__
                    /  \    _____ _____ ____      _    _
                   /    \  (  __/(  __/(_   \    / \  / \
                  /  __  \  \  \  \  \  / __ O N L I N E \
                 (__/  \__)/____)/____)(______)(__/    \__)
                        Vol.3, No.66 [*] September 4, 1998
                        ----------------------------------
 
                     A thousand obstacles will meet you,
                          even on the way to grave.
                            - Lebanese Proverb
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  BRAHMAPUTRA ACHIEVES HIGHEST FLOOD LEVEL RECORD	    [S:4-SEP-98]
   -----------------------------------------------
   With  the  incessant  rains  in  the catchment areas for the past few
   days, the mighty Brahmaputra has surpassed all  previous  records  of
   highest flood level in Assam.  The record of the August 20, 1988 high
   flood level of 106.38 metre was surpassed by 2.14 metre at Dibrugarh.
   It was achieved at 5 pm on September 3 turning the flood situation in
   Assam very  critical.    The  landmass of the Majuli island have been
   completely submerged.  Dibrugarh town is menacingly threatened  while
   Dhakuakhana  subdivision  of  Lakhimpur  district  was flooded by the
   Brahmaputra after it breached the Matmora dyke, uprooting hundreds of
   families from their homes.  (Stay tuned for more  details  about  the
   floods in on-line news service.)
   
2  BODO COUNCIL MEMBER SHOT DEAD BY EXTREMISTS		    [S:4-SEP-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   Suspected Bodo extremists shot dead a Bodo Autonomous  Council  (BAC)
   member,  Sushil  Brahma  (45)  at  Bhadrampur  village  in  Kokrajhar
   district at 6 pm on September 3.  The incident occurred  when  Brahma
   had  gone to collect relief materials for the inmates of the Bashbari
   relief camp.  He was called  to  the  village  by  the  militants  to
   discuss something  and  as he reached there, he was shot at.  He died
   on way to hospital.

3  AIMLF ACTIVIST HELD AT JORHAT			    [S:4-SEP-98]
   -----------------------------
   Jorhat  police arrested a leader of All India Muslim Liberation Front
   (AIMLF), one Kamrul Haq Barbhuyan on September  3.    Railway  police
   during  a  regular  checking  of passengers who had alighted from the
   Intercity Express  at  the  station  discovered  a  large  number  of
   incriminating documents from his possession, which led to his arrest.
   
   Hailing from Paschim Jaronigaon under Doboka police station in Nagaon
   district, the activist had reportedly come from Shillong  along  with
   about 30  colleagues  on  his way to Arunachal Pradesh.  Only four or
   five of the group alighted at Jorhat.  Police have launched a massive
   hunt for them in the town, but could not trace them.  Railway  police
   have  also  alerted  stations  beyond  Jorhat  about the 25 activists
   travelling by the train.  Police suspect that they might be going  to
   some upper Assam areas and not Arunachal Pradesh.
   
   Barbhuyan  is reported to have confessed to police that the AIMLF was
   involved in the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993 and also in  the
   killing of `audiocassette king' Gulsan Kumar.  According to a leaflet
   of  the  outfit,  the  name of India has been sought to be changed to
   `Adamsthan'.  Similarly, the demand has been raised for changing  the
   name  of  Delhi  to `Sahjehanabad' and that of Assam, West Bengal and
   Orissa to `Sirajsthan'.  Police suspect Barbhuyan to be an  explosive
   expert.  Vigorous grilling of the activist is continuing.
   
4  PAKISTANI FLAG ATOP BOATS IN `CHARS'			    [S:2-SEP-98]
   -----------------------------------
   Muslim  militants and fundamentalist preachers have made deep inroads
   into the riverine island areas (chars) in  Morigaon  district,  where
   the  immigrant Muslims from Bangladesh pass the entire monsoon season
   on boats, because the islands remain submerged in flood  waters.    A
   recent  phenomenon noticed by the people has been that almost all the
   boats, which  dot  large  parts  of  the  river,  display  Pakistan's
   national flag  of the crescent in green background.  They even travel
   to bazaars and weekly markets fluttering the Pakistani flag.  No step
   has been taken by the authorities against these elements.
   
5  NIGHT OPERATION AT GUWAHATI AIRPORT		          [UNI:3-SEP-98]
   -----------------------------------
   The Director General of Civil Aviation has approved night  operations
   in   the   Guwahati   airport  as  navigation  facilities  have  been
   modernized.  The Airport is now suitable for AB-300 wide-bodied class
   aircraft in all weather conditions.  Expansion of the  apron  with  a
   parking   capacity   for   seven  aircraft  was  completed  and  made
   operational in March  this  year.    Expansion  and  modification  of
   terminal  buildings, now in progress at an estimated cost of Rs.172.5
   million, is expected to be completed by May 1999.  The building would
   be adequate to cater to 1,500 passengers at a time.
   
6  AASU BANDH CALLED DEMANDING REPAIR OF ROADS	         [AT+S:4-SEP-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   The Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district units of the All  Assam  Students
   Union  (AASU)  have given a joint call for a 24-hour bandh in the two
   districts from 6 am on September 3,  to  protest  against  the  State
   Government's  indifferent  attitude towards poor maintenance of roads
   and  to  demand  immediate  repair  of  roads  and  highways  in  the
   districts.   The first 12 hour of the bandh has passed off peacefully
   and no major untoward  incident.    The  police  arrested  five  AASU
   activists  at  Lahowal,  four  in  Tinsukia  and 14 in Margherita for
   taking out measures to make the band a success.

7  BITUMEN FOR DIBRUGARH VANISHED INTO BLUE	           [AT:2-SEP-98]
   ----------------------------------------
   A consignment of 95 metric tonnes of bitumen sent for  the  Dibrugarh
   Public  Works  Department  (PWD) Roads Division in June this year has
   vanished into blue.  The bitumen, worth Rs.1.1 million  never  landed
   at  the  PWD  store, instead the carriage contractor, Sanjay Singh of
   Tinsukia, is know to have  colluded  with  the  Tengakhat  PWD  Roads
   Subdivision, Subdivisional Officer (SDO), Pulin Konwar to dispose off
   the  consignment  to  buyers  in  open  market,  the tea estates near
   Dibrugarh.  The SDO and his  section  officer,  Ramani  Hazarika  had
   submitted a false utilization certificate of the bitumen.
                                                             
8  MEGA FASHION SHOW IN GUWAHATI			   [AT:3-SEP-98]
   -----------------------------
   A  mega  fashion  show will be held in Guwahati this month which will
   feature India's famous fashion designer Ritu Beri, as well as leading
   models like Shefali Talwar, Meher Bhasin and Annie Thomas.  The  show
   is  organized  by  the  Guwahati  Centre of the National Institute of
   Fashion Design (NIFD), set up at Guwahati recently.
   
   The NIFD centre will offer opportunities to students of the region in
   shaping their career, the Centre's Marketing  Executive,  Mr  Richard
   Reberio told  newsmen in Shillong on September 1.  The institute will
   conduct one and two-year courses in  fashion,  textile  and  interior
   designing with  a  total  intake  of  175  students.  Saying that the
   Northeast region has a tremendous scope to become part of  the  world
   of  fashion,  he  observed that no part of the country had so large a
   variety in designs and prints.
   
______________________________[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
         To unsubscribe write to: kalita@pikespeak.uccs.edu
________________________________________________________________________