quit  his  post  in  view  of the recommendations of the
   investigating agency,' he said to newsmen in Guwahati on November 16.
   

3  AJIT BHUYAN PRODUCED BEFORE NSA ADVISORY BOARD	   [S:16-NOV-97]
   ----------------------------------------------
   
   The  editor  of Asomiya Pratidin and Sadin, and chairman of the Manab
   Adhikar Sangram Samity (MASS), Mr Ajit Kumar  Bhuyan,  who  is  under
   custody  under  the  National Security Act (NSA), was produced before
   the Advisory Board comprising Mr Justice J.P.Rajkhowa and,  Mr  Haren
   Das  and  Mr Dhanjit Talukdar, both advocate-members, on November 15.
   Former Chief Minister Sarat Chandra Sinha deposed  before  the  Board
   for Mr Bhuyan.
   
   Mr Bhuyan who is undergoing treatment at AMC, Dibrugarh  was  brought
   to  Guwahati to appear before the advisory panel and again taken back
   to the hospital.  A total of 19 cases have  been  registered  against
   him.   Of  these,  the  cases  related  to  Kampur  and Nagaon police
   stations was slated to be heard on November 16.  However,  the  panel
   made it clear that the accused need not be produced before the panel.
   

4  CONGRESS RALLY BACKED BY ULFA SAYS AGP VICE-PRESIDENT   [S:16-NOV-97]
   -----------------------------------------------------
   
   The vice-president of the AGP, Mr Nurul Hussain informed  newsmen  in
   Guwahati  on November 15 that a good number of ULFA militants entered
   Guwahati from various parts of the  State  along  with  the  Congress
   workers  and  supporters  who  came  to attend the Congress-sponsored
   public meeting on November 12.  Mr Hussain said that another  set  of
   ULFA  militants  left the city for other places in buses used for the
   rally. He further informed  that  there  was  a  tacit  understanding
   between  the  Congress  and  the  ULFA in this regard and the AGP has
   already requested the State Government to institute a proper  inquiry
   into the matter.
   

5  ULFA SCOFFS AT   KESRI'S REMARK			   [S:17-NOV-97]
   -------------------------------
   
   The banned ULFA while taking exception to the statement of the Indian
   National  Congress  (INC)  president,  Mr Sitaram Kesri, who remarked
   that the ULFA  is  mortally  afraid  of  the  Congress,  accused  the
   Congress  of  representing  the  'exploiters' of the greater Assamese
   nation and not the 'common people' and said that the statement was an
   insult to the entire 'national struggle.'
   
   In  a  press  release  signed by the its central publicity secretary,
   Mitinga Daimari, the  outfit  demanded  explanation  from  the  State
   Congress  leaders on this statement within 15 days, failing which the
   outfit would take 'stern action' against these  leaders.    The  ULFA
   said  that  it  had  not taken 'seriously' the public rally organized
   because the party had lost  the  mass  support  which  the  AGP  had.
   Therefore,  the ULFA had not declared any programme on the day of the
   Congress rally.

6  CULPRITS YET TO BE ARRESTED IN AMC PRINCIPAL MURDER	   [S:17-NOV-97]
   ---------------------------------------------------
   
   Even though the Assam Government had announced that  the  probe  into
   the  brutal  killing  of  the  former  Assam  Medical  College  (AMC)
   principal, Dr Hari Prasad Barua would be handed over to the  CBI,  no
   step  has  yet been taken by the Government since past three years to
   hand over the case to the CBI.  On the contrary, the  Government  was
   trying  to  stop  the  process  of  investigation  allegedly  at  the
   influence of a 'powerful lobby', sources said in Guwahati.   The  CBI
   was  reluctant  to  take  up  the  case  because  the  agency was not
   satisfied with the FIR submitted by the Government which stated  that
   'it  was  a  handi-work  of  the  banned  ULFA' and 'all killers were
   absconding and untraceable.'
   
   Dr Barua was gunned down by unidentified motorcycle-borne  assailants
   inside  AMC campus when he was returning home from his evening stroll
   along with two other colleagues on November 24, 1994.  The miscreants
   had abandoned their vehicle near the  site  of  the  incident.    The
   Dibrugarh  police had arrested one Prasanta Saikia from Hiloidarigaon
   on the next day after sniffer dogs led the police to his house.
   
