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                        Vol.3, No.18  [*]  April 4, 1998
                        --------------------------------

               To achieve the marvellous, it is precisely the
                     unthinkable that must be thought.
                             - Tom Robbins
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       There will be no issue of Assam Online news next week. - Mozz
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1  FERNANDES READY FOR TALKS WITH NE ULTRAS		   [AT:3-APR-98]
   ----------------------------------------
  
   The Union Defence Minister  George  Fernandes  asserted  that  he  is
   prepared to go to any length to initiate dialogues with the insurgent
   outfits operating in the region for the restoration of peace.  He was
   talking to newsmen at the Borjhar airport in Guwahati on April 2.
   

2  PM TO VISIT ASSAM FROM APRIL 14			   [AT:3-APR-98]
   -------------------------------
   
   Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will pay a two-day  maiden  visit
   to Assam from April 14.   This  was  announced  by  the  Assam  Chief
   Minister   at  a  press conference in Guwahati on April 2. Vajpayee's
   engagements  among  others  also  include  the  inauguration  of  the
   Narayanan  Setu,  the third rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra
   at Jogigopa in lower Assam.
   
   Assam Assembly speaker Ganesh Kutum said that Union  Information  and
   Broadcasting Minister Susma Swaraj will inaugurate a television relay
   centre at Gahpur on April 14.
   

3  PREM SARAN, THREE OTHERS GET BAIL IN LOC CASE	    [S:4-APR-98]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   The Special Court on April 3 granted bail to four accused persons  in
   the  Barpeta  case  of  the  LOC  scam,  namely  Mr  Prem Saran, IAS,
   secretary, Administrative  Reforms  Department,  Mr  Ziauddin  Ahmed,
   former  deputy secretary, Veterinary Department, and two businessmen,
   Anil Goenka and J.P.Goenka on a surety of Rs.50,000  each  and  local
   guarantees.   The  CBI  did  not  contest  their  bail  applications.
   Neither any lawyer nor any officials was present in  the  court  from
   CBI's  side unlike in all previous cases when the accused persons had
   moved bail applications in various cases of the LOC scam.
   

4  AASU DEMANDS IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSAM ACCORD		   [AT:4-APR-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   A high-level delegation of AASU expressed its displeasure before  the
   Union  Home  Minister  L.K.Advani  over  the  failure  of the BJP-led
   coalition government to include the issue of scrapping the  IMDT  Act
   and  implementation  of  the  Assam  Accord  in the `national agenda'
   formulated by it.  The AASU delegation which met the Home Minister in
   New Delhi reminded that the BJP should not  forget  its  pre-election
   promise to implement the Assam Accord and delete the names of foreign
   nationals from the State voters' list if the party is elected.

5  ENCOUNTER NEAR NALBARI, 1 ULFA KILLED, 3 HELD	    [S:4-APR-98]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   In an encounter between the Army and the police on one side, and  the
   ULFA  on  the other at village Kaihati under Belsor police station in
   Nalbari district at 5 am on April 3, an ULFA militant, Mantu Ali, was
   killed and three hard-core militants were nabbed. The Army  recovered
   several  incriminating  documents  from  the  possession of the slain
   militant. The arrested ultras are identified as Bhaben Barman,  Jatin
   Goswami  and  Bikash Goswami. Two others, Pradip Rajbonshi and Mrigen
   Haloi who were wanted by police on several cases of violence, managed
   to escape towards Sarthebari in Barpeta  district.  Pradip  Rajbonshi
   received two bullet wounds in his hand and leg, police said.
   

6  NEDFI NEGOTIATING WITH OECF OF JAPAN FOR LOAN	   [AT:4-APR-98]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   The North Eastern Development  and  Finance  Corporation  (NEDFI)  is
   trying  to  get  a  loan  of  Rs.1.5 billion from the Organisation of
   Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan to finance projects in  the
   power  sector  in  the  Northeastern  region,  according to the NEDFI
   chairman, Dr Jayanta Madhab.  He also revealed  that  the  NEDFI  has
   taken  up a project for creation of a data bank in collaboration with
   the National Informatics Centre (NIC) which would bear  half  of  the
   total cost  of  the  project.    The  North Eastern Council (NEC) has
   already sanctioned Rs.1 million for the project, he said.
   
   Dr  Madhav  said  that  the investors would be able to get first hand
   knowledge about all aspects of setting up industries  in  the  region
   including  technical,  marketing  and other information from the data
   bank which will be available in the  Internet.    The  data  bank  is
   likely to be operational from next year.
   

7  ASSEMBLY TO INSTITUTE `BEST LEGISLATOR AWARD'	   [AT:3-APR-98]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   The Assam Legislative Assembly will institute `Best Legislator Award'
   from  this year and the first award will be announced on April 7, the
   Foundation Day of the Assembly.  The award will comprise of Rs.25,000
   in cash, a citation, a memento and an emblem of the  State  Assembly.
   The  award is constituted with a view to ushering in an atmosphere of
   constructive cooperation among the members of  the  House  to  ensure
   smooth running  of  the  House  proceedings.    A  quarterly Assembly
   journal will be also launched on the Foundation Day.
   
   Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Assembly, Mr Ganesh Kutum informed that
   Rs.54.5 million grant had been received to construct a three-storeyed
   new Assembly building which will be named after the first premier  of
   the State,  Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi.  Besides housing the Assembly
   room the new building will also house a state-of-the-art library  and
   a reference section.
   

8  BELIEVE IT OR NOT:  TELEGRAMS BY POST		    [S:3-APR-98]
   -------------------------------------
   
   A  telegraph  line  that  snapped  in  a devastating flood in 1988 at
   Dhubri, had rendered the Bilasipara Post Office to send telegrams  by
   post for the past ten years.  Telegrams booked at Bilasipara are sent
   to Fakiragram railway station in the mail bag and then to Dhubri town
   from  where  the  telegrams  are  transmitted  to their destinations.
   Similarly, telegrams addressed to Bilasipara are received  at  Dhubri
   telecom office  and  sent  to  Bilasipara  by  post.  The people have
   demanded immediate restoration of the telegraph link.
   

9  CHILDREN'S DRAMA TEAM FOR WORLD FEST			   [AT:3-APR-98]
   ------------------------------------
   
   The United Artist of Tezpur will represent India  at  the  5th  World
   Children's  Drama  Festival  in  Linzen,  Gemany from April 11 to 17,
   1998.  Diwar Torani Hai,  a  Hindi  play  by  Mr  Aswarya  Kakati,  a
   renowned dramatist,  will  be  staged.    The child actors are Abijit
   Barua, Snehanshu Kakati, Kapildev Garg, Amit Deka and Upasana  Barua.
   The  drama  is  directed  and  produced by Mr Ratul Deka and Mr Balen
   Malakar.

______________________________[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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