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                     Vol.3, No.12 [*]  March 11, 1998
                     -------------------------------

            What we must decide is perhaps how we are valuable,
                      rather than how valuable we are.
                           - Scott Fitzgerald
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  AGP STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS RESIGN EN MASSE	   [S:11-MAR-98]
   ----------------------------------------------
   
   All the members of the steering committee  of  the  AGP  resigned  on
   March 10.    The  resignation  of  the 14 members came in the wake of
   party's  debacle  in  the   just-concluded   Lok   Sabha   elections.
   Addressing  a  press  conference after conclusion of the first day of
   the executive committee meeting, the AGP spokesman and Food and Civil
   Supplies Minister, Mr Digen Bora said that a new  steering  committee
   will be constituted on March 11.  He however, said that the president
   and  general  secretary  would  remain  in the committee but some new
   faces would be included so as to give a new impetus to the party.

2  APANG'S CLAIM FALSE:  ASDC			         [PTI:10-MAR-98]
   --------------------------
   
   Autonomous  State  Demand  Committee (ASDC), which retained the Diphu
   seat in the recent Lok Sabha election, denied Arunachal Pradesh Chief
   Minister  Gegong  Apang's  claim  that   the   party   would   extend
   `issue-based  support' to the BJP to form a Government at the Centre.
   `Apang's claim made at a press conference in New Delhi yesterday  was
   totally  false  and  baseless',  senior  ASDC  leader and MLA Holiram
   Terang said on March 10 over telephone from Diphu.   `The  ASDC  will
   never  support the BJP under any circumstance,' he clarified, saying,
   `we warn Apang to desist from making such declarations.'
   

3  BWISWMUTIARY ASSURES CONDITIONAL SUPPORT TO BJP	  [AT:10-MAR-98]
   -----------------------------------------------
   
   In a swift change  in  stand,  S.K.Bwiswmutiary,  the  ABSU-supported
   Independent  candidate  backtracking  from  his earlier position, has
   assured conditional support to a BJP-led government following refusal
   of the later to accede to their demands for creation  of  a  separate
   state of  Bodoland.    He conveyed to Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he
   would extend indirect support and will abstain from the House in case
   of a no-confidence motion against Mr Vajpayee's government.
   
   The  Bodo MP apparently changed his stand after he failed to persuade
   the ABSU to  go  along  with  the  BJP-led  government  following  Mr
   Vajpayee's refusal to assure creation of a separate state.  The BJP's
   assurance  to  frame  a  new  Bodo  accord replacing the previous one
   apparently did not cut much ice with  the  ABSU  leadership  who  are
   insisting a separate state, sources said.
   

4  BANGLADESH FOR OPTIONS ON CITIZENSHIP		[IANS:10-MAR-98]
   ------------------------------------
   
   Residents of disputed enclaves dotting  the  India-Bangladesh  border
   may  be  given  the  option of choosing their citizenship, Bangladesh
   Home Minister Rafiquel Islam said in Parliament in Dhaka.  Islam said
   India and Bangladesh had decided to reach an understanding and  would
   soon resolve  the long-standing problem relating to the enclaves.  An
   unspecified number of people  have  been  living  in  more  than  100
   enclaves  on  either side of the border since partition in 1947, when
   this became East Pakistan.

5  MAINTAIN STATUS QUO HC TELLS GOVT, ASEB		  [AT:11-MAR-98]
   ---------------------------------------
   
   The Gauhati High Court recently directed the State Government and the
   Assam  State Electricity Board (ASEB) authorities, through an interim
   order, to maintain status quo with regard to Bongaigaon Thermal Power
   Station (BTPS). The court order was issued on March 2  last  after  a
   petition was filed by Mr Santosh Kumar Guha and Mr Bankim Musahari of
   Kokrajhar  town,  and  called  upon  the  respondents  -- State Power
   Secretary, ASEB Chairman, Ogden  Corporation,  New  Jersey,  USA  and
   Union  Power  and  Energy  Secretary,  to show cause as to why a writ
   should not be issued.
   
   The ASEB and Odgen had earlier signed the MOU and the Materials Terms
   of  Agreement  for modernization and renovation through privatization
   of the BTPS, run by the ASEB.    A  section  of  ASEB  employees  and
   residents of the Kokrajhar district had opposed the move.
   

6  LONDON-BASED CO WILLING TO CONSTRUCT SUPERHIGHWAY      [AT:11-MAR-98]
   -------------------------------------------------
  
   A  London-based  company  has  shown  interest  in   constructing   a
   superhighway  and a power project in Assam, said the State Industries
   Minister Mr Gunin Hazarika.  Representatives of the Assam  Government
   including  himself,  had  a  dialogue with the representatives of the
   London-based company Jainex International Ltd.  and gave  a  proposal
   to  the company for construction of a 530 km superhighway and a power
   project.  The company indicated that they are willing to invest up to
   Rs.1.5 billion on the power project.  The Government is interested in
   completing the Karbi Langpi Hydroelectric  project  in  collaboration
   with the company.
   
   Mr Hazarika added that the State  Government  has  set  up  an  Assam
   Industrial  Infrastructure  Corporation  and  the  management  of the
   industrial estates in Rani,  Kahilipara  and  Bamunimaidam  has  been
   handed over to the corporation.

7  ASSAM HEALTH ESTABLISHMENT ACT TO BE AMENDED	          [AT:10-MAR-98]
   --------------------------------------------
   
   The  Assam  Government  has initiated steps to amend the Assam Health
   Establishment Act, 1993,  in  order  to  incorporate  specific  penal
   provisions  to  take action against the nursing homes responsible for
   violation of the provisions of the Act.  The Act which was formulated
   in 1993 and  implemented  since  1996,  did  not  contain  the  penal
   provisions  as a result of which the Government failed to take action
   against the nursing homes and laboratories which  did  not  have  the
   necessary facilities.
   
   There  are  252  nursing homes operating in the State which failed to
   provide  even  the  elementary  provisions   like   trained   nurses,
   well-equipped  laboratories,  operation  theatres,  blood banks, etc.
   And none of these nursing homes has a license  from  the  appropriate
   authorities under  the  Health  Department.   This fact came to light
   after the State Health Department conducted a survey of  the  nursing
   homes  and  studied the findings on whose basis the amendments to the
   Act were worked out, sources said.
   
   Meanwhile, one more person was detected to be HIV-positive in  Jorhat
   on March 9 bringing the total cases detected in Jorhat to eleven. All
   of  them are learnt to be from outside Assam. The latest case happens
   to be an Army jawan.
   

8  MUHURAT OF BODO FILM IN KOKRAJHAR			   [S:10-MAR-98]
   ---------------------------------
   
   The `Muhurat' ceremony of a new Bodo feature film `Gwadan Muga'  (New
   Era)  was  held  at Hotel Indus, Kokrajhar amidst a gathering of some
   distinguished  guests  on  March  4.  On  the  occasion,  while   the
   newly-elected  member of parliament, Mr Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmutiary
   clapped the muhurat of the film, Mr  U.G.Brahma,  president  of  ABSU
   ceremoniously  broke  a coconut and renowned film writer Mr Nil Kamal
   Brahma rolled the camera.
   

______________________________[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://www.assam.org/assam/news/index.html
________________________________________________________________________

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