   Sources claim that the killing did  not  involve  the  ULFA,  on  the
   strength of the outfit's denial of the killing and, the fact that the
   in  most  cases trained assailants never leave their vehicles behind.
   Moreover,   there   are   sufficient   evidences   with   the   State
   administration to prove Dr Barua had been killed by a powerful lobby,
   including  politicians  for  their  own  interests as Dr Barua became
   famous for his 'stern action against the  serious  irregularities  at
   the AMC', sources said.
   

7  TRIBAL STUDENTS' FEDERATION CALLS ASSAM BANDH	  [S:16-NOV-97]
   ---------------------------------------------
  
   The  Tribal  Students'  Federation  (TSF)  has  called  a State-wide,
   24-hour bandh from 5 am of November 18 in protest against the alleged
   clandestine move of the Government to grant scheduled tribe status to
   the Koch-Rajbonshi community  of  Assam  and  demand  scheduling  the
   Karbis,  Dimasas,  Man-Tais and Garos of the plains, the Tiwas, Bodos
   and the Sarania Kacharis of the hills, the Morans and  the  tea-tribe
   community as plains tribes.

8  OPIUM WORTH RS.700,000 SEIZED IN GOLAGHAT		   [S:16-NOV-97]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   Five kilogram of  opium  worth  Rs.700,00  was  seized  by  the  CRPF
   personnel  of  Golaghat-based 29th battalion on the night of November
   14 from a bus at Batigaon area on the national highway No.37 during a
   routine check.  The bus was on its way from Dimapur to Mokokchung  in
   Nagaland.   The contraband was found in a suitcase without any owner.
   The CPF men apprehended the driver and the conductor of the  bus  and
   also handed over the the bus to the Dergaon police.
   

9  OGDEN, ASEB SIGN MTA ON BTPS				   [S:16-NOV-97]
   ----------------------------
   
   The  process of modernization and renovation through privatization of
   the Bongaigaon Thermal Power Station (BTPS), run by the  Assam  State
   Electricity  Board (ASEB), got a further boost after the ASEB and the
   American company, Ogden Power Energy Inc, signed the  Material  Terms
   of Agreement  (MTA),  on  October  23.  Earlier, both the parties had
   signed the memorandum of understanding.
   
   The  MTA  has  incorporated  all matters relating to transfer, lease,
   rehabilitation, production and other associated subjects.   The  ASEB
   recast  certain  clauses  of  the  draft MTA in consultation with the
   Odgen before putting the seal of approval by both the parties.    The
   ASEB,  however,  has  not  put   all  the  eggs  of modernization and
   renovation of the  BTPS  in  Odgen's  basket  and  initiated  certain
   measures on its own.
     
   The  BTPS,  established  in  1983 with 240 MW capacity in Salakati in
   Bongaigaon district, has four units of 60 MW capacity each.  However,
   one of them remained nonfunctional  since  the  beginning  while  two
   units  has  remained functional today, producing 45 MW instead of the
   installed capacity  of  120  MW.    The  plant  requires  coal  worth
   Rs.350,000 per day.

10 ARTFED TO FRANKFURT FOR WORLD HANDICRAFTS EXHIBITION	   [S:17-NOV-97]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   
   ARTFED  has earned accolades by being selected to represent the State
   in the handicrafts exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany from January  14,
   1998.  The State team will take part with about 100 handloom items.
   

11 TV SERIAL SPURS BOY TO TRY SUICIDE			   [S:17-NOV-97]
   ----------------------------------
   
   A  seven-year-old  boy on November 15, was caught while attempting to
   commit suicide by hanging in the verandah of his house after watching
   Shaktiman, a TV serial, which shows a 'superhuman' hero  playing  the
   saviour's role  every  time somebody attempts to commit suicide.  The
   boy, Prem Prasad, son of one Laxman Prasad  Saha  of  Gossaigaon  was
   rescued in an unconscious state.
   

12 KEYBOARD ERROR: HENRY FORD REPLACED MARTIN LUTHER KING
   ------------------------------------------------------
   
   In  the  AOL  issue  dated  15-Nov-97,  the  header  quotation,  'Our
   scientific power ....' was mistakenly mentioned to be quoted by Henry
   Ford, instead of Martin Luther King.  The error is regretted. -Mozz.

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